Washburn G110SWCE Woodline series love

[yalc502]

I havent felt compelled to review an acoustic guitar... ever in my life. Ive definitely offered my 2 cents, but I dont think I've ever full out praised a guitar on my own accord. I mostly play dreadnoughts with a flat pick. Recently I was picking guitars at a local store and didnt have my pick with me- so I was fingerpicking. I picked up a grand auditorium sized washburn that was advertised as all solid wood with a hardshell case and electronics for $799. So I picked it up and started (finger) picking. I was blown away. It sounded fantastic. I mostly have spruce top guitars so the solid cedar top was a welcome change- you dont have to work at it to get a good sound- you can lightly finger pick or pick and coax fantastic tones out of it- versus my HD28 where I really work the pick to get it to project (completely different guitar I know) the 1.75" fretboard was also a nice bonus- it has a really nice black ebony fretboard with little dots on the side. Solid Mahogany back seemed to resonate really well when I strummed harder with my fingers. The bass notes popped doing some travis picking and the top strings rung out with ease.

With a pick the guitar is still smooth and easy- you dont really gain much by picking with some force like you do on a spruce dreadnought- this guitar almost feels like its naturally compressed. You cant coax some more strident tones out of this- but its definitely not a bluegrass guitar (obviously). It is super balanced- and when played with a pick it seems like it makes you sound like a better guitarist. Its more forgiving with imperfect attack or fingering. It definitely shines with hand playing though- I dont have nails- I just use my skin- Maybe I should try some finger picks or nails.

The tuning machines alone are an insane feature- I didnt realize it at first- but I started tuning the low E and thought something was wrong because it wasnt increasing in pitch- then I read about the graph tech ratio tuners- which feature something like a 50:1 gear ratio on the low e string- all the tuning machines have different gear ratios to make them all tune the strings one semi tone for every turn so every string tunes the same- they hold tune incredibly well so far. And its super easy to tune to the sweetened tunings on my Peterson strobo tuner.

the electronics are the fishman presys + blend- which features a mic + undersaddle pickup. Maybe not the best system but better than any other acoustic I've ever played under $1000 for sure.

bone nut and saddle- satin finish on the neck- nice simple wood binding on the neck- no pickguard- the case isnt super fancy but it isnt a cheapo. Its definitely gigable.

the fit and finish is great- I havent found any flaws. no overspray- I really love how the neck is satin finished and the body is gloss finished. The inlay on the headstock looks a lot better than some washburn stuff I've seen- their banjos dont have very good inlay work.

The frets are perfectly polished- no high frets- the neck is straight- I tested the truss rod and it seems to be of a superior quality as well. Capable of tiny adjustments with smooth turning

I've never thought i would be a washburn fan- ever. Theyve never really appealed to me- and honestly the looks of this guitar never appealed to me. Just because its a grand auditorium. But I'd been wanting something besides more dreadnoughts and parlors.

This guitar was completely gigable out of the box- it required no setup. No truss adjustment. I bought it on the spot and have honestly never been happier with an instrument purchase. Perfect action and intonation off the shelf- I just called the store and they said they only had to do slight adjustments to these guitars if anything- All the guitars in that store play pretty good.

Seriously- this has to be the best deal on an acoustic guitar ever. I am now on a mission to try out some of washburns electric offerings and the other top line acoustics.

Anyone else ever try one of these? Here's a link to washburns site since I dont have pics on my phone and its at the practice space.

https://www.washburn.com/product/g110swce/

[personatech]

It's always great to read positive reviews about products I might not give a second thought to (Washburn, for instance). Thanks for this!

[marty bradbury]

Co geats on a great guitar. Would love to try one as my next guitar I wanted cedar over mahogany. Enjoy!

[marty bradbury]

Sorry, Congratulations!

[Steadfastly]

Yalc502, I couldn't tell if you really liked the guitar or not.

Seriously, there have been a number of threads over the last year that have praised the newer Washburns. They seem to have really spent some time in creating a very good line of acoustics. I have only owned one of their Oscar Schmidt brand hollow body electrics. It was a decent guitar but nothing really special.

I will definitely be looking to try out their acoustics the first chance I get.

[ztbishop]

Just got one with a case for 350 plus tax on sale at proaudiostar. Took it to my local shop and had the saddle filed down; it didn't really need much else. Unbelievable for the money. Maybe not ideal bridge width of hard picking, but fantastic for fingerstyle. I'd recommend checking their ebay store (more expensive) to make sure it's actually in stock if you order from their site.

[L20A]

I am a big fan of the new Washburn guitars.
So much so, I bought one myself.

I was interested in a body shape that was different from all my Dreds.
The HG-27-SE was a perfect fit.
Love the size and the full rich tone.

Because it came with a pickup system, I decided to experiment with a Voice Harmonizer. The guitar plugs into the box and then runs to a mic.
I am having a lot of fun with this combination.

Washburn Guitars are worth trying out.

[yalc502]

I checked this post a while back- I believe they had some with narrower nut widths than the 1.75" I purchased- I'm still impressed with this guitar every day. I dont know if I had already changed the strings when I made this post. But the stock strings were the Cleartone brand- they arent terrible and they lasted a long time. BUT changing the strings to regular daddario phosphor bronze (i usually use 12-53) really made this guitar a good deal better. Since then I've tried the martin flexible cores, martin retros, and daddario 80/20 bronze- I'm back to daddario phosphors- and they're awesome.

I've been seriously considering the torrefied sitka spruce topped dreadnought Woodline model... Unfortunately I cannot remember the model name as washburn has some complicated model numbers. But its the woodline series in the $799 price range- though I believe you can get them cheaper from some retailers (I never had good luck with proaudiostar- they always seem to need work when they have those super cheap open box sales) or they just dont feel right. I dont know maybe bad luck?

Anyways still loving it!