Washburn Guitars

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Logo.
Washburn HB35, manufactured in Japan in the mid-1980s
Washburn HB35, headstock with mother-of-pearl inlays

Washburn is a manufacturer of guitars .

history

In 1864, George Washburn Lyon and Patrick Joseph Healy founded Lyon & Healy. Lyon sold Healy's handcrafted guitars in their Chicago store. Lyon & Healy was a company that had been committed to the industrial revolution from the start . Soon the company expanded and the most elaborate guitar models were produced in series. Nevertheless, great value was placed on good woods and clean workmanship. Even the cheapest guitars had a good spruce top and a body made of Rio rosewood ( Dalbergia nigra ).

In the 1920s, the JR Steward company bought the Washburn manufacturing facilities. However, the name stayed with Lyon & Healy for a short time, which shortly thereafter sold it to competitor Tonk Bros. Tonk Bros. later also acquired what was left of the JR Steward Factory, which went bankrupt during the Depression. But it wasn't until the 1970s that the building of instruments under the name Washburn began again. At that time, the production facilities were already in Japan. In 1976 Fretted Industries bought the Washburn name and all of its patents for $ 13,000.

In 1978, Fretted Industries relocated its headquarters to Northbrook (Illinois) and from then on had Washburn guitars manufactured in the Far East until today. First in Japan, later in Korea, China and Singapore. At the same time the production of electric guitars began. Today, Washburn's product range includes electric and acoustic guitars, electric basses , as well as banjos and mandolins . A line of guitar amplifiers is also sold under the Washburn name.

Since 1991 acoustic and electric guitars have been built in the USA again. The production is located in Mundelein , in the north of Chicago.

The Lyon & Healy company in Chicago still exists today and produces harps.

Eric Clapton's first playable guitar was a very old George Washburn, which he bought as a teenager at a flea market for two pounds and ten shillings. Before he had only owned a German Hoyer , which made it difficult for the guitar student to practice because of the very high position of the strings.

One of the company's best-known products is the N4 electric guitar made for Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt .

swell

  1. ↑ Fachblatt Musik Magazin, issue 02/1994
  2. ↑ Guitar & Bass Musicians Magazine, Issue 07/2008
  3. ↑ Eric Clapton My Life ISBN 978-3-462-03934-4

Web links

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