Washburn A-20V Stage Series

AS A 14 YEAR OLD KID I WOULD DROOL AT THIS GUITAR. AT THE TIME IT WAS BEING WORN BY ONE MICKEY MOODY OF THE EARLY AND BEST WHITESNAKE LINE UP.22 YEARS LATER AND A LOT OF SEARCHING I NOW OWN MY VERY OWN.SHE'S A DREAM TO HOLD,SOLID AND WIEGHTY AS A GIBSON BUT SMALLER AND EASIER TO MOVE AROUND WITH THAN MY HAMER STANDARD. THE GUY LISTED BELOW GIVES YOU ALL THE DETAILS BUT I'D LIKE TO ADD THAT THE FLAMED TOP IS SECOND TO NONE I'VE SEEN ON ANY GIBSON LES PAUL. I PROUDLY OWN 5 AND THE WASHBURN LEAVES THEM STANDING IN THE SHADOWS (OF LOVE!)

THE CLEVER COIL TAP PULL-UP VOLUME KNOBS ON BOTH THE NECK AND BRIDGE PICK UPS GIVE YOU A CHOICE BETWEEN A LIGHTER ALMOST TELE TONE AND A FULL FAT HUMBUCKING DELIVERY.

THE NECK IS A JOY, CHUNKY ENOUGH TO HOLD YOU DOWN, BUT FLAT AND FAST FOR RUNING AWAY WITH.THE WHOLE VIDE IS A LES PAUL THATS BEEN HEATED UP,RE-SHAPED,AND THEN COOLED BACK DOWN AGAIN....FOR ME IT'S A WONDERFUL CHANGE WITHOUT LOOSING THE GIBSON LES PAUL FEEL.

MY GIRL IS OVER 20 YEARS OLD AND LOOKS LIKE A NEW GUITAR,GO FIGURE!THE BINDING HAS MELLOWED A LITTLE BUT I CANT REALLY FAULT ANYTHING.

WITH THESE? N/A

LIKE I SAID I'M A TRUE GIBSON LES PAUL MAN,THERES ONLY A FEW OTHERS THAT HAVE BEEN KEPT IN MY OWN COLLECTION, BELIEVE ME THIS GUITAR WILL STAY FOR THE LONG RIDE!IF YOU CAN FIND ONE - DON'T BREATH UNTIL YOU OWN IT!

Bought the guitar new back in 1985 ... I'm thinking it was made in the U.S. (but who knows). There is a serial number stamped (and now faded) on the back of the neck. Full 24 fret neck ... The neck has always impressed me most - as it's wide and relatively flat. Perfect for big fingers (like mine). The neck starts out smaller towards the head and widens slightly toward the pickups. The strings (likewise) are closer together at the top and wider towards the pickups. When I buy my next guitar, it will be a custom made JET / Rick Gledura / or Jaros ... I will make sure the neck is very close in design to my Washburn A-20V because I love it. Just for the record, playing other guitars always sucks because I'm so in love with my washburn wide, flat neck. So what else, it's a white color that's faded to ivory. But extremely durable !!! It's got a Washburn 2001 tremelo and it works wonderfully. I'm not a tremelo freak and the next guitar won't even have one. But I can say the thing stays in tune very well.

I was never satisfied with the stock sound ... It always sounded dead somehow. I purchased a Marshall 25/50 Watt amplifier and speaker cabinet (this helped). But in the end, I replaced the pickups with DiMarzio Super Distortion humbuckers. Therein, I finally get that fat sound and tone I like. Sounds ... Well, this guitar rocks !!! I play heavy strings and man-o-man sometimes when I hit a note I can feel it vibrating in the neck and body. I really love this. I'm thinking it's the neck-through-body design that also supports this lovely resonation.

I mentioned how wonderful the neck is designed (wide and flat). This makes for beautiful action. Quite honestly, I've yet to find another guitar that is so easy and silky smooth to play. But I've heard stories and I know there are some out there somewhere. Since the action is wonderful, it makes for speedy work running the board. I just run up and down the thing like a (use your own expression here). I love playing lead work on it ... It's a pleasure and suites my style.

Could a guitar be more durable ... It's 2003 and my Washburn A-20V has been around for 18 years (that's a long time). It's travelled with me all over the world (literally). It was my first guitar and I will NEVER sell it. It's design has made my style of playing what it is. I play a chord progression (or not) and solo around (up-and-down) the neck where it suites me before jumping back into the chord(s). Again, the neck is a DREAM. Durable ... Yeah, very !! Maybe it's got a small ding (barely to see) - but after 18 years, it's still my MAIN SQUEEZE.

What can I say, never had to call Washburn ... Never needed support. Never had to fix anything. Even the intonation is still in place via the wonderful Washburn 2001 tremelo system. Besides, I'm one of those people who think that the individualism in music comes from being less than perfect (both me and the instrument). In other words, I'm not sure I want something that's perfect.

