Washburn R316 SWRK 125 Anniversary Model

Aged Spruce Top, mohogony back and sides, ornate inlayed

It's got a "boxy" sound suitible for old timely flatpicking. Most suitable for Appalacian Irish persuasion, comparible to Norman Blake music.

The action is unbelievibly comfortable. The v-neck, string spacing for fat fingers, action is very low. A left hand muscle injury makes it hard to play my Martin but I have no problems with the Washburn. I have the antique finish.

Rarely out of tune. I play it every morning before work and twice per month in four hour sessions at the local senior center. Always dependable.

Washburn players will give this a 10. I miss the martin bass string so I, being bias, give it a nine.

This a plain parlor guitar with no pretenses or fancy this or that. It has sold wood construction (unlike others in this series) with a very thick neck.

Why do you buy a guitar? For the sound. This is not a $5000 guitar. It is aguitar that has the right sand for the finger pickin blues I play.

It always amazes me people will by the most expensive guitars with exotic woods and hand crafted inlays to play/sound like Mississippi John hurt and Robert Johnson

True, as other said it is not the most complex sounding, but is is great to listen to and play

It looks worn and beat up but plays great. If you pick it up (you need to like big necks) you will take it home

Have traveled over the country with it through the worst of conditions and it has held up well. Just recently I see the bridge is coming up. (See customer support)

These people are great. I called up and told them about the bridge and they instead that I return the guitar to them to insure it is repaired correctly. Oh yes- they paid shipping both ways

I own more guitars than I need. Santa Cruz, Dana, Martin. I love this guitar.

I would replace it in a heart beat if I could find one. You can't help but smile when you play it.

You now the feeling when you walk into a guitar shop and every so often a guitar calls your name. That is what this does

As mentioned in the last review... distressed replica finish. It looks very good. Parlour-sized guitar in a worldwide run of 250 with a certificate and a reproduction period sales catalogue. Made in Indonesia. Mine has the trembesi back and sides... very beautiful grain. Slotted headstock with open old-style tuners of no recognisable make which work well. The B tuner stuck a little but I eased it and it's fine now. Solid top. No inbuilt electronics. 12 frets to the neck. V-profile neck which I find very comfortable. Coffin-style replica case with 125th Anniversary logo in gold.

I play blues, ragtime and folk fingerstyle with occasional picking. The sound is really excellent and is what drew me to it in the shop. Typical bright parlour-size sound with a good timbre. I have owned many fine guitars over 45 years (Guild, Gibson, Manson 0-style, Lowden, Lakewood, La Patrie and others) and, despite its modest price, this is my favourite of them all. At least, on this particular example, everything works well... woods, build, setup to give a sound and playability that is perfect for me.

My example was well set up. Action was correct. No obvious flaws. Frets finished correctly. Only small problem was a loose (plastic) endpin which was easily fixed and I had to smooth the inlaid tops of the (plastic) bridge pins to rest my hand comfortably on the bridge for damping, etc. Again, fixed in a minute. Tuning holds perfectly... I have scarcely needed to retune and I am somewhat pernickety about that. Tuning button, endpin and bridge pins are all plastic but this isn't a very expensive guitar and you get those on much more expensive makes.

I only play acoustic sets and gigs these days and the guitar will stand up to these fine. It is quite light and may not suit heavy-duty use. I use two guitars on gigs, this one in standard tuning and another in open. Strap button is OK now (see above)!

No opinion on this and I hope I won't need to have one!

45 years playing. I own two other acoustic guitars (Yamaha APX 10CN... a rather rare stereo electro-classic, and a Norman B20F) and several mandolin family instruments (all luthier-built). If it were stolen or lost I would be very upset and there are only 249 others in the world, so would be unlikely to find another.

I love the sound, the size, the look and the playability... especially for the modest price.

I would hesitate to compare it to other guitars because this is an unusual special.

Here is the first acoustic guitar that I have come across with a true relic finish - very cool! It is a 0/00 size body usually refered to as a Parlor size. It has a slotted headstock with decent tuners that go along with its original year of production/ late 1800's. This guitar was made in Indonesia whish keeps the cost down an makes it affordable to anyone looking for a vintage Washburn Parlor. It has a solid spruce top and solid trembesi/koa like sides and back - beautiful grain. The neck is nice and wide with a huge V in the rear- good to play before you pay. Great guitar for finger style and light strumming. Great low end for a small body and decent volume. Comes with a period correct coffin case and a certificate of production/ with only 250 built in the world. also comes with a reissue Washburn guitar catalog/ very cool! Keep in mind this guitar is made to look old - it has dings,scratches,worn laquer etc...

