Washburn Strat

Not too sure the date of birth or where it was made. One thing I can tell you is that it's not one of the cheaper ones that are made today. Very heavy guitar for a strat copy. It has a 5 way selector switch to go between the three single coil pick ups. The pick ups sound great in this guitar. Maple neck and fretboard along with a black painted headstock with "LYON made by washburn" on it. I own a red one and has all of the typical strat style hardware installed on it. I give this guitar a 9 because its built very well .

I play everything from country to death metal. This guitar will do everything from country to about the heavy rock style. I run the Lyon through a fender champion 110 and a soldano avenger 100 head and marshall 4x12 cab. You can count on one of these babies to produce all the same tones as any fender can make with the right combo of good playing and amplification.

Pro's:
Great feeling neck, heavy but not to heavy, pick ups sound very good for the price I paid for it.

Con's:
More people are finding out about this guitars and the price is just going to climb

I got this guitar used so I don't know how the factory set-up was. I did have to intonate the guitar when I bought it because it was way out.

I play live at least twice a week and will use this without a backup but always have a backup because if a string breaks I'm screwed. Very well built guitar.

N/A

I'v been playing 26 years now and own lots of gear such as a Gibson SG standard, Ovation ultra GP and a USA made strat,Soldano Avenger head through a Marshall 4x12 stereo 1960b cab and a fender champion 110 combo amp. I did compare the Lyon to other guitars such as everything I own and found it to be as good as my Fender Stratocaster for blues, country and rock but the Gibson SG is a way better guitar for heavy metal and thrash.

PAY DAY came, and I bought it, for $150 instead of $199!

(I'm following up the earlier report)
I E-mailed Washburn with the serial number to find out when/how they made it. Turned out the Strat model with the S-S-S pickup config is called a WE-1, not a WE-3. Mine was a 1994 model, in essentially new condition.

The all-maple neck is shaped like the boat-back necks of the 1950's Fenders, and with the very natural wood feel, you enjoy the grip for hours.

The WE-1 has continued to amaze me with the sparkle of sound it has. It is not as edgy, or does not make the spikes in sound that an AM Fender would, but that is OK. Trebles are subdued a little, mids are full, and basses are gritty.

The Washburn service tech I talked to said the WE-1 models were made with a ply body! That would explain the very light weight. But the response of the unit sound-wise is anything but dead, or muffled. Maybe I got one with a solid body...

One thing to consider about Strats - the pickups are mounted on the pickguards- that is, plastic- which seems to enable them to pick up the stringy, acoustic, steely tones more so than wood-mounted designs. That arrangement gives the incredible clear, singing tones to come out.

I have played heavy rock, classic rock and funk in groups now with this guitar and it has performed stellarly. Of the 9 electrics I have, it is the one least likely to get an unusable sound out of.

Again, the rounded top corners on the neck make all the difference in the world for feel. Now I get irritated with the sharp corner necks.

I often play the 6th string (even the 5th string) notes of some chords with the thumb. I used to get sore red spots on the inside of the 1st joint of my thumb from the sharp edge of the neck. Not any more!

I have played standing up for hours, and the very lightweight body has not fatigued my back or shouldrs yet.
I played it one afternoon/evening outside with the temperatures in the 40's, and it kept in tune incredibly. The natural finish felt much warmer than a gloss one in those conditions.

Washburn's response to my serial no./model no. question was immediate, but they couldn't give me a running history of that model. It was discontinued, I presume, as the onset of the MIM Fender line came into the mainstream market.
Too good, for me. I 'll play a secret, unknown model forever if it works right.

Just one peculiar thing:

I have yet to find either a story or even a picture of another WE-1 on the net, and I'll check almost every week.

If Washburn's quality and performance for the WE-1 model line matched what this one is putting out, why aren't there more raves about how it handles and plays? I will stand to the industry and declare this is NOT a starter guitar! Starter guitars buzz, feel funny, distort, dampen, easily overplay and lack tonal color. This is NOT a starter gutar.

IF I CAN STOP LAUGHING AFTER READING THE LAST REVIEW, I'LL BEGIN!!!
My review of this product will be only slightly more attentive to technical aspects of the instrument than the last review!

This is a review on a USA-made Washburn Strat that I still haven't bought - yet! I played a used 1994 Washburn Strat in a store for 1 1/2 hrs in a side-by-side comparison with USA and MIM Fender Strats. I believe it the model designation is WE-3. The feel and performance of the Washburn has invoked me to write this review.