I've been playing for 18 years. My Washburn A-20V was my first guitar. I'll never sell it ... It's a part of me. If it were stolen or lost, I would cry. It would be like loosing someone close to me. This guitar is my baby, my son, my wife, my love. My soul is inside it in so many ways. I mentioned (over-and-over again) that I really love the neck because it's wide and relatively flat. I love the neck through body design and the resonation I get sometimes on certain notes on the low E string (I can feel the body vibrate with the note). I really love that feeling. The only thing I hate is the guitar is pretty one dimensional. I get one sound, it's really nice though - it's a heavy rock sound ... If I need a different sound I switch to another guitar, but I don't like playing them like I do the Washburn. The other thing I dislike is the guitar is HEAVY. I'm getting old and wearing the guitar for a few hours on stage can make me sore in the back ... Nobody can argue there. It's a TANK which is also what gives it the durability and heavy tone.

This is the Washburn Explorer commonly reffered to as the Howard Leese(Heart) model Washburn.
I'm not too sure of the year, late 70's or early 80's I believe.
I have the stunning flametop in a cherrysunburst finish.
It came with some OK washburn humbuckers with push/pull pots for a nice wide variety of tones.
I am a simple player so I swapped the bridge pickup for a 70's Dimarzio Super Distortion and got rid of the gimikky push/pull pots.
I disconected the neck pup so I could used my toggle switch for a rotary vibe effect ala Randy Rhoads with his Les Paul.(Suicide Solution live off the Tribute disc)
I'm not really sure what wood it is. The grain and weight suggest mahogony.
This is a true neckthrough guitar. The sustain is great! THis axe originally came with a string through hardtail bridge that was swapped for a Washburn "Wonderbar" tremolo (GREAT TREM!)
Great neck. HARD V profile to say the least.

This guitar ROCKS! I can play everything from GIlmour to RHoads and everything in between. Best suited for HARD ROCK/Metal.

GOT the guitar used but played great.
Swapped electronice to suit my own taste.
The flametop is gorgeous! THe back is just as pretty with real wood cavity covers to match the grain of the body..Nice touch!

THis guitar could withstand a third world war. It is built like a tank. VERY sturdy guitar.
The finsih is in excellent shape. No checking or chipping what-so-ever.
I would never usa a guitar without a backup.. that's just plain stupid.

Talked wih Washburn about the history of this model. Very friendly guy I spoke to. He prmised me a brochure which i Never recieved though.

My A-20 was made in Japan in dezember 1985 (stamp in the neck pickup routing).
There are 22 medium frets in the ebony fretboard (25 3/8 " scale), with nice brass ring inlays in the normal positions and black sidedots in the creme binding.
The thru-neck is made of maple with a walnut center stripe, the body is made of light ash, with a nice flamed maple veneer and a creme binding - just as the headstock. Shapewise this guitar reminds you of a Gibson Explorer distantly (There's a pic on my webpage: http://people.freenet.de/smooth_smurf/index.htm ).
The two stock passive humbucking pickups are slightly hotter than a PAF and can be split by the push/pull tonepots; Gibson-style threeway toggle and two volume controls complete the electrics.
The dark cherry sunburst finish is still looking great.
The massive cast bridge bridge with brass saddles and through-body-stringing, the brass nut and the capsuled Washburn tuners (still smooth) are still original but I replaced the strap buttons by Schaller security locks last year.

I played hardrock, funk, blues and jazz on this guitar and it seems to fit all styles - great allrounder, you wouldn't expect when looking at the shape.
Acoustically there's a well defined, but punchy bass, clear midrange and brilliant, but not too sharp highs, so you can get nice clean sounds especially with the pickups split; something like a good Telecaster but with much more sustain.
In full humbucking mode, there is a lot of midrange and fat bass added and you're ready to rock; all beef, no tofu (though it doesn't sing in the high notes as my Les Paul, but near by).

Great craftsmanship. Did I mention the cavity covers on the back are made of the same piece of ash, for example?
The wide fretboard with its pefectly rounded fret ends offers real good playability.
Though the necks extreme V-shape won't be everybodys darling...
Only an 8 because of this.

This is one of my main guitars for gigging since late 1994 and never made any troubles. The hardware and finish are lasting for a 17 years by now though previous owners didn't treat this guitar carefull at all - what more can you expect?

Never needed any.

This one is way more versatile than my Les Pauls, while more substantial than my Strats or Jacksons, allowing me not to have to change the guitar every second song.
My Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro (something like a PRS handmade in England) is the only other of my Guitars that offers me this while not looking that cool.
But when it comes to dirty bottleneck work, the A-20 is still my favourite :-)

I have an original wahhburn A-20V stage series guitar. I found it several years ago in a pawn shop. However, it was sold before I could buy it. A few months later it turned up in a music store in the same town. I traded a floor moniter and a small amplifier for it. It is now the primary guiter I play. The guitar has a white finish, which with age, has turned ivory or antique in color. It has blood red binding, an ebony fret board, and a locking tremelo system with black hardware. Never, have I found another tremelo system like this one. It is completely unique, and probably the sturdiest tremelo system I have ever used. The mechanics are difficult to describe. No musician I have met has any recollection of this type of tremelo system. It has dual humbuckers, three way toggle switch, two way tone and volume, as well as built in compression. This is probably the most versital guitar I have ever owned.

