Washburn C-104SCE

The Washburn C104SCE classical guitar has a solid cedar soundboard, rosewood neck, bridge, back and sides and comes with Grover tuning machines. The B-Band electronics significantly suppress feedback and the on-board tuner is easy to use, well positioned and accurate.

Acoustically the 4 inch deep cut away body projects a natural tone similar to non-electric classical guitars in the $250 range. The amplified sound is smooth and even with a very mellow, pleasant tone.

The C104 has two fit and finish problems; excess glue and cosmetic flaws in the binding. However, in spite of that the C104 still retains a nice overall appearance. The size and shape makes it very comfortable to play whether sitting or standing. The fingerboard is exceptional. Washburn kept the classical guitar neck and lowered the tension to create a nylon string guitar that is easy, accurate and fun to play. One of the great things you find with the C104 is the rare ability to place a capo anywhere up and down the guitars neck without creating the slightest string buzz. That feature makes the C104 ideal for vocal accompaniment.

The guitar comes with a limited lifetime warranty. Washburn will require you to produce your original receipt before honoring the agreement.

I called Washburn with a question that a representative could not answer and inside of an hour I received a return call with the correct information. In terms of the purchase, I bought this guitar for $329 at Sam Ash Music in Carle Place, New York where I was treated courteously and fairly.

Eventually you ignore the minor areas of excess glue and begin to enjoy the guitars playability and smooth sound. At $329 I consider the Washburn C104 the best classical-electric guitar in the entry level market. To do better you will need to step up to the Cordoba C5-CE at $400 or the $700 Yamaha CGX171.

2005 cutaway Classical, gloss finished - solid Cedar top, really gorgious Rosewood back and sides, 2 inch Mahogany neck. All real wood, not laminates. B-Bender 9 volt battery powered elecronics; active, very nice sound with Bass, Mid, Treble, Volume, and Presence, with low batter red light. Case ordered seperately.

I'm a finger-style picker. I use a crate Limo amp and a Crate CA30D, sounds great through both amps. Only problem was the High E and Low E strings would not amp right and the center strings blew away these strings in volume. Was useless amped. Store I bought it from through Ebay did great, sent me a new under saddle pickuo strip that goes with the B-Bender, problem solved. Unplugged, this guitar sounds fantastic; I mean above and beyond sound; I do not know why it sounds so good unamped because the top is extremely thick, but somehow the cedar top brings out a great beautiful rich sound!

Action is incredibly low after I had my Pastor who doubles as a guitar repair man work on it to rid a buzz and a fret out around the 9th fret. It had a blemish which reduced its cost; a glue or finish spot, not even a concern.

tough guitar! I have bumped this guitar around some and it still is great looking. Tuners are a pretty bright Gold. I own steel stringed Taylors and this is the guitar I pick up most. I trust it, but I never travel with just one guitar when I gig.

Washburn has yet to respond to any contact attempts on previous guitars I had easy questions about; how can I grade a complete no show company. They're definately not Taylor Guitars, who bend over backwards to answer your questions via email or toll free telephone.

I've been playing seriously 7 yrs. I own 3 Taylors and a few other guitars, one being a Washburn C40. Stolen or lost, I'd miss it big-time and if I couldn't afford to replace it with a Taylor Classical, I'd get another one of these. I'm a Taylor guitar lover, but this guitar is a satisfyer. Washburns PR looses the 10 rating in this overall category, sad huh? But I wonder why they are like this? Makes you affraid to buy their product in case of an even minor problem.

This is a 2005 electric cutaway. B-Band pickup system is it's only redeeming feature. The top is solid cedar (the picture on the Musician's Friend website was of a SPRUCE top-THAT'S WHY I ORDERED IT. The pickup system has the usual bass/treble/mid etc. controls. The factory strings are unbelievably bad.

I play jazz and fingerstyle guitar, and am a columnist for several guitar mags-I thought it would be practical for local gigs and arranging. The electric sound is full, though the bass is a little weak. I removed the saddle and found that the pickup isn't long enough to run the length of the saddle (it doesn't even go under the 6th string)! Brilliant!

Here's where this guitar really reeks-it's a cheap Chinese guitar, with rough frets, a nut that protrudes on either side of the neck, and last-but-not-least, pieces of wood lying about inide the guitar, presumedly from the process of cutting out the hole for the controls! I bought this guitar because I once owned a Washburn C64, and it was a decent guitar-so I ASSumed the 104 would be better! The globs of glue by the bridge and neck are also a nice touch.

