Your comments on Washburn Guitars ??

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Easto

Easto

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I was in the Local GC today and there was a very nice used Washburn MG-70. I did a close inspection and no major (or minor for that fact) dings, scratches etc. I didn't plug it in since I have 2 Rio Grande Vintage Tallboys and an older (circa 1973) Gibson Humbucker looking for a home. The neck was straight and I used my t-shirt to rub out the metal parts on some of it and it appeared that it would clean up nicely. All in all a decent feeling and looking guitar. I buy a lot of used stuff from this particular GC so they know I"m serious but they would only go as low as $300 out the door.

I really like the way this guitar felt and I wouldn't mind having a guitar that appears to be made for "shredding" (I"m not a shredder).

What can anyone tell me about this guitar/model (or Washburn for that matter)?

Thanks
 
If you like it, get it. Washburn has stuff that ranges from complete crap all the way to 'pretty damn good.' $300 for a guitar that you like and seems solid is a good deal.
 
I had a washburn acoustic someone gave me one time. The truss rod popped out of the back of the neck one day???
 
I should have continued on to say that I liked the washburn except for the trussrod busting out. I actually liked just about every washburn I ever played and I have played a few.
 
I used to work for them. We had problems like that when we got them out of the truck. Korean guitars have com a long way since then. Of course, I think they might be making them in Taiwan now.
 
Thanks guys.

I was looking for a tag that might have said country of origin but I couldn't find one. I'm trying to locate specific info on this particular model (on the web) but I'm having some problems. It seems that all the reviews at Harmony Central are from overseas buyers.(?)

If it wasn't for the guitar show coming here (Los Angeles) on Aug 6th and 7th I probably would have bought it. I'm just trying to tell myself to wait until after the show to buy anything new. Although... this guitar would clean up incredibly and look like a whole lot more guitar than $300.
 
I should say that the expensive guitars are made in the USA. They can be really, really nice. I might be biased against them because every time I have a run in with that company, it's a bad scene. They have had a lot of really good ideas, but they always screwed them up.

For example, the wunderbar. It was a trem system that you didn't need to route the face of your guitar to install. You could get brackets to fit it on your Les Paul, Strat, Tele, just about anything. It used the original screw holes, so you could put it on a vintage guitar without ruining it. It was really a fine piece of work, well thought out and well made. Retail about $200 with the plate to fit your guitar.

Someone decided it would be a good idea to put these systems on all of the guitars with trem systems The problem was, how do you put a $200 trem system on a $200 guitar and still make a profit?

The answer was to make cheap versions of the wunderbar and put those on the guitars. So what happened was they made these things out of the cheapest metal ever. This stuff melted in your hands. So the only experience most people had with the wunderbar was having it turn to mush on their 6 month old guitar, rendering it useless. Oddly enough, no one wanted to shell out $200 for the good ones. You couldn't convince anyone that they were any different than the shit they put on their guitars.

That is the type of thing that went on every day. Now that they own Randall they are at it again. They screwed up the Warhead continually. I'm surprised if you can find 2 of them that sound anything like each other. They were changing the circuitry almost daily. Don't even get me started on the Colossus.
 
Finally I found the page in Washburn's archives. The MG-70 is from 1993.
 
This one has a Floyd Rose (approved) bridge. For the age of the guitar it seems to have held up quite well. Again, this is a 1993 and appears to have had little use. The other thing I noticed were the FRETS. They didn't seem to be like anything I've seen before. They were JUMBO and half-moon shaped. Virtually no wear on them at all, which makes me think they used some material that I"m not familiar with. ???

Thanks for all the info. This is the kind of stuff I needed to hear. Keep it coming if you have more.
 
If that guitar is in nice shape and plays well after 12 years, it has to be a good one. Check the neck, sometimes the wood was green. My guess is that this is a good one.
 
I have a limited production MB5 bass from Washburn that is about 15 yrs old. The preamp went out in it. I contacted Washburn 4 times before anybody could help me. This was during the merger with Randall under the new parent company. All the sales people and techs I talked to sounded as if they are about 19 yrs old and know very little about the craft other than what they are selling on the market right now. I was sent the wrong preamp for it twice, finally a tech told me he went in the shop and found one in a used bass that was disassembled. He sent it to me free. Guess what? it was the wrong preamp as well. It appears they had a special order with a korean electronics shop that built the preamps for a short period of time when that bass was built. Nobody can get those preamps now apparently, and nobody I talked with had a clue. I talked to Bartolini and got what I needed, for a bit more cash than I had intended, but at least I was talking with folks that know what they are doing.
 
Little known fact... Washburn bought the name and the logo of Randall. They did not buy the rights to any of the old amps.

Most of the people there are 19. The turn over rate is astronimical. I can think of 3 people that have been there since the '90s. Two of them are the owners. Everyone else is a short timer.
 
The MG series is from the late 80's early 90's I think. i own a MG40. great guitar. I am also thinking that dude named mickeal angelo was the endorser of it at the time. (the shredder guy from the band "nitro" that plays the v shaped neck with both hands and the same time on each side.

I think the $300 dollars seems a little high unless they are throwing in a hard shell case as well. just my opinion.

but mine is a realy nice guitar that i still play live today. nice neck and the trem stays in tune.

yup
 
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