Washburn Guitars

Washburn Guitars
Subsidiary
Industry Musical instruments
Founded 1883 (1883) in Chicago, Illinois
Founder George Washburn Lyon
Headquarters Chicago, Illinois, USA
Area served
Worldwide
Products Electric, acoustic & resonator guitars
Bass Guitars
Banjos
Mandolins
Ukuleles
Amplifiers
Parent US Music
Website washburn.com

Washburn Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer. It was established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. Washburn is a division of US Music Corp..

History

Washburn Banjorine (1892).
Parlor guitar (1894) and "New Model" (1896)
right: archtop guitar model 5250 (1928).

Washburn guitars began making hand-crafted instruments in 1883 in Chicago, IL, as a division of stringed instrument maker Lyon & Healy.[1] Lyon & Healy sold sheet music, reed organs, and smaller musical instruments since 1864. Eventually, the firm began manufacturing a wide variety of musical instruments. Washburn (guitars, mandolins, banjos, and zithers) become the firm's premier line of plucked string instruments. The name "Washburn" originates from the middle name of George Washburn Lyon, one of the founders of Lyon & Healy.[2]

In 1912 Washburn introduced the Lakeside Jumbo guitar which is considered the first dreadnought sized guitar.[3] It bridged the gap between smaller bodied parlor guitars of the late 19th and early 20th century and modern day dreadnought and jumbo acoustic guitars. Washburn currently offers a reissue of that model as the LSJ749.

In the 1980s, Washburn introduced the Festival Series of Acoustic/Electric guitars. They were thinner than standard acoustic guitars, thereby reducing the susceptibility to feedback that previous acoustic/electric designs were notorious for. The addition of patented sound slots further reduced the possibility of feedback and the guitars quickly became the go-to stage acoustic for artists such as Jimmy Page, George Harrison and Bob Dylan. In the early 1990s when MTV introduced their Unplugged series, hardly a show went by without seeing a Festival Series guitar. The design also lent itself well to acoustic basses and it wasn’t long before nearly every bassist of the era had to have one.

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.[4]

Past and present models

WG587 7-string guitar.
N4 Special
Electric
HB35.
J5 Jazz guitar.
Bass
left: AB-10 acoustic bass.
right: XB0-600 6-string bass (right).
Acoustic
D100DL acoustic.

Notable Washburn innovations

Headstock of a Washburn RB2802 8-String Bass which uses the Buzz Feiten Tuning System.

Over the years, Washburn designed (patented and trademarked) several guitar construction features:

Voice Contour Control

Many Washburn guitars equipped with humbuckers have a feature called Voice Contour Control (VCC). VCC is similar to coil splitting, in that it changes the tone of a humbucking pick-up to that of a single coil, but it does it by turning the tone knob. In doing so the musician can get every sound from the warm/thick humbucker to the P-90 to the thinner single coil and all points in between, all without the hum normally associated with single coils.

Endorsers

Washburn uses the mechanism of endorsements, where:

This process greatly promotes the whole industry. Beginning artists often try to copy the sound of their favorite 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.

The current list of Washburn Signature endorsers. Standard Washburn Endorsers.

Product lineup

Current Signature Product Lineup

N4 XX anniversary edition.

Previous Signature Product lineup

DIME 333 (Dean ML-style).
CP2003 "Culprit".

References

  1. Hubert Pleijsier (2008). Washburn Prewar Instrument Styles. Anaheim Hills, CA: Hal Leonard. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-57424-227-0.
  2. "History of Lyon & Healy - origin of Washburn name". Lyon & Healy, Inc.
  3. John Teagle, U.S. Music Corp. (1996). Washburn, Over One Hundred Years of Fine Stringed Instruments (1st ed.). New York: Amsco Publications. p. 73. ISBN 0-8256-1435-X.
  4. "Washburn History". Washburn Guitars / U.S. Music Corp., a division of JAM Industries, LTD.
  5. "Buzz Feiten Tuning System". Washburn Guitars. Archived from the original on 2011-12-21.
  6. "The Washburn Days". Stephen's Extended Cutaway. 2010. Archived from the original on 2012-03-17.
  7. "Washburn Voics Contour Control (VCC)". Washburn Guitars. Archived from the original on 2011-12-29.
  8. "Ola Englund Signs With Washburn Guitars". Guitar Noize. July 1, 2013. Ola Englund recently posted an announcement that he wouldn’t be renewing his contract with S7 Guitars and I also recently mentioned that S7G are no longer manufacturing the Strandberg Boden and Washburn have taken over those duties. Well it seems Washburn are making a big move back into the Metal guitar community as Ola Englund (not to be confused with Ola Strandberg) has just signed with Washburn to create a new Solar Series guitar, which will be part of the new Parallaxe series. Also Ola has just joined Swedish band The Haunted ...
  9. "Washburn WSD5249 Acoustic Guitar". Washburn Guitars. The Warren Haynes Signature Model WSD5249 / Proudly hand-built in the Buffalo Grove, USA Factory, the Washburn WSD5249 acoustic guitar is based on the original Washburn Solo Deluxe from 1937, which is similar in size to the popular OM shaped guitars commonly found on the market today. ... 2-piece back is split by a vintage-inspired '30s zipper-style inlaid herringbone stripe. ... adorned with a '30s style rosewood capped headstock with intricately inlaid pearl appointments and period-correct Washburn logo.
  10. "Washburn Paul Stanley Series Electric Guitars". Washburn Guitars. Archived from the original on 2014-08-12. PS10BK / PS10WHK / PS12BK / PS12WHK / PS2012B / PS2012WH / PS2014TS
  11. "Washburn Stu Hamm Series Bass Guitars". Washburn Guitars. Archived from the original on 2014-04-19. SHB30B / SHB30SVS / SHB40RS / SHB40TNG / SHB60NM / SHB60TSS / SHBH3N / SHBH3TNG

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