Washburn A-10 (ORIGINAL)

Washburn A-10 (original); Manufactured: 1981; Purchased used by me in 1986 for $220.00
--Finish: High gloss clear coat over fire engine red body, neck and headstock with ebony binding outling top--which is FLAT, no arch at all.
--Body style: Solid body, flat as flat gets; unique to Washburn, it's what I call a "sawn-off explorer" type of single cutaway, w/ no silly pointed ends poking out anywhere.
--Neck-through-body, small headstock down-turned w/ all stock "George Washburn" (printed on back) tuners on top, in tight fitting row.
--Rosewood fret board, mother-of pearl dot inlays, ebony binding runs body to nut along fret board
--polygonal black truss rod cover, with white "A-10" engraved,
--Bridge and tailpiece: Kahler tremelo (de-commissioned with wood putty and balsa filled in back by me) with saddle rollers & 6 fine-tuners (still operable); 6 slotted string ball seats; locking nut other end, w/ 3 allen-head-operated string locks
--4 control knobs for the stock dual humbuckers, 1 volume 1 tone for each pickup; ***NOTE: Stock p/u's were good and loud, w/ never a buzz or pop; but I replaced the lead w/ a "MightyMite - Motherbucker", giving me more output than even an Invader from DiMarzio, and more gritty snarl and growl with no feedback issues--ever. ***
--Standard 3 way toggle switch near end of cutaway; not down by the knobs
--cable jack in rear of body, approx 6" down (when standing up w/ guitar slung) from rear strap nut
--22 frets on "flat", narrow, thin and screaming fast neck
--Woods: ?, not sure--relatively light axe--approx 8 lbs.
--Serial number indicates Year of Manufacture should be: "1981"; made in USA, I presume

--My Style: Crunchy, palm-muted metal shredding at 300 mph; stopping on a dime to change-up tempos or whip out a 20 second "solo"; Essentially thrashing hardcore metal/punk, but very, very tight and in control
--Use a Mike Soldano-tuned 1978 Marshall JMP 100watt Master Lead head w/ Two 4 x 12" JCM900 series cabs; an in-line Chromatic tuner pedal, into a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, into a TS9 Ibanez Tube Screamer; amp settings are secret
--The Shape is Suited For Shredders: The back of the body has a perfect indent, crescent-shaped "cut-out", where if you sling it low (as I do) it, with a slight flex of your arms, it allows you to be right on top of the main business area of this beautiful machine. Because it's top is flat, there's no scaling a mountain to get up onto the bridge for palm-muting "jigga-jigga" metal licks (which is my main deal); unlike most archtops, or thicker axes when I've hung them way low, where you can dislocate a wrist trying to position the outside of your palm on the bridge when neccesary. This is really key for my (main) style of playing, to be in total control of the positioning of my palm between the bridge and tail piece at all times. Second, the neck is absolutely perfectly designed for my playing, and is VERY UNIQUE to guitar design in general. It has a "V" shape to it, as opposed to a "U" shape. Slighty offset, so as to perfectly accomadate your thumb and four fingers all the way up and down. It's as though when designing it, someone had a tube of clay the length of the neck-- and lightly sqeezed it, up and down (alright! Come on sick-o's!....sheesh!) like they were playing air guitar--then stopped and said, "OK! That's the neck...carve it outta wood now and it'll be perfect!" 'Cuz it is perfect.
--Sound: It's got almost the "beef" of a LP Standard (which my 1960 gold-dipped re-issue--bought in 1993--"hooted" feedback too much so I sold it), but the bite and cat-like claws of a Mighty-Mite Motherbucker hot-rodded '63 SG (which I have and love); So it is a bright, scary monster like a raging beast in the right hands, but can be "brought back" with a slight tug of its leash to curl up in your lap and become soft, warm and tame, when neccesary. Essentially, if you learn to control your knobs this one, right off the shelf is definetly a "go to" axe covering the needs of both a Strat guy and a Les Paul guy in most any metal band-- by virtue of its fast neck and light weight, but also its solid, confident overall feel with full, deliberate crunch, attack, endless controllable sustain and punchy output.

--See above for most playability details
--The tremelo was a pain, so I made it total "frozen" by filling in the area in back with the movable parts and springs or whatever; All those Floyd's and Kahlers and such never tollerated my playing very well, so I never use them;
--Recently replaced the original stock dual humbucker with a Mighty Mite in the lead, which gave it more of a "RRRRO-O-O-O-W-W-W-L-L-L" tone than before, but the extra output I needed for maximum pre-gain with still even less feedback problems than before (which were minimal).
--1 tuning peg (G-string) got loose and kinda wobbled for a day or two, but "fixed itsef" somehow, now it's fine.

--The A-10 takes a massive nighly beating like no other guitar I own; and comes back for more without any warps, cracks, buzz, or anything resembling a failure in manufacturing.
--This guitar has been all over the world, on planes, in the belly of tour buses, thrown into the back of a van full of drum hardware night after night wearing nothing but a gig bag--and STILL plays better than most axes do right off the shelf. It's built like a tank, but has the looks of a tricycle; go figure!
--Replaced the jack once since 1986, other than the p/u I mentioned, everything else is stock and holding up amazingly well considering what I've put this baby through.

--Never needed/used any warranty
--Had minor set-ups done since 1986, totalling maybe 4 times
--Local guitar repair shop installed pick-up in lead position--early 2007

--I've been playing since 1980
--This guitar is the main reason I still love to shred the F#% outta music with my band. It writes my riffs practically for me, leading me down new paths and uncovering new sounds on a daily basis.
--If it were ripped-off, I'd travel the globe to find the S.O.B. and beat him/her senseless with the guitar they stole; plug it in and play a flawless set that night.
--A really overlooked gem of a guitar that's timimg was it's downfall; Ever had really "bad timing", like "almost there..."?? Sorta like being signed to Geffen Records when Guns and Roses hit, but your band is Warrior Soul (one of my all time faves)--amongst the Kramers, Jacksons and what-not of the time, the A-10 seemed to get lost in the shuffle somehow. Good, cuz I'm one lucky f@#%er for being one of the few to take a chance on this little red, weird-looking axe hanging on the wall that day at the guitar shop; and I like being a little different. 'Keeps 'em guessing.