new(old) washburn

[spider murphy]

I picked up an '85 washburn hm20-v a week ago(CL). The guy wanted $80.00 but would take trades as well; I offered him an air rifle and he accepted. I'm not really an odd shaped guitar type but thought for $80.00 how can i really go wrong. i could prob get more than i spent on the guitar by selling the wonderbar trem.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g.../777777060.jpg

[xbolt]

I think that is a Japanese Matsumoku built Washburn...Those pickups are pretty nasty and full sounding

[spider murphy]

Yeah I'm pretty sure it is Japanese. The pickups are very full sounding. They would be good pickups for some really heavy doom/sludge. I'll probably put a couple 81s in there some time down the road as i prefer a bit hotter pickup than these.

[Accept2]

It is Japanese, but its Kasuga. Amazing deal for $85...........

[spider murphy]

Wouldn't it have a K at the beginning of the serial # if it was Kasuga made? i got this info online so it may not be accurate.

[zeegler]

Yeah, it's definitely not an Uncle Mat. Also, those pickups are absolutely horrendous, but considering you stole that motherfucker, replacing the pickups isn't a disaster.

Great score!

By the way, you could sell the Wonderbar trem on Ebay for about $150-200.

[spider murphy]

The pickups sound a bit like EMG selects(maybe re-badged?). A bit dark and slightly muddy when distortion is used. Oddly, they sound good for bluesy stuff.
I may end up selling the wonderbar in the future but am having fun with it at the moment...kind of like having an over engineered Bigsby if you know what I mean.

[zeegler]

The pickups sound a bit like EMG selects(maybe re-badged?). A bit dark and slightly muddy when distortion is used. Oddly, they sound good for bluesy stuff.
I may end up selling the wonderbar in the future but am having fun with it at the moment...kind of like having an over engineered Bigsby if you know what I mean.

I'm pretty sure that they are EMG Selects. I threw mine in the garbage. :ROTF:

[spider murphy]

I suspected that they were. It may be the guitar itself but the pickups sound better clean than your typical selects. With distortion though they have your typical select assed out tone.

[xbolt]

I believe they had two series of pickups that looked like that...similar to EMGs.

The Japanese and then Korean Samicks...they sounded very different.

[spider murphy]

Maybe somewhere along it's history someone switched the pickups to the Korean versions(or mine just sound like shit)? I don't believe that this guitar itself is Korean made because this model was only made for a few years in the mid eighties, and as far as i know Korean manufacture didn't start until the early nineties. I could be mistaken though.

[straycat]

Cool actually.

[k65h]

Excellent score!

[spider murphy]

I've had this guitar for about a month now and it has become a favorite. I have even grown to like the way it looks which is a bit odd, as I'm not fond of "metal" looking guitars. I had dropped two 81s in her to see how she sounded and was impressed(temporarily borrowed from my sl2ht). Very thick punchy sound. The neck feels a bit like a 24 fret les paul. High register access could be better, but I'm no shredder so it's no problem for me(others might be turned off though). It took me about a week to realize that it had dual push/pulls, as it had not occurred to me to check so that was a nice surprise. Lots of tonal possibilities. All in all it's a great guitar especially for the price paid.

[Rsmacker]

fett would be proud of you, dogging in an air rifle against it, nice job.

Great guitar for the pose, get your Mrs to look sullen and hold it whilst you mime to "Addicted to Love", video it and post it on Youtube please.