This guitar screams--Blues and ragtime! and it sounds great playing bare finger style. One of the best parlors I have played in its price range.-- I love it!

My Parlor came to me set up by the dealer - so no problems - Great frets,bone nut and saddle. Also has a vintage style fan bridge/RW- That looks very similiar to the original. Again all the flaws are purely cosmetic --"its been reliced" Very cool vibe!

This guitar looks like its 125 years old and if you take care of it and keep it in its case. it should last another 125.

No need for Warranty service - But I have heard Washburn is very good to deal with.

I have owned a bunch of Parlor guitars- Larrivee,Martin,breedlove,Gibson,Epi,and others. With the affordability factor this is probely the coolest and most fun Parlor I have ever owned. Been playing off and on for over 40 years. I am not a expert but I know what I like and this little Parlor is a winner!

This is a recreation of an old Washburn parlor guitar. A small bodied , slot peghead guitar, with a 12th fret dovetail neck join.
Pretty decent 3-to-a-plate tuners, similar to the vintage originals.
Thin frets, Indian rosewood bridge and fingerboard, solid rosewood body and back, solid spruce (looks like sitka) top. Looks like high-x braced top. Sharp V shaped mahogany neck, equipped with a truss-rod. The neck is 1 and 17/8" wide, perfect for fingerstyle.
No electronics. Comes with a nice period coffin case, and a cert of authority. Appears to have a bone nut and saddle. Nice period-correct inlays.

Typical, somewhat thin/bright parlor sound. Has some clarity and focus.

The intonation is set up quite poorly. This is especially disappointing, because many other Washburn models are excellent in this respect.

The guitar may be suitable for casual open chord strumming, for folks who do not have particularly keen ears.
I can not recommend it for any type of music with harmonic complexity. I presume the fret placement is correct, so this problem could probably be remedied by a competent luthier by a slight re-location of the saddle.

The workmanship on this guitar was disappointing. It is advertised as a hand-built instrument. It appears that the builder(s) were either rather careless, poorly trained or both.

The concept for the guitar calls for some attempts to give it a weathered look, so the wood is artificially distressed. I can appreciate this, but it should not be an excuse for shoddy workmanship.

Examples of poor build quality include a crudely shaped nut, a forward twisting bridge, with a bulge in the top behind it, and a dip in the top in front of the bridge.
The rear of the bridge is beginning to separate from the top. The bridge's wings features some shell motive carvings, similar to the period ancestor guitar. These carvings are done with minimal apparent skill, and look rather crude.

To be fair, there are a few things that are done right.
The neck angle , neck joint, neck straightness and action are all
well done. The frets are level and polished. The peghead and various other abalone inlays are flawless. ( With the exception of the left side abalone dot on the bridge, which is not level with the surface, but sunk into the wood maybe 1/16 inch from the top.

The guitar would probably withstand live playing.

The finish is thin and soft, and unevenly applied. It seems the guitar will ding easily. This is in line with the appearance and finish of the corresponding period instrument.

The forward twisting and separating bridge is a major concern. These instruments are way too young to exhibit this sort of a problem.

The guitar features a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser.
I reported the various build quality issues to Washburn tech support, and they were very nice, prompt and courteous. They could not help me, since this was an Ebay purchase.

IMHO Washburn missed an opportunity to repair this guitar, and remove this substantial embarrassment from circulation.

Have been playing 30+ years. Lately mostly jazz and Travis style. I collect guitars, have many fine specimens. I bought this guitar sight unseen strictly based on Washburn's reputation. I have to admit I regretted it.

As-is, it is merely a wallhanger for me.

I love the features and the look. I love the fact this is a limited run, collectible instrument. I can not forgive the huge disappointment because of the poor build quality and poor intonation.
I allow that perhaps this one guitar is an anomaly, and there may be other incarnations that are better put together.

In any case, if you are thinking of getting one, be sure play it first or make sure you have some recourse in case it turns out like mine.

Some alternatives: Washburn's other parlor recreations such as the R306 aand R308 may be a better bet. They did not try to make those models look old, and that perhaps resulted in more attention to quality.

Blueridge has a couple of nice 0 size guitars, and Larrivee's parlor
guitars are extremely nice. Either is probably preferable.