Ola Englund joined some elite metal musicians for the recent Dimebash event, a tribute show to the late Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, during which he wielded some of Dime’s actual Washburn electric guitars.
The Swedish guitarist, YouTuber and Solar Guitars founder was famously in the running for the Pantera gig when original members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown opted to reform the band in 2022. Dime-obsessed YouTuber Kayla Kent also made the band’s shortlist, but it was Zakk Wylde who eventually got the nod.
Last year, Dimebag’s Dean From Hell made a special return to the band in the hands of Phil Anselmo, and, during the recent NAMM 2026 weekend, Englund was offered the chance to play another one of Dime's guitars at the Dimebash in Belasco in Los Angeles, California.
For the set, he performed alongside Charles Benante – who plays drums in the new Pantera lineup – Nevermore's Attila Vörös, and ex-Megadeth man, Chris Broderick.
“A couple of days ago, I got a text from Grady Champion, Dimebag's former guitar tech,” Englund explains in a vlog charting the events before, during, and after the show. “He said he had set up Dimebag's personal guitars for me and Attila to use at the Dimebash.
“He sent me a bunch of pictures, asked me what string gauge I wanted them to have, and at first I thought he was on about the new Dime Guitarz, but then I re-read the message…”
Indeed, a new guitar company, Dime Guitarz, launched its first eye-catching model last year after years of teasing. It would have been the ideal gig to show off those builds, but Englund was being offered the real deal.
Those three guitars were the Washburn Dime 3 “Southern Cross,” which was immortalized on Reinventing the Steel; the green-and-yellow sunburst “Dime Slime”, which had an upside-down Volkswagen sticker beneath the bridge and a Seymour Duncan SH1-N’59 in the neck; and the metal-plated “Stealth” axe.
“What the hell, man. I don't know what to do with this information,” he says before heading to a rehearsal. There, he says, Atilla's main axe for the show would be the “Dime Slime,” while he plugged the “Southern Cross” into the brand-new Quad Cortex mini for a blend of vintage and modern.
Songs played by Englund on the night, “Southern Cross” in hand, include Hard Lines Sunken Cheeks, Floods, and the face-contorting classic, Five Minutes Alone. And yes, there were plenty of pinch harmonics throughout.
Back home reflecting on the gig at the end of the video, he says, “The gig itself was amazing; the vibe, the love, everything was on point. Atilla, holy shit, what a guitarist, he nails the solos.
“I've gotta pinch my arm that I did all of this playing Dime's guitars. I'm insanely lucky to have gotten to do this. I still can't believe it.”
In related Pantera news, Zakk Wylde has previously said there have been talks about writing new music from old Dimebag demos. It wouldn't be the first time material from Dime's unreleased archive gets unearthed, though. One of his solos ended up on a Nickelback record.
