Anyone by a Washburn guitar lately ???

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metalj

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I've been looking at the Washburn line of guitars called "Idol Pro's" They look pretty sweet. Kinda an alternative to a les paul. They run anywhere from $500-$700.

here is a link. you can click on the different styles below the picture of the guitar.

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--WASWI66PRO/image--Gold Top

grover 18:1 tuners
buzz fieten tuning system
real duncan pickups

I have lots of guitars, but my favorite was my old Washburn MG44 the the whammy bar and such. great neck, stayed in tune.

Just wondering if the newer lines are as good as they were back in the 80's.

Anyone out there have one of these or work in a store that sells them ??

thanks
 
Sweet looking guitar! I haven't tried that model (yet) but as a player and teacher, I often recomend Washburn guitars to my students (or their parents.) I've owned several Washburns and played a lot of others and done set ups on more than I can remember. In all I have to say the QC has remained consistent and new Washburn guitars are just as good as the older ones. Even the ones made in China (X Series for example) are fairly decent for a beginner or student. Considering the price on the link, I'd say that sounds like a pretty nice guitar for the money. If you get it let us know how the tone is and how it plays.
 
That looks like a great guitar to me.

I've bought a Washburn Classical/electric and also one of their bottom of the line HB30s. The HB was like $200 dollars it was basically flawless and built quite well.There was a small sap line near one of the cut outs and one of the Groover tuners was stripped. I called Washburn and they shipped be a replacement tuner. They seem like a great company to do business with.

The HB played better than an original ES335 I bought new back in 72. I could never get the action where I wanted it on the Gibson without some string buzzing. The Washburn came out of cheap cardboard box with a better setup than the Gibson could ever achieve.

I replaced the cheap HB's with a couple of Dimarzio Airs and it sounds better than my LP and plays better too. It kind of makes me wish I would have at least bought an HB35 because I feel a little bad having such an enexpensive guitar playing and sounding better than guitars costing 8 times more.

If I ever buy anymore electrics I will probably go with a J3 or J6 if I can find one.
 
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The last Washburn I bought was over 20 years ago. The Force 8 bass. Very nice playing bass, but the stock pickups were thin sounding. After I replaced them, I was sorry when I had to sell her because of financial hardships.
 
Yeah, Im thinking of trying one.

I was wrong though, they are NOT AMerican made. My bad. I got confused on their web site. It says all American made guitars have the Buzz Feiten tuning system. Alot of their non-american made guitars have it too.

They are Korean made according to their sales phone rep.

Maybe, I dont know. Im always trying to avoid the huge price tag and weight of a LesPaul. I've played them and dont find any huge advantage to them other than the name. :rolleyes:

thanks for the comments.
 
metalj said:
Yeah, Im thinking of trying one.

I was wrong though, they are NOT AMerican made. My bad. I got confused on their web site. It says all American made guitars have the Buzz Feiten tuning system. Alot of their non-american made guitars have it too.

They are Korean made according to their sales phone rep.

Maybe, I dont know. Im always trying to avoid the huge price tag and weight of a LesPaul. I've played them and dont find any huge advantage to them other than the name. :rolleyes:

thanks for the comments.
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I played a new off the shelf Les Paul Deluxe or should I say tryed to play it.
The action was so high with the fasctory setup you could shoot an arrow with it. It was a beatiful cherry sunburst but is was a very average guitar to play and listen to.
 
The Idol series are great value - the WI65-PRO got one of the best magazine reviews I've seen in years in the UK in 2004. I particularly like how they get name-brand proper spec hardware etc on their guitars at sensible prices. Grover machineheads and Buzz Feiten used to be the preserve of Tom Anderson and the like. The pickups are SD '59 in the neck and Custom Custom in the bridge, which I've found is a great pickup for an all-mahogany guitar that just needs a bit of taming in the low end.

If you're looking for something that is the equivalent construction of a Les Paul then you'll have to pay a bit more for one with a maple cap. But for what is essentially not a flashy guitar, but isn't just another copy either, the WI65-PRO is pretty good value. We sell them for less than an Epiphone LP Standard, but they are in a different league to those crap buckets by comparison. I think you might be surprised by how playable the neck is too ... although you may never notice it because it just feels 'right' to most people who try one out.

If you're into the superstrat shape a little more, then the X series stops being crap and starts being good at the X-30. The 'Headhunter' pickups are worryingly good, and it's another guitar with Buzz Feiten on for the price of a Squier.

The only problem with Washburn's electrics is that they have massive stocking problems in the UK right now, meaning that I currently have none in and the next lot won't arrive until February!!! :eek: So I hope that the situation is different Stateside.
 