Sound wise, I have been able to achieve almost any sound I want, from light and beautiful, to heavy and screaming. This guitar has a very dynamic sound in all aspects, mainly due to the built in compression and two way tone and volume. The distorted sound is very rich and thick. The overall sound varies with different effects processors. I have made sounds which do not seem natural for an electric guitar. It is really the type of guitar that requires experimentation. As far as quality, it is really a matter of opinion. I have never found the PERFECT sound.

The action and set up was ok. After adjusting the tremelo, neck alignment, and intonation myself, it now has the best action of any guitar I have ever owned.

This is a very sturdy guitar, but the neck doesen't stand up to heat very well. For the action setting, I have, I keep a certain amount of tension on the neck at all times. This allows the neck to give in only one direction, should extreme temperatures on stage effect the guitar. Should temperatures effect the guitar it will bow slightly backward, rather than warp forward. As low as the action is set, it prevents my notes from ringing out as the strings reach further down to the frets. As a result, I know when the neck is shifting before an actual bow occurs. I let it out a milimeter and keep going. It's not a bad neck. It just reqiures a knoledge of different types of maintence, and proper maintence. It is however, the most comfortable neck I have played . I feel possibly, an adjustable, bolt on neck of the same make, would better suit this guitar,rather than a solid fixed neck, as this would allow for adjustment of neck angle to action; makeing tension manipulation less necessary.

I have never purchased anything from the company directly. I did however, sometime ago, E-mail an inquiry on my guitar asking about the make, model, value, and especially, the unusual tremelo system. I recieved no help at all, and the person e-mailing me back, said that the company did not answer those type of questions.

If this guitar was ever lost I would definitely make my strongest attempt in acquiring a new one. I can't really compare it to any other guitar. The only thing I would really like to have on this guitar would be more freedom to adjust the neck angle, and less necessity of manipulating the tension.

My A20-V I purchased new in 1984. It has Cream binding on the body, neck, & headstock. came with 2 humbuckers and standard bridge.

Original pickups were OK but I replaced them with Seymore Duncan Super Distortions. Now this guitar is a sceamer!

This guitar is the easiest to play of any that I have picked up in my life. I recently bought a Gibson Les Paul Custon Flametop and it doesn't hold a candle to the A20-V in action. Both fretboards are very similar but the Washburn is much smoother.

I added a Floyd Rose locking tremolo.

The finish is beautiful and flawless, the back has a cherry color that you can see the woodgrain through.

Never had a problem, dropped it several times and it also made it through a house fire and it still plays like new even though it was soaked in water fo 3 days from the fire department.

Never had a problem.

Don't know when this was made and also don't know what wood it is made of except to say that it is a very light colour where the dings have revealed it. It is a typicall Stage series shape i.e. similar to an explorer but more compact and very nice. Two tone and volume controls with pot-pull coil taps and two washburn cream humbuckers. Passive electrics. Fingerboard is rosewood with brass ring inlays and brass nut. Strat bridge with trem. Nice smooth Washburn sealed machine heads. Neck is a rounded V-profile graduating to a normal rounded profile near the body and is very nice to play. Colour is pink all over(!) with none of the wood revealed except, of course, the fingerboard and the dings.

Sounds good but you don't get a lot of variety. Has a lovely clean sound with a 'chimey' quality and a nice overdrive sound, not as thick as a Les Paul and not with as much bite. Sustain good. I've brightened it up with the introduction of two new pickups. A Duncan Distortion in the bridge and a Dimarzio FRED in the neck. I use a Marshall 2x12 combo and Pod.v2 This guitar is very quiet in terms of electrical noise. I rewired the coil tap switches for series/parallel operation to maintain hum cancellation.

Action is ok but it needs setting up properly. Frets are excellent, well finished and the neck is much easier to play than my Les Paul. Electrics are quiet. I looked around for ages for one of these guitars and could only find one is candy pink, ugh. Actually it's not all that bad but I would have preferred one of the flame top varieties which are stunning. There is a white binding around the body, neck and headstock of the guitar. The finish is not perfect as you can see vertical lines running down the length of the body from the wood underneath.

Guitar should withstand live playing. The finish seems durable but the strap buttons are just the usual type. So if you sling it around a lot (poser!) then you ought to fit locking strap buttons.

Never dealt with them.

Been playing about 12 yrs. If lost I would like another one as only the Stage series comes in this nice shape and it has a great neck. I would try not to find a pink one however! Worst thing about the guitar is the balance. It does a nose dive for the floor when you're wearing a strap and let go of it. I wish it had a locking nut as the trem is almost useless without one. I don't know why they bothered really as it would have been better with a tune-o-matic style bridge and stop tailpiece combination.