How About A Washburn Guitar?

[SpruceTop]

It's a company with a rich and venerable past, beginning in 1883, but did you know that Washburn commissioned an American guitar maker to build 2000 (correction per Washburn video: 135) guitars for its 135th Anniversary? I didn't but I found out today as I was in my favorite shop and there it was hanging on the wall: a used, like-new, (2018) Washburn Solo-135 Anniversary USA Washburn Model for $1150. I said to the owner this thing looks like a Larrivee L Model (L-03 or a special run of L-40M?), and he confirmed my belief! Yes, indeed, I picked that sucker up, sat down, and played it for a few minutes and was mightily impressed with its tone--Larrivee L For Sure! Basically, from what the owner told me, and he's a long-time Larrivee dealer and friends with Jean, Washburn asked Larrivee to do a 135th Anniverasy model for them and the L was selected. The guitar has the typical Washburn headstock--Cool!--and a simpler-looking, slightly smaller bridge than a Larrivee L model. The guitar also sports an internal Washburn paper label on the back, and a burned-in, a-la-Larrivee, neat-looking neck-block Washburn 135th label. For the used cost of this guitar, it looks like a good deal!

Guitar with photos & specs

[Matt McGriff]

Very cool. I saw them on The Music Zoo site a while back and was interested. If you love it, buy it. Might be hard to flip, due to its rarity and unique backstory, but knowing it was made by Larriveé ensures it is a quality product.

[Wally Taylor]

I remember a long time ago, Washburn had a model called Golden Harvest. It was a pretty good sounding guitar.

[otis66]

I had one of these. Great guitar. Wish I still had it.

[warfrat73]

Back in the 90s Bourgeois made some guitars for Washburn too.

[hubcapsc]

Originally Posted by warfrat73

Back in the 90s Bourgeois made some guitars for Washburn too.

Here's one. I played it, it was totally tubular !




-Mike

[lowrider]

Originally Posted by Matt McGriff

Very cool. I saw them on The Music Zoo site a while back and was interested. If you love it, buy it. Might be hard to flip, due to its rarity and unique backstory, but knowing it was made by Larriveé ensures it is a quality product.

I tried one at MZ. It looked really nicer, and it was well made, but the sound didn’t move me.

[zmf]

Is it just me, or does it seem strange that a guitar company would commission another guitar company to make their commemorative model?

I don't know anything about the organization of Washburn. Maybe this is routine for them. But it suggests a lack of identity in their own line of guitars.

[pickitPaul]

Be interesting to play it against the L-03

[hammer40]

According to the video I saw from the winter NAMM 2018 release, these were made in their (Washburn) custom shop. Now, maybe that is the public version, but if they have their own custom shop why would they farm it out to another builder?

Either way, I do like it! Congrats!

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by pickitPaul

Be interesting to play it against the L-03

Thinking back on what I was playing and given its used price, it seems a bit too low in price for a used L-03. My dealer generally sells used guitars for about 75% of their new price. I remember looking at the X-bracing of the (2018) Washburn D-135 (Sitka/Mahogany) and noticed it was close to the soundhole. Without another Larrivee L model to compare it to, and given its used price, I'm speculating that the Washburn D-135 may be a special-run of a Larrivee L-40M model which isn't a normal model in the 40 Series Legacy Mahogany model lineup but the L shape is a model in the 40 Series Legacy Rosewood lineup. My dealer also mentioned that Larrivee took a model and did the Washburn thing to it and Washburn added a couple of hundred bucks to the list price compared to a comparable Larrivee model. This would be in keeping with my dealer's used cost pricing method as applied to the Washburn D-135 if, indeed, it was a special offshoot of the 40 Legacy Series.

[aeisen93]

I have a Washburn parlor. It's a great guitar

[pickitPaul]

Specs say a modern C shaped neck. Did the one you play have a fill the hand fullness to it, or is it slim on the edges?

There is a Revival series of this same guitar but is made in Asia. Has the same tuners, but is gloss (Poly) and some have pick ups & some are acoustic only. Not sure how it would compare sound wise to the USA model. I do like the Satin finish on USA built - they don't say if it is Nitro or Poly.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi,
you might be interested in reading up on the history of the brand.

They issued some rather nice recreations for the 125th anniversary which were similar to the model 355, complete with coffin case. I foolishly sold it to my bass player who wont sell it back to me!

The model shown looks like their 5244/5246 models from about 1937. They had their own body shape which was neither Martin Dread nor Gibson Jumbo shaped but of similar size.

As it says in Wikipedia : An unbroken lineage is often alluded to by Washburn International, in press releases and advertising materials, and on the company website:

Washburn has been building stringed instruments since 1883. … 130 years of history is at the root of our strong foundation building high quality instruments.[5]

There is no direct connection between the original Washburn brand and the modern Washburn International.
However it is really nice to see them replicating the models of the original company.

[Silly Moustache]

just found this :