Any idea if these are paticularly heavy in weight ?? or just average??

thanks
matt
 
I got myself an X-30. Plays nice, looks great, isn't REAL heavy (but has more mass than an Ibanez..which is good IMO), sounds pretty dern good, and sems to be built very well. I also had a Washburn bass years ago. Overall, I'd say Washburn stuff is really good bang fer buck. :cool:
 
metalj said:
Any idea if these are paticularly heavy in weight ?? or just average??

thanks
matt
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Solid mahogany ... so heavier than say a basswood Ibanez RG ... but not back-breaking like some LPs. Kinda SG-ish but without being neck heavy maybe?

The X Series stuff is a decent weight (enough mass for a thicker tone) but definitely feels more like a Fender shape than a Gibson one.
 
Just bought a WI66PRO

After seeing Tool recently I had the urge for something in silver burst. I picked the Washburn Idol 66 Pro. It has USA Seymour Duncan pickups, grover tuners and first class construction. I was not fond of the VCC coil splitting feature so I re-wired with quality pots. If you add the Tone Pros bridge or locking studs it will be as good as the USA Pilsen idol. I have owned many, many Les Pauls and this guitar is far superior in so many ways.. Don't hesitate on a purchase, you won't be sorry.

http://woodguarden.com/wst_page9.php?idx=33&file=images/Washburn.jpg&&ID2=YygvcY
 
gvarko said:
After seeing Tool recently I had the urge for something in silver burst. I picked the Washburn Idol 66 Pro. It has USA Seymour Duncan pickups, grover tuners and first class construction. I was not fond of the VCC coil splitting feature so I re-wired with quality pots. If you add the Tone Pros bridge or locking studs it will be as good as the USA Pilsen idol. I have owned many, many Les Pauls and this guitar is far superior in so many ways.. Don't hesitate on a purchase, you won't be sorry.

http://woodguarden.com/wst_page9.php?idx=33&file=images/Washburn.jpg&&ID2=YygvcY
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So the VCC coil splitting. Does that sound awful? Or can you have the option of not using it and the Duncan pickups will still sound great ?

The new pots you put in, did it change the overall sound of the guitar drastically or just give you the option of using your tone knobs they way you want?

thanks for the input
 
metalj said:
So the VCC coil splitting. Does that sound awful? Or can you have the option of not using it and the Duncan pickups will still sound great ?

The new pots you put in, did it change the overall sound of the guitar drastically or just give you the option of using your tone knobs they way you want?

thanks for the input
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I am not a big fan of coil splitting at all. The VCC system was interesting in that it works like a dimmer switch to give you a controllable amount of splitting. That said, when fully split to single coil it sounded nothing like a single coil to me. It did give a range of interesting tones, none very useful. If I had left that in I would have it on 10 all the time.

The pots, capacitor and tone controls all make a huge difference. The pots it comes stock with are mini-korean made pots. I installed full size pots with quality wiring and capacitors. It made a huge difference in clarity and volume control. Now both volume controls work independently and the tone knobs are actually usefull. I bought the pre-wired harness from a guy on ebay that does really nice work. I only needed to wire on the pickups and drop it in. If interested let me know and I will PM you the info. The harness was $40 plus a couple bucks shipping.
 
Nakatira said:
I`m still waiting for my HB32DM

http://www.washburn.com/products/electrics/hollow/images/hb_hb32dm.jpg

I ordered it one month ago, but it still hasen turned up, yet.
From what I`ve read and heard its suposed to be good value for the money.

Allways wanted to try a 335. :)
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Mate, I have some potentially bad news for you. There's a massive Washburn drought in Europe at the moment, they get guitars made by all sorts of factories and the one which makes the HB and J series semis is way behind schedule. I have a dozen on order and we've been told we'll be waiting until FEBRUARY!!! :eek: :eek:

On the plus side, the HB32 is SUPERB. The finish is great and it plays nicely, it sounds just like a semi should - the pickups are absolutely fine and don't need upgrading - and to get Grover machineheads on a guitar at this price is crazy.

It'll be worth the wait because your guitar will be a bargain!!
 
gvarko said:
Yeah, I really like that aged bronze looking hardware. That looks very classy!!

Please post a review when you finally get that, I might need one of those...
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Yeah I think it looks rad as well.

I`ll share my experiences when its in my hands :)
 
noisedude said:
Mate, I have some potentially bad news for you. There's a massive Washburn drought in Europe at the moment, they get guitars made by all sorts of factories and the one which makes the HB and J series semis is way behind schedule. I have a dozen on order and we've been told we'll be waiting until FEBRUARY!!! :eek: :eek:

On the plus side, the HB32 is SUPERB. The finish is great and it plays nicely, it sounds just like a semi should - the pickups are absolutely fine and don't need upgrading - and to get Grover machineheads on a guitar at this price is crazy.

It'll be worth the wait because your guitar will be a bargain!!
Click to expand...

I talked to our distrobutor of Washburn today, she said they were getting a shipment to Norway on the end of this month, she mentioned a draught of several models.
Hope I`m lucky. :)

Btw thanks for the heads up Nik :cool:
 
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