- Washburn Guitars
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A Washburn headstock
Washburn Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer. It was established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. Washburn is a part of U.S. Music Corporation.
Contents
History
The Washburn guitar company started making guitars in 1883 in Chicago. The factory would later be involved with Delta Blues as a result of an influx of African Americans to the area in the 1920s. This type of blues would change the way blues music was played, and would also change rock and roll. This blues movement helped in the success of Washburn guitars at that time. The musicians played the guitars as well as making them by hand. The Washburn guitar and the blues movement that it was involved with are associated with Maxwell Street. This street is only a few blocks from the factory where Washburn guitars were first embraced.
Washburn makes electric guitars, acoustic guitars, electric basses, acoustic basses, banjos, mandolins, travel guitars, and amplifiers. The company also makes accessories including guitar cases, clothing, and other parts like tuners, pick ups, and straps. Washburn is mostly known for its electric guitars and acoustic guitars. The company makes eight different styles or “Series” of both electric and acoustic guitars.[1]
Washburn guitars have been gaining much recognition in recent years, particularly within the extreme metal, hardcore punk and post-rock scenes.
Guitars
- see Category:Washburn electric guitars
Electric:
- Anarchy Graphic Series – guitars featuring the anarchy symbol.
- Bantam Series
- Chicago Series
- Disney by Washburn
- George Washburn Series / Stephens Extended Cutaway (Rare) - EC26 (Atlantis), made in U.S.A. / EC29 (Challenger I), made in Japan / EC36 (Challenger II), made in Japan .
- HB Series - (hollow body guitars)
- Heavy Metal Series-Guitars
- Idol Series
- James Malone Series - James Malone (Arsis) signature
- Jazz Series
- Lyon Series - named after George Washburn's family name - affordable electric guitars and basses featuring traditional Fender and Gibson designs.
- Maverick Series
- Maya Series
- N Series – Nuno Bettencourt (Extreme) signatures
- Oscar Schmidt
- Paul Stanley Series - designed by the co-founder of KISS
- Rocker Series
- Scott Ian Series - Scott Ian (Anthrax) signatures
- Shadow Series
- Signature Series [Washburn has so many dedicated artists, with their own signature guitars that it would not be practical to list them all]
- Stage Series
- Stage Series [Reissue]
- Stealth, 333/Floyd Rose, 332/Stop Bar and Culprit designs made for Dimebag Darrell of Pantera and Damageplan
- Wing Series
- X Series
Acoustic:
- Acoustic / Electric – acoustic guitars that can be plugged into amplifiers
- Classical
- Disney by Washburn
- Dreadnoughts
- Folk Style
- Jumbos
- Paul Stanley Series
- USA – guitars made in the Mudelein, IL factory.
- Travel Acoustic – small guitars.
Voice Contour Control
Many Washburn guitars equipped with humbuckers have a feature called VCC, which is currently available only on Washburn. VCC stands for Voice Contour Control and it is a unique system that is similar to coil tapping , in that it changes the tone of your humbucking pick-up to that of a single coil, but it does it by turning the tone knob. In doing so you get every sound from your humbucker to the P-90 to the single coil and all points in between, all without the hum normally associated with single coils. In other words, it gives the player the option of a warm/thick humbucker sound, or a thinner single coil sound at the twist of a knob. With VCC at 10 on the guitar knob, you get a fuller, thicker sound characteristic of humbucking pickups.
Notable Washburn innovations (Promotional)
Over the years, Washburn designed (patented and trademarked) several prominent guitar construction features:
- Buzz Feiten Tuning System — a corrected temperation tuning formula, which uses a compensated nut and saddle to correct the inherent intonation problems of the Western tuning formula. This system comes standard on all USA made Washburn guitars and basses and is featured on select imported models.[2]
Here is a look at the headstock of a Washburn RB2802 8-String Bass which uses the Buzz Feiten Tuning System.- Stephen's Extended Cutaway — special modification of bolt-on neck joint.[citation needed]
- Voice Contour Control - a special coil structure that allows a blend between a humbucker mode and a single-coil mode on the same pickup.[3]
Endorsers
Washburn were the first company to use the mechanism of endorsements:[citation needed] instrument manufacturer and famous artist secure a contract that states:
- Manufacturer provides custom-shop instrument that suits the artist best, for free (or even paying artist).
- Artists promotes his or her usage of that instrument and advertises manufacturer company.
This process greatly promotes the whole industry. Beginning artists often try to copy the sound of their favourite artists and thus try to use the same equipment. Endorsements help both manufacturers and consumers: beginning artists get to know what kind of equipment their idol uses and can copy their sound easier, and companies raise sales.[citation needed]
The whole list of Washburn endorsers.
Product lineup
Signature models
- Nuno Bettencourt models are flagshipped by the American hand-made N4. The N4 guitar is a small reverse headstock super-strat which features the unique Stephen's Extended Cutaway neck joint for easy access to the higher frets. It also contains Bill Lawrence and Seymour Duncan pickups, and a Floyd Rose licensed tremolo. The production budget models of this guitar which are machine built in Korea are known as the N1 and N2 which feature standard bolt-on necks and lower grade pickups and tremolo systems. The N3 (discontinued) was also produced in Korea and sported the Stephen's Extended Cutaway but used lower grade pickups. Nuno has also endorsed several Washburn acoustic models.
- Paul Stanley models consist of the PS600[4] and PS800[5] (extensively used while touring with KISS), as well as the "Preacher" PS7000[6]/PS7200/PS9000/PS9200 (which he used during his 2006-2007 tour to promote his solo album Live to Win). Stanley's line also includes the PS9 and PS11E acoustic guitars that feature his image on the front and come bundled with a custom gig bag.[7]
- George Washburn / Stephens Extended Cutaway electric models were introduced in 1987 and designed entirely by Stephen Davies. They are high end instruments which showed the era of overpowered superstrats. The EC series had 3 models named Atlantis, the "Challenger" or "Spitfire". The EC 29 and EC 36 were the very first guitars to be MASS-produced which incorporated over 27 frets. The EC26 (Atlantis) had 26 frets, was made in the U.S.A. and it's a very rare model.
- Nick Catanese Signature Model (1999) Idol Series for Nick Catanese.
- Dan Donegan Signature Model/Maya Series (2003): A six string electric guitar series for Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan and named after his daughter Maya. There are currently two models of this guitar: Maya Standard guitar (DD70) and Maya Pro guitar (DD75). Both use Seymour Duncan pickups.
- Bootsy Collins Space bass (2006): Signature model for Bootsy Collins. Features Fender Jazz Bass pickups.
Washburn CP2003 "Culprit"- Dimebag Darrell ML body style Dimebag Signature series. Washburn's Dean ML-style Dime 333 and radical Gibson Explorer-like Dime Culprit models were the most popular. The Dime 333 had a Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo, the 332 model featured a stop-tail bridge.
The Culprit, with its sliced-up Explorer-style body, featured a Floyd Rose tremolo, a mirror pickguard and a pair of hot ceramic humbucking pickups with chrome cover.
- Steve Stevens Signature Model (1993) SS80 and SS100 models made at Washburn's Chicago custom shop. The SS40 was mass produced in Korea. The SS80 was produced in black with gold hardware and a Schaller-licensed Floyd Rose tremolo, Seymour Duncan JB humbucking pickups. The SS100 featured black hardware and Frankenstein monster graphics.
References
External links
Categories:- Guitar manufacturing companies
- Musical instrument manufacturing companies
- Companies based in Chicago, Illinois
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