Washburn Guitars

New Gear/New Toys Review: Washburn Guitars Two New Revival Series Acoustics

The two new Washburn Revival Series guitars take their design inspiration from classic 1930s Washburn models. The Revival Solo Dreadnought (RSD135-D) is an all-solid Sitka spruce and mahogany guitar that is based on Washburn's rare 1937 model 5246 dreadnought.

The solid Sitka spruce top and scalloped-X bracing gives the Solo Dreadnought a loud, rich sound. It has the original's look, a Washburn "smile" bridge, a 1930s style headstock and Solo Dreadnought tortoise pick guard. Designed to optimize player comfort, the guitar is built with a neutral-C shaped neck and comes with Graphtech Ratio-tuned tuners.

Each guitar will have a serial number from 1883-2018, representing Washburn's 135 years of making great guitars. This model comes with an arched-top hard shell case for protection and storage. Only 135 of these Solo Dreadnoughts have been produced at Washburn's US custom shop. It sells for $1,999 MAP.

The Revival Solo Deluxe Grand Auditorium (RSG100S) pictured) is an electric/acoustic version of the 1939 Solo Deluxe guitar that features a torrefied Sitka spruce top and bracing and solid mahogany is used for the back and sides. Washburn's torrefaction process is applied to both the soundboard and bracing to age and stabilize these materials in the same way that over 20 years of air-drying would so that the internal resins are crystallized and all suspended water removed.

With a classic, Washburn's 1930s style sunburst design, and Fishman GT-2 under saddle pickup it comes with a deluxe arched-top hard shell case and sells for $849 MAP.

www.washburn.com.

Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com