View Single Post
  #6  
Old 05-15-2004, 06:46 AM
bstring bstring is offline
Don't Tread On Me
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 405
Default

I have a Washburn Rarewood Maccassar Ebony/Cedar. The store where I bought it also carried the other Rarewoods. I played four or five of the Ebony before picking out the one I bought as the best sounding. It is a great sounding guitar for the price; I bought it as a full-size "beater." I like the sound of the ebony/cedar, a good full dreadnaught sound with a little dark color. For the price which includes a nice molded plasitic case, I'm happy.

Some caveats:

(1) I'm not sure I would buy by mail. These guitars in all the Rarewood lines vary from guitar to guitar in signnificant ways and some had intonation problems, buzzing, etc. The cosmetics are pretty uniformly good.

(2) After buying the guitar, I found that I was unable to change the strings. The store had to spend about 1-2 hours pulling the pins out. They had been put in while the glue was wet on the bridge or there was sawdust residue in the bottom of the drill holes. The softish plastic pins were more less destroyed in the extraction process but that was O.K. because I would probably have replaced them with tusq in any event -- which I did.

(3) There is a thread about these guitars on the unofficial Martin forum where someone claims that as a result of pressing customer service, they learned that only the tops are solid wood and that the back and sides of the Rarewood series are laminate -- make that solid wood laminate. I don't know but it would explain the price. My store insisted it was solid wood and the Martin thread indicates some customer service people at Washburn say the same thing, and indicate as do some in this thread that Washburn has a problem with consumer representations. As you've noticed, the company's site now dodges this issue.

(4) I thought my guitar was labeled as being made in Indonesia, I think, or somewhere else in that island chain. But I could be wrong as I'm not checking the guitar as I type.

(5) Music123 -- I have never mail ordered anything from them but know their descriptions can be unreliable. For several years, Music123 was using Zapf's Music in Cherry Hill, NJ to sell their "B" and damaged stock off when it was no longer suitable for internet sales. Some of what I heard made me a little queasy about using M123 in terms of product condition and description -- the closeout prices are some of the best though. However, they do have a return policy, and I would not buy one of these guitars without that option or otherwise playing it in a store.

(6) All the Rosewood Rarewoods I have seen were represented as Indian Rosewood and looked like Indian. Don't trust Music123 on this.
__________________
bstring

"Sometimes a brain can come in quite handy." Jibjab
Reply With Quote