I have been playing many years, as well as arranging for variuos publishers and magazines. If this guitar was stolen, I would be happy as a lark, and I will NEVER buy another Washburn product.

Previous reviewers have quite thoroughly and accurately covered the specificatons/history of this fine classical acoustic/electric guitar.

I am a "street" musician and play mostly ballads and jazz. This guitar's B-Bender pickup system captures great, balanced sound -full and bright. More important it gets away from the usual "sqeeky" piezo pickup distortion by using the superior (IMO) B-Bender electronics....allows me to get a mellow sound which blends well with our vocalist and other instruments. I am using this guitar with a Crate "Limo" battery powered amplifier which projects quite well. Our group also uses a Crate "Taxi" amplifier for our vocalist. Acoustically this guitar is acceptable for practice, but I seldom play it without the amplifier.

Guitar was well constructed and set up out of the box. As "usual" with these low priced guitars the tuners are marginal and the nut/saddle are both plastic and need changing. Go to tusq ASAP.

Classical guitars tend to be fragile "creatures" so proper handing/storage care is required. Finish is fine, I did replace the tuners/saddle-nut just out of personal preference.

Probably pathetic as are most manufacturers today. Move the goods and move on to the next customer seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

Been playing about ten years - l own seven other guitars each one serving a unique function in my instrument collection i.e. 12 strings etc. I did minimal comparison to similar instruments before making this purchase - Takamine 132C etc. I feel the Washburn offered the most "bang for the buck". I love the amplified sound; nothing I strongly dislike about this guitar other than the aforementioned hardware deficiencies (plastic nut/saddle;weak tuners). I would buy another Washburn if it were lost or stolen.

My Washburn C104SCE is a 2005 model constructed in China. It has a solid cedar top of extremely nice quality and laminated rosewood sides and back. It has the typical 2" wide (at the nut) classical neck with a rosewood fingerboard and 20 frets. It does have a deep cutaway making access to the upper frets quite easy.

It also has a B-Band pickup/preamp assembly with volume, treble, middle, base and presence controls. The sound amplified is extremely natural and the B-Band system was one of the primary reasons I chose Washburn.

The guitar seems to be very carefully and expertly crafted. I found no sloppy glue joints or any other faults in the instrument. The finish is outstanding and the aroma of the cedar top is intoxicating.

The sound unamplified is very impressive. It is very smooth and balanced with clear, articulated lows and ringing trebles with no apparent dead spots on the fingerboard.

Overall, for the price, I find the guitar an exceptional value.

Since this is a classical guitar, there are really not a lot of features to expound on, but I got exactly what I was looking for.

Sound, in a word, SPECTACULAR. I am very pleased with the tone both amplified and unamplified. I do not have an acoustic amp, but it sounds jst fine through my Fender Deluxe Reverb. I do not play loudly nor do I gig anymore so this amp is more than enough.

Out of the box, the guitar was set up perfectly, and the intonation was spot on. It came witn American Vinci strings which are very nice but I still prefer D'Addario Pro Artes.

The finsh as I said earlier is outstanding with no flaws that I could find.

I have no doubt that with proper care, this guitar will be around a lot longer than I will. It seems very well constructed of excellent materials.

Unknown. I registered my warranty (lifetime) online but I doubt I will ever need to utilize it.

I have been playing for over forty years and have a number of other guitars both electric and acoustic. I got this guitar to upgrade an old Alverez classical that I've been playing for years.

I looked at a lot of different classicals in this price range and the Washburn really offered the most bang for the buck and by far the tone that I preferred. Ibanez placed a very close second. Plus, Music 123 had a limited offer of a free hardshell case with the purchase of the guitar which put them about $90 less expensive than any of the other online merchants. The case I got with it is a very nice one indeed. Much better than I anticipated actually.

This is a solid Cedar top version with single cutaway. Made in Korea. Probably 2-3 years old. Back and sides are laminated rosewood. Neck is Mahogany and has truss rod adjustment inside soundhole. Fretboard is Ebony and is bound with tortoise shell colored plastic. Bridge is Ebony. Soundhole rosette and purfling are very pretty. Gold colored tuners with white fancy buttons. Finish is very smooth and appears pretty thick. The cutaway has more of a pronounced horn shape than the image of this guitar (with Spruce top) currently on the Washburn website. I think mine looks nicer.
The guitar is equipped with a Equis Silver preamp which works well. There is a 1/4" standard jack and another plug type jack that I don't use. I think they perform exactly the same function. The guitar came with a nice hardshell Washburn case.

