Washburn KC-70V

Finish: Cracked blue over black, 25.5 scale, jumbo maple neck with rosewood fret board. Floyd Rose SSH pickup config. MADE IN JAPAN (in 1981 according to Washburn themselves...)
basicly, same shape and build quality as the KC40v i've had since 1993, but with BETTER pickups (though currently the pickups fitted to it are Teslatek Vintage Reflections series) passive electroincs, individual pickups switches and coil tap.

I tend to play a variety of metal/rock/blues/industrial/clean sounding guitar, and this washburn is a good solid performer.
Squealing potential (harmonics) is fantastic with the teslatek pickups, and they add a real nice crunchyness to distorted sounds - so much clearer sounding than the kc40v pickups when played clean, and so much raunchier sounding when played dirty. the pots don't crackle. sngle coil at neck is nice warm full bodied sounding, humbucker is very much rocking, crunchy too when needed, never really bother with the middle pickup, but all pickups can be used together, which gives the widest variation on sound possible, while the sound quality remains excellent. interference picked up is almost none-existant. IF I wanted to use this guitar for death metal / korn-type stuff, i'd probably change the humbucker to a Teslatek plasma series, but for everything else, this seems a fantastic setup.

Guitar was bought second hand, but i can say the setup on it is PERFECT. although the action was a pinch higher than my kc-40v, i've discovered that this actually suits my playing style better. intonation is perfect, strings are locked up brilliantly, everything fits as it should, and there is only one minor ding of note. nothing crackles. its sweet.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? - ABSOLUTELY
Does the hardware seem like it will last? - MY KC40v is 13 years (and 47 weeks!) old, only the jack socket needed replacing in that time - i bought this kc-70v cos i was so impressed with that one. i have no doubt it will survive the test of time.
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing? - Abuse damages it, playing it doesn't.
Are the strap buttons solid? - TOTALLY.
Can you depend on it? - Absolutely.
Would you use it on a gig without a backup? - I INTEND TO! :D and absolutely will

Never needed them!

been playing since 1992, own a Gould LesPaul copy, a Washburn KC-40V, This Washburn KC-70v, Carlsbro GLX100 amp, Zoom GFX-8, an assortment of rocktek/boss fx pedals, and a yamaha b200 digital fm synth (circa 1988).
So far, the KC-70v has been the best value guitar i've ever had, and possibly ever will, cos i expect at least another ten to tweleve years out of it easily. BARGAIN. Rock Solid. i did say the kc-40v and kc-70v where slightly too heavy for my liking, but since then ive got a bit stronger and now don't have a problem with it. thats the only real (very minor issue!)

not sure made in 1988 or 1990
anyway it still looks good

not sure the wood of the body and the neck(i got this secondhanded)

Washburn license Floyd.which keep in tune so madly

it just looks like a Fender+Ibanez JS 1000
with S-S-H pickup.

1 volume one tone,with coil split

do you really need more on a guitar?

are you kidding me?.....

this baby ROCK!!!!!!!!

with the bridge pickup it can SCREAM.and those 2 single coil can give you some Eric or Clapton sound

very Rich and full sound.but maybe not for metal...
but it even can suits Jazz,Blues those style so well!

Using my KC 70V->Sansamp GT2->Any amp sounds like a dream!

but one thing i need to mention is the single coil got a little bit noisy(in overdrived sound),but just a minor problem to me.

Flawless.

the pervious owner setup it badly,i have fix it by myself

the guitar stay in tune no matter how you "SM" with the Floyd,
Awesome!!

but i will never use this guitar without a backup because...you know.....Floyd Rose....

if the string broken it would be suck

asshole,i mail them for this guitar's information but they never reply me.asshole x 100000times....

i wish the pervious owner have change the pickup but he didn't...............

check out the other reviews.:P

Well...great for all kind of music.
bhut i guess mine one's sound is too soft,so i will replace the Pickup with EMG later.(just my personal taste)

well.....i'm wondering why the floyd can stay in tune all the time.

no matter you drop it to the ground,or do some crazy Dive bomb,it still stay in tune.

and the action is low and with any buzz.but i higher the action a bit because i like it:P

the finish is Trans Red finish with some Black pattern.Great looking.


and when i hold it in my hand,i feel that i can play anything with this guitar.

the fretboard got some dent i guess the pervious owner work too hard on it(i wish he's lazy:P)

and the finish still looks great!(it's already 14 yrs old)

i will use it on a gig without a backup because....i don't like carrying so many things with me on the gig.and i trust my Washburn!

no idea....

Using this guitar + Sansamp GT 2 -> any amp also will sound amazing.

if it got stolen?...well..i will NEVER LET IT HAPPEN

i wish it come with EMG or something special but not the Washburn pus.but nevermind.i will replace them by myself later.

One of these came up on eBay and it prompted some investigation. I spoke with Washburn and they confirmed that this model is made in Korea, not the US. Sorry to disappoint anybody.

