A company of this caliber should at the very least have a customer service dept. that is knowlegable in the products which they have sold, and this they are not. My Overall assesment of Washburn is that they are a superior company who manufacture a superior product at a great price. They were identical instruments and I had thought at the time that they were numbered by production order a process that Washburn disputes.
The Washburn distributor who I purchased the guitar from had two of them serial # 000133 which I purchased and # 000135. I'm not sure what year this was made and Washburn insists that it was 1980.
The instrument that I own is serial number 000331. I have seen many of these guitars and it appears as though the first two numbers of the serial number represent the year of manufacture on this model, for example 800123would be a 1980 model. This model was manufactured from 1979 to 1985 and released as a re-issue in 1995.
To: own several Washburn guitars and recently had contacted Washburn seeking information on a particular one that I have, a 1980's stage series A20-V. There is no connection whatsoever between the current Washburn brand guitars and the Washburns of the 19th and early 20th century.Įarl Oliver & letter from another WashBurn Owner Aug 13, 2004. In fact, there never was a Washburn Company until the brand name was revived in 1964. There was no fire in the 1950's because there was no Washburn Company then. The original Washburn brand disappeared in the 1930's.
As far as I can determine, early Washburn serial numbers were pretty haphazard and never gave any indication of date of manufacture.īy the way - my research indicates that the fire happened before the turn of the century (in the1880's). Regal made guitars under the Washburn label for a few years after that, then the brand was discarded. The Washburn brand was sold to the Tonk Brothers - who also owned the Regal brand, in 1928 or 29. Healy supervised the factory, which during their peak production years, turned out as many as 100 guitars per day! They were the main supplier of stringed instruments for the various mail order catalogs, such as Montgomery Ward and Sears, until Harmony and Kay assumed that distinction with lines of considerably lower quality instruments in the late 1920s. They later marketed several brands of instruments - Lyon leant his middle name to the fretted variety. L&H started as a music publisher in 1864. They did found the L&H company in 1864, but the company didn't start manufacturing guitars until 1888. The Lyon & Healy Company was the Chicago branch of the Oliver Ditson Company - a very large sheet music distributing company. He was not a guitar maker - he was a businessman.
then the same thing happened again in the 1950's !!"įirst of all "George Washburn" was George Washburn Lyon - Washburn was his middle name. Washburn guitars had a fire sometime in the 1920's that destroyed everything, including all records and paperwork that they had prior to the day of the fire. the company has changed hands many times since then. "George Washburn started making guitars in 1864. As the proud owner of a turn of the century Washburn, I have done quite a bit of research on the company. I wanted to correct some misinformation you have published in your "Washburn" page of the web site () concerning Washburn Guitars. we assume that he has done quite a bit of homework on the subject and have published his letter here for your evaluation.
the following letter was sent into us from a Washburn owner. The above info was given to Dr.Duck from the Washburn Guitar Company. the year will be in the "Model Name" of the guitar. on some models (but not all) - the first two digits of the serial number is the year the guitar was made.
then the same thing happened again in the 1950's !!.
George Washburn started making guitars in 1864. Ducks Deluxe : Washburn Guitar Dates : Dr.