Carl Dean is the sole proprietor of Dean Woodworking. A professional woodworker for over 17 years, Carl has always been drawn to the beauty and usefulness of wood. After being introduced to African (Zimbabwean) marimbas in 1994, Carl was intrigued by the sound quality of wood and built his first marimba. Since then Carl has built over 150 custom marimbas, and continues to refine and improve his instruments. He has experimented with various woods, tuning techniques and frame designs in an effort to meet the needs of a growing family of marimba players in the western United States and Canada. While his marimbas have been built mostly for the Zimbabwe-style music community Carl has also built chromatic marimbas, child sized marimbas, complete marimba sets for schools and universities, experimental instruments and has made custom mallets for a variety of percussionists.

Dean Woodworking is committed to building the highest quality instruments and related products and proudly guarantees its customer's satisfaction.

Carl has built full or partial sets for the following schools: Lewis and Clark College, The University of California Northridge, The Metropolitan Learning Center, Marysville Elementary School, Sellwood Middle School, Kellog Middle School, Sunnyside Neighborhood School, and The Environmental Middle School.

He has also built instruments for the following bands: Boka Marimba, Kukuva Marimba, Zimba Marimba, White Rhino, The Bliss Gypsys, Born On Tuesday, Mutamba Marimba, White Rose, Dancing Trees, Dziva, Duduluza, Funk Shui, and Njuzu.