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This is a 1990 model I believe. But a bit of an odd one. Most KC70's were made of alder, but mine is alder with a 1/4 inch flame maple top withan unbelievable figure. Finish is trnasparent red. Most KC70's had a gloss finished neck, mine is satin finished which I think came with the flame maple option. In 1990 you had a choice between washburn Eliminator pickups or Select EMG's. I chose the EMG's (which I think came standard with the flame maple). HSS configuration. Floyd Rose licenced tremelo. Individual on/off swithces for the pickups plus a tone pot coil tap. Smallish double cutaway body. Like jackson but a little thinner at the waist, and rounder at the bottom and horns. Kind of unique looking, never seen another companies model like it. Best neck ever. Except for the pickups (in my current opinion) and Floyd rose (current opinion)could not ask for a better guitar of this type. Thus given its almost 15 years old. I'll give it a 10, because I bought it for those features. Oh, and I've changed the pickups to Rio Grnades and it kills now.

This was my first guitar. I learned everything I know on it and its still my number one. The pickups are great for late 80's metal, good for blues. You can even do jazz with it. The select EMG single coils are more midrangy than a strat. They are actually dual blade humbuckers. The humbucker was a but thin in singlecoil mode, but had plenty of drive for rock. The problem was it was very oriented towards the sound of the time it was made. As I got older and started branching out, the pickups would dissapoint me after a while and I'd start playing one of my other guitars. Then I wuold pick up the washburn again to give it some attention and be astonished at how well it played and how versitile it was. Then I would get annoyed at it agin after some time. This went on for 14 years. For a couple of years it was confined to guitar synth duty as the bridge pickup and bridge are just the right width to slide in a GK-2 pickup without having to modify the guitar. It still has a little velcro patch on it for attaching the synth pickup. Then I started playing in an R&B band and realized I needed to break it out again for its versitility. So I started playing it again and realized how much I lived it and decided to give it the sound it deserves. So I got a calibrated Rio Grande set of pickups (vintage tallboy, halfbreed, muy grande humbucker) and now it rocks in every way possible. The 3 toggle switches are brillent. 11 possible pickup configurations all of which are useful. Especially with the new pickups. Great sound.

Perfect from day one. Beautiful figured maple. But mine is kind of a rare one. Real rich finish. But somewhat fragile. Got nicked a lot in high School. Always played great, stays in tune for weeks at a time. Really solid guitar. Very loud and resonant without an amp.

Been with me almost 15 years. PLayed it live everywhere. Good to have a backup. If you break a string with a floyd rose your kind of screwed.

NEver called washburn. I can fix this thing myself.

It took me a while to get used to this guitar being my number 1. But it is and I love it. They are not expensive, not all that recognizable, and theres no glamour to these things at all. They were discontinued for lack of interest. But they are fantastic guitars. The new pickups have given it the sound it deserves and unleashed the potentioal that was always there. It is always confrtable and has the best neck ever. Awesome guitar.

Bought new in 1990 for #380. Chicago series, made in USA. Metallic Champagne Pink was very trendy at the time, even Porsche 911's came in that colour. Washburn brand hardware included a Floyd Rose style vibrato, covered pickups in H-S-S configuration, volume, 1 x tone/pull coil tap, and individual toggle switches for each pickup.

Maple neck, rosewood 22 medium fret fingerboard, headstock with 6-in-line tuners and locking nut. Holder on back of headstock for 2 allan keys (plus points). Not sure what the arch-top body was made of, but overall the features were excellent.

Very Rock oriented, which was my thing at the time. Loud bridge mounted humbucker, twangy single coils. Alot of variety available from the switching and coil tap configuration, tone control average. One quirk of the seperate toggle switches for each pickup was that you could turn all pickups off, usually accidentally, usually when you didn't want to. It wasn't a problem but took some getting used too and I sometimes started fumbling with cables and volume knobs before I realised what was wrong.

Setup from shop meant it was playable straight away, though this was quickly optimised further with preferred strings. Low action, no buzzing or proud frets, smooth neck. The chamfered neck joint was slightly offset by a thick embossed metal plate which returned the neck joint to it's original thickness, but overall this guitar was very well finished and played well.

The KC-70 felt very solid and reliable, the stock strap buttons were replaced with straplock buttons as per usual. The hardware had a quality feel and look to it and I never had any problems with it. I didn't feel like I needed a backup with this guitar and used it as my main guitar.

No contact needed

This was my second guitar, having played a cheap first guitar for 4 years previously. It was a big step up for me at the time and I didn't regret buying this. If it hadn't been stolen in 1992 I would still have it today. I'd tried out a few guitars in the shop, Fender Strat, Epiphone Les Paul, Yamaha RGXtype thing, and all were great to play and felt comfortable, and were possibly better known in the UK. But the Washburn seemed to offer more for the money without skimping on quality, just plain good value, and the champagne pink finish.

Sounds GR8

finish is wearing through on th back

If I played for anything more than my enjoyment
Iwould say yes to most of these.
the pots are worn out but has seen a lot of years.

I must eat some crow here I recently emailed Washburn
and got a terrific response from Phil Valenti. He was
as prompt as anyone could expect and got me the information
I needed. And also mailed me the wiring diagram for the guitar.
My first brand new guitar was a Washburn Raven loved it. But had
lost all faith if any in Washburn. If Phil had'nt contacted me
I would never consider another Washburn.