Although I've played guitar 35 years, it was only this summer when I bought my 1st guitar layed out in a Strat design format, a Peavey Nitro set up for metal. Strats just hadn't appealed to me all that time - 2 tone knobs, necks/strings that I would overplay, tuning quirks, a vol knob that was in the way of my picking hand - were the main reasons. That makes me a "tough customer" for Strats...

The Washburn is configured with S-S-S pickups, one-piece maple skunk-striped neck, Grover-designed tuners, Wilkinson tremolo, white pearloid 3-ply pickguard, brushed aluminum-finish hardware (even the recessed jack plate), and banana yellow paint. The classic looking nature of the instrument actually caught my eye in a store with 300 guitars hanging on the wall (they've stocked up for Christmas).

Being in a classic Strat form of design, I hoped it would sound and play the same way. Little did I know it was going to make such a big impression...

Sound is where the WE-3 took off! It has a classic Strat look; when I plug it in, I WANT A CLASSIC STRAT SOUND! That is EXACTLY what I got, and more! I played the WE-3 thru Fender, Peavey, and Marshall tube and SS amps just to be sure it was for real.
I pulled 2 MIM Strats off the wall, playing the same licks at the same settings in the same amps. The MIM Fenders felt and sounded like toys, in comparison.
Later, I picked a Jimmy Vaughn signature Strat and 2 different AM Standards to compare. Their "feel" was in the same ballpark as the WE-3, but their sound was a little thinner and more piercing. The WE-3 had more mid-range fullness and every bit as much definition as any of the Fenders.
Where it absolutely took off was the sparkle! There is a term called "Strat squak" that describes that instruments ability to infuse harmonics that come out of the pick attack and ring into the note. An instrument that is "dead" can have the same general tone, but lack that sparkle, that squak that I'm talking about. The J. Vaughn model came the closest to the WE-3, but none of them matched it! The WE-3 had the ability to produce the sparkles right in the middle of a picking run, a bent/vibratto note, a hammer on/off trill - absolutely amazing! It was, in fact, more Straty than Strats.

I knew it was solid in the first 10 seconds after I picked it up. The body is incredibly light - probably ash. The aluminum finish hardware is a nice departure from the glossy plated stuff.

The neck was absolutely tremendous! The edges of the fretboard are rounded up more than any of the Fender stuff. It was of equal width of the std Fender neck, and I never bend the 1st or 6th strings toward the edge, anyway. The top of the fretboard is gloss varnished, but the back is natural; a tung oil feel with a velvety texture. You put that together with a light body, and it becomes an instrument you can just meld your hands into.

The pickguard was beautiful, but had a slight ripple in the routing along the lower horn part. Big deal, no one would know. Also the in-line tuners were not spaced apart from each other evenly (the 5th and 6th strings were slightly farther apart than the others). Big deal, no one would know.

I played the WE-3 HARD, for 1 1/2 hrs. The feel stayed solid, the tuning stayed put, it was silent as a mouse for single coil. Washburn uses pots that have a tight feel when you twist the knob. I like that, especially as vulnerable as the vol knob is to getting knocked with the picking hand.

I have yet to have experience in this area with Washburn.

This USA Washburn Strat is a home run hitter! It is more Straty than the Fender models made in the USA. Maybe this unit happens to have that magical chemistry where everything fits and plays right, and it belies the qualities of the rest of the run. So be it!
The store has this one on sale, 1994 model used for $199. I'm waiting for payday. It stands with the new Fenders priced 4 times that much, and more.

My guitar line: Ovation, Ibanez RS, Epi DOT, G&L ASAT, Nashville Tele, Taylor, Peavey Nitro, Carvin custom shop 7-str. The Washburn would fit a notch that any of these others would not duplicate or even overlap. If anyone wants to drop me a line to ask about the WE-3 or any of these others, bring it on, I'll respond...

Payday, come quickly! I've found Value at it's best!

It has a cool strap

it sounds nice when i smash it against the wall

The guitar came with some glue so i could stick the strings on.

It always turns up at my bands gigs so i think it is very reliable.

I have dealt with the company, they gave me an ounce for #10, a really good deal! I tryed to get it repaired once but it electrocuted me and yes, the police did have a warrant to search my house. The search went on for 2 days.

i have been playing half a day, i own a piece of play-dough. Where is the glue? I would hunt down the person who stole it and kill them for it, i'm not made of money! I love it's eyes, I hate the sounds it makes when i play it. I really do love the strap!! I compare it to an old acoustic i found in a skip. I wish it had a swimming pool. No! I don't share with strangers.