Washburn Guitars

Washburn Banjorine (1892).

Parlor guitar (1894) and "New Model" (1896), Museum of Making Music.

right: archtop guitar model 5250 (1928), Museum of Making Music.

Lyon & Healy began in 1864 as a partnership of businessmen George W. Lyon and Patrick J. Healy, acting as the Chicago outlet for Boston sheet music publisher Oliver Ditson and Company. By 1865, Lyon & Healy had expanded into reed organs and some small instruments. The company achieved independence by 1880, and around 1888 the company launched fully into fretted and plucked instruments (guitars, mandolins, banjos, and zithers)[1] under the George Washburn brand, which was Lyon's first and middle name.[2] Lyon & Healy 1898 catalog listed 28 different styles of "Washburn" guitars, ranging from $15 to $145.[2]

Tracing the history of any particular instrument of this period presents many obstacles. Not only did the Lyon & Healy company often change designs to follow the rapidly evolving consumer demand, but the company also repaired instruments, and offered engraving services, including decorating instruments that it retailed but did not actually manufacture. As well, they built instruments for other retailers and distributors under various house brands, and outsourced construction of some models.

In 1912, Washburn introduced the Lakeside Jumbo guitar, which some consider the first dreadnought-sized guitar.[3] It bridged the gap between smaller-bodied "parlor" guitars of the late 19th and early 20th century and modern-day dreadnought and jumbo acoustic guitars.

Washburn Shrine banjos at the American Banjo Museum

Washburn Presentation Banjo, 1894, American Banjo Museum.

George Lyon retired from the company in 1889 (died 1894). Patrick Healy then led the company into a period of major expansion, beginning with a larger new factory and improved mass-production techniques, and soon dominated the domestic market.[4] Their 1892 catalog claimed to manufacture 100,000 instruments annually. Healy died 1905.

By the 1920s, Lyon & Healy faced growing competition from other instrument manufacturers as well as from the rise of other forms of entertainment, particularly film and the gramophone. Lyon & Healy gradually shifted manufacturing chores onto wholesaler Tonk Brothers, to whom they sold the guitar portion of the business in 1928, continuing to produce their own lines of harps, pianos, and organs.

“Washburn guitars, zithers & mandolins manufactured by Lyon & Healy, Chicago Best in the World” ad

Tonk Brothers turned to manufacturer J.R. Stewart Company to purchase and operate the massive factory, but this transition proved problematic and Stewart went bankrupt in 1930. Some of the Stewart assets were acquired by the Regal Musical Instrument Company, which had purchased the "Regal" brand name in 1908 from Lyon & Healy (who acquired it in 1905). Regal was chosen to reopen the Washburn factory (producing Regal instruments as well). Though the Washburn brand was preserved, it never regained its preeminence, and by the early 1940s had declined to nothing.

An unbroken lineage is often alluded to by Washburn International, in press releases and advertising materials, and on the company website:

Washburn has been building stringed instruments since 1883. … 130 years of history is at the root of our strong foundation building high quality instruments.[5]

There is no direct connection between the original Washburn brand and the modern Washburn International.

In the early 1960s, retail store The Chicago Guitar Gallery hired Rudolf "Rudy" Schlacher, a young German violin builder, as a repair technician. A few years later, Schlacher opened The Sound Post[6][7] (in Evanston, Illinois) to focus on guitars. He soon realized the sales potential for lower-cost quality instruments.

Tom Beckmen and his wife Judy Fink Beckmen in 1972 left careers as music salesman and teacher (respectively) to launch a wholesale music business in Los Angeles, Beckmen Musical Instruments. It was Beckmen Music that resurrected the Washburn name, and beginning in 1974 applied it to a series of quality imported acoustic guitars, made in Japan by Terada, as well as a selection of mandolins and banjos.

Fritz Tasch, Rudy Schlacher and Rick Johnstone, as Fretted Industries, Inc., acquired the Washburn name in 1977 (for $13,000) when the Beckmens took their business a different direction,[8] and so the Washburn name was returned to Chicago. With assistance from Ikutaro Kakehashi (founder of Roland Corporation), Schlacher was able to find instrument factories in Japan that could meet the desired standards.[9]

Fretted Industries acquired other lines as well, such as Oscar Schmidt autoharps.

Schlacher bought out Johnstone in 1987, and changed the company name to Washburn International. A stateside manufacturing operation was opened in 1991 for higher-end, short-run, and one-off instruments, as well as development and prototyping. That year, a Chicago Tribune article[10] confidently places Washburn "among the top three guitar manufacturers in the world," behind only Fender and Gibson.

On December 15, 2002, Washburn International announced that it had completed acquisition of U.S. Music Corporation,[11] and would be rolling its assets into that company in a reverse merger.[12] Schlacher remained as CFO, appointing Gary Gryczan to COO; Gryczan had been Washburn's CFO from 1995 through 1998. The new USM's headquarters were in Mundelein (440 E. Courtland Street), which also housed the stateside Washburn luthiery, often referred to as "the USA Custom Shop." The USA Custom Shop was previously located at Elston Ave. and Springfield Ave in the 1990s in an old factory that was used as an icehouse after the great Chicago fire, it was rumored to be haunted by the victims whose bodies had been stored there.

Schlacher announced completion of selling USM to JAM Industries on August 24, 2009, and that he would be stepping away from his company after fully four decades.[13]

We are pleased to join forces with a strategic partner like Jam Industries, that has a long, successful history in the music industry and has been a long-term business partner with U.S. Music for more than 20 years. It has been a thrilling and rewarding 40-year ride that has allowed me to realize my dreams and goals.[14]

As R S Consulting he remained a consultant to the musical-instrument industry[15] and was an executive producer for a small-budget film[16]

The corporate offices of U.S. Music were relocated to Buffalo Grove, Illinois in 2012.

N4 XX anniversary edition.

• Nuno Bettencourt models are flagshipped by the American hand-made N4. The N4 is a small reverse-headstock "super-strat" that features the Stephen's Extended Cutaway neck joint for easy access to the higher frets. It is outfitted with a Bill Lawrence and a Seymour Duncan pickup, and a licensed Floyd Rose-type tremolo. The N1 and N2 are production (budget) models of this line, factory-built in Korea, and feature standard bolt-on necks and lower-grade pickups and tremolo systems. The N3 (discontinued) was also produced in Korea and sported the Stephen's Extended Cutaway but used lower-grade pickups.
  Bettencourt has endorsed several Washburn acoustic models as well. There is the N7 7-string model, and an acoustic/electric based on the Festival Series, the EA20SNB.
• Ola Englund Solar (2013/2014): Signature model announced by Washburn in 2013 for Swedish guitarist Ola Englund of Six Feet Under, Feared, and The Haunted.[23]

• Warren Haynes - vocalist and guitarist, Gov't Mule, The Allman Brothers, and the Warren Haynes Band. The Washburn WSD5249 acoustic guitar is based on the original Washburn Solo Deluxe from 1937, which is similar in size to the popular OM shaped guitars on the market today. Adirondack Spruce top with period-correct vintage sunburst finish. Hand-shaped scalloped Adirondack Spruce bracing, solid rosewood sides, 2-piece back with vintage-inspired