Good guitar action, sound and overall appearance
exceeds most.

There is no customer support for this product
I have contacted washburn twice about replacement
pots for this giutar and was told it was an older
model so they would have to call me back.........
MONTHS LATER STILL NO ANSWER !!!!

YOU GO WASHBURN GREAT SERVICE

Sound is good from clean to mean !

used

changed strap buttons.

THEY SUCK

Been playing bout 35yrs.
own a gibson sg
gibson amp
the giutar is fine
washburn just is'nt very supportive to
older insturments and did not contact me
the next day as they said, they have not
given me a reply.......MONTHS LATER.

This guitar has a double cut-away body, a 22 jumbo frets neck with locking tuners (I love these) and a Floyd Rose type bridge (stable and with precise fine tuners). It has has one splittable humbucker pickup in the bridge position and two single-coil pickups all of them switchable independently (immense variety of possible sounds), volume and tone pots.

I played lots of styles of Indie rock, New-wave, Gothic, Punk and even some Metal with this guitar, basically plugged in a MusicMan 210 seventy five (http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data/Music_Man/210_Seventy_Five-01.html) and then a Marshall 6101 Combo amp. The variety of sounds you can get out of this guitar is amazingly wide, from rich deep sounds to cristal clean, even bell-like sounds. The only thing really missing is a heavy, humbucker coil neck pickup sound (that's why I bought a Gibson). The clean sounds you can produce, with the neck single coil pickup and the bridge humbucker (splitted or not) are great for psychedelic arpeggios with some chorus or flanger. The distorsion you get with the humbucker is very nice for lead guitar but just a little too harsh (in my opinion) for heavy rythms. One solution for this is to down tune this guitar a little (one or two halftones) which is easy and the tuning lasts thanks to the lockable tuners.

The original factory set-up for the action was a little too high so I lowered it a little, which was easy to do thanks to the Floyd Rose Bridge. Otherwise nothing to criticise about it...
The overall quality of the finish was very good. Good quality pots and switches, every part well adjusted...

I used this guitar for both reharshals and gigs for about 7 years and I have nothing to complain about it's overall reliability. The only problem I got was with the neck single coil pickup which I had to replace. For a mysterious reason it started to loose some output and began sounding harsher. I replaced it with a Seymour Duncan Alnico II which matched the other pickups quite well and was a little richer and deeper that the original.
There is just one concern with the lacker. Why did they put only such a thin layer of lacker? For a few additional dollars (which I would have paid anyway when purchasing it) they could have put a decent thickness... Especially when you see how beatiful the silver marblings on the black background are... The fact is that the thin layer is brittle and has a tendency to crack and small shatters detach when you hit your guitar against something or when some object falls on it (which happens, you all know what I mean)... So, to keep it nice and beautiful, you have to use a model making paint and a small brush and refill the lacker-free spot. Hopefully, although annoying, this doesn't alter the sound or playability of the guitar so if you can live with it you will probably give a higher rating than me for this category...

This is a very nice sounding, very versatile guitar that can suit almost all playing styles. It is easy to play (nice neck profile) and the Floyd Rose combined with the lockable tuners really make it a "plug-and-play" guitar...

-Not a clue when it was made but it started out somewhere in the USA
-22 Frets on a gr8 rosewood neck
-Solid top I beleive
-The controlls are sweet too 'cause you can have any combination of pickups working at the same time
-I had to replace the humbucker(I put in an EMG)because some idiot had put a shitty-ass WHITE one (everything else is black) in there and when I did, low and behold it was a dimarzio. I must admit I was shocked. It remains hum, single, single although the singles are disconected
-The electronics WERE passive but I had that replaced too
-The neck is a maple of some kind with a rosewood fretboard but the body I have no idea
-The finish is a great sparkly maroon
-It's got a Strat/Jackson type of body on it
-It has a floating Floyd Rose (I believe that was installed before it came into my posession) wich is an absolute MUST HAVE! I cannot say enough about Floyds
-Standard non-locking Washburn tuners
-Not a clue what size of frets
-The only accessories were the allen keys that are used for the Floyd
-Although this guitar has had A LOT replaced on it it's still in my top 3

-The sound needed some fixing when I got it. Fortunetly that was not the company's fault but the fault of some idiot who thought he could change electronics. Although with the new EMG it is AMAZING!!!

They action was much to high and had to be lowered in order to Shred it up. Everything else was just about good.

-This guitar will take anything you throw at it and still come back for more. I woudn;t use it in a gig without a backup though because the Floating Floyd tends to put a lot of pressure on the strings and the tend to snap easy

This guitar was pretty much re-built after it left the factory so they wouldn't help me even if I wanted them to

-I have been playing for 14 years now and this was my second serious guitar and I thought it was THE SHIT. Then I bought my Strat and saw how low my standards really were. I replaced the ass-licking Dimarzio (!) and gave my Washburn a new life! It is an essential part of my curent rig. If it was stolen or lost then there would be now way to replace it. Almost nothing on it is stock anymore. Also I must add that this was the best guitar that I possibly could have gotten in my predicament (a lefty with very little cash)