I'm a relative novice playing for only about two years. I mostly play fingerstyle folk and blues and a little electric lead. This is my first and only classical guitar. I wanted some sound variety and also wanted to try a wider fretboard since I have large hands. The sound of this guitar is very nice. I would call it mellow. As noted in another review, it is not very loud, but it is similar to other cutaway classicals I have tried. Plugged-in, the sound is great and can be anything you want. I mostly use it alone in the living room. It is great when the kids are in bed. Overall, I really like the sound of this guitar.

I purchased this guitar used so I don't know if the previous owner did any work on it. The neck and frets are well finished. The action is pretty low, but could probably be lowered a little more. It still plays great. The finish is mirror smooth indicating that it is probably thick. There are no visible finish flaws. There is a visible glue joint on the heel cap-nicely mirror finished like the rest of the guitar.
The back of the guitar is interesting it is bookmatched, but there are four distinct pieces of wood. Only the the center seam has contrasting purfling decoration..

I would expect this to very durable for live playing. The finish is thick, the construction is solid. There are no strap buttons. The tuners seem sturdy and smooth. I think the guitar comes "standard" with a case (you pay extra though). This case (gc 77) is good for transport in the car, but would not hold up to a working musician.

Haven't dealt with Washburn. The warranty is lifetime to the original owner.

I have been playing with guitars for about 25 years. I have only gotten serious in the past two years. My other guitars are an old Aspen dreadnought, Ovation Celebrity Deluxe, Ferrington-Kramer acoustic, Squier Tele. I enjoy all of them at different times. This Classical guitar is a nice contrast to the others. I recommend it especially for playing non-classical music.

This electric-acoustic classic guitar is 4 years old, and is made with a solid cedar top, laminated rosewood back and sides, ebony fingerboard and tailpiece, and a mahogany neck. It has a rounded cutaway and a very good onboard preamp/piezo pickup combination. It has a very glossy finish and beautiful tortoiseshell purfling throughout, similar to most non-entry level classic guitars. I believe this and all other Korean Washburn guitars are built for them by Samick.

I use this guitar at our live gigs once in awhile, but only if they require soft music during a wedding supper or during wedding and funeral services. I have been on a very regular basis for 20 years now but find this is the only guitar I really play for enjoyment and relaxation. For this reason I will probably be buying a straight acoustic classic sometime as unfortunately they went way overboard with the thickness of the solid top. As a result it sounds very small and tiny acoustically, with absolutely no sensation of "air". It's really too bad they couldn't compromise a little and build a thinner top. I ordered this through the music store I worked for and thus couldn't really try it out beforehand. However, I kept the guitar anyway, as its superior amplified sound kept me interested, and I also like its looks. It has a 1/4' output jack (which uses the onboard EQ, etc., and a direct XLR out for the soundman to play with. I am very impressed by the quality of sound and the tone-shaping prowess of the Equus Gold preamp, even without taking into account the piezo pickup, of which I have never been a fan. The guitar sounds great even through my Line6 AX2 amp, but when I plug it into our P.A. system and add a pinch of reverb, it sounds like heaven. I have to give it a "5" in this category based on its horrible acoustic sound and stellar live tones.

I set the action up myself as I like it really low. The fit and finish is quite good on the exterior, but a little sloppy on the inside. I have a picture of this guitar on the web at http://www.orbitcanada.com/lutzkibbutz/index.html

So far, so good...it has been on the plane with me many times and has withstood those tests.

I have a lifetime warranty, but was disappointed to find that, even when the rest of the guitar is in tune, the high "E" string is out on the second fret, most noticeable when playing a D major chord at that position. The factory service depot on the west coast checked it out and indicated that the frets are within their specifications. This is not good...their specs must be very liberal.

I have and have had many guitars...all the top names including a couple that were built specifically for me. I don't know if I would buy one of these again but I certainly will not be selling it, as I do enjoy it. I want to do a neo-classic guitar album soon, but I will probably buy a good acoustic-only guitar and mic it.