Howdy, folks. This sleek looking guitar here is the Washburn D12SCE. This is the revived look as I've brought it back to life recently. Sort of. It's passed to me by a colleague who requested a simple re-string but seeing some things in dire need of attention & replacement, I couldn't just ignore those anomalies. Here are some highlights leading to this manifestation.
This is how the headstock looks like. From just the looks, I could tell that something was amiss. A renowned name like Washburn do not blanket their brand name with a layer of tinted overcoat. We'll get back to this in just a bit. If you are wondering why it's nut-less...
... it was in bad shape & had to go. If you look closely, some slots were chipped & the rust in the B & E slots was permanent. I'm the type who insist that nut slots should be rust-free. Trace amounts of rust could infect fresh strings. Rust also cuts into strings so the chances of new strings snapping at the nut end would be higher than rust-free slots.
The deserving replacement is a Tusq nut. As you can see here, it's an affordable replacement & it's good stuff- I've tried it in another guitar (Yamaha) & it had proven to manifest a tad more clarity. While at it, I also purchased a set of replacement bridge pins as the current ones were terribly chipped & scratched. These Hosco ones are also good, affordable replacements.
The tuners were also removed & cleaned up. Mind you, these are quality Grovers that would salvage some value should this guitar be scrapped one day. There is a ready market for a set of Grovers because they had beed proven to be worthy in terms of reliability & stability. This here is an example of a post-polish condition, a far cry from the initial state it was in.
Folks, there is something about this headstock that screams tragedy. Over at the flip side, I had to fill up the tuners' screw cavities with wood filler (those pale dots you see there) because all screws were loose. At the base of a headstock, I could see a crack running across the width & that pick holder there might have been installed to cover this up.
Compounding the situation would be this revelation, so to speak. As I was polishing the surface, bits of the overcoat came off & it revealed the brighter, livelier Washburn decal. Whatever happened to this instrument, the neck was a major casualty & cover-up took place.
The replacement nut was glued in place & left to set in overnight. That's my standard; a wet application on an instrument must be left to dry adequately before moving on to further rectifications. I like Tusq nuts because they address a lower action profile & the slots were rounded at the factory unlike some replacement units where the incisions are V-profiled. As you can see here, a new nut simply injects life into an instrument's aesthetics. Unlike previous iterations, Tusq now proudly proclaims its presence on the product surface & the brand name really deserves the attention.
Frets were cleaned & polished- just look at the rejuvenated fret (yellow arrow) vs the neglected counterpart (blue arrow).
Not forgetting the fretboard- moisturized (blue arrow) vs the drier bit (yellow arrow).
Finally, a set of Elixir strings & it's ready for action.
This Washburn has some good tones in there; it's down to the solid top & an overall heavy build. With a fresh set of strings & that spanking new nut, notes ring clear & there's a marked loudness coming from this one which makes it likeable, just pity the headstock condition. Judging from the fret wear, this guitar is a chord-intense player; I didn't notice any wear beyond the 8th fret. The neck was surprisingly straight despite what it'd been through & no adjustments were made. By the time you read this, it's on its way back to its owner & getting ready to belch out hundreds more songs before a deserving retirement. This guitar was handed over to me without a bag. I just feel that it deserves some form of protection due to its rather worn condition. This guitar was resident here for about two weeks. I was waiting for the replacement nut to be in stock & wasn't interested in the plastic ones in store. This guitar model had been discontinued. To date, Washburn had re-designed the headstock for this series of guitars.
FYI, D12SCE stands for:
- D = Dreadnought
- 12 = Series reference. The lower tier models feature a single digit & those are the more affordable versions with laminated tops.
- S = Solid top
- C = Cutaway
- E = Electro-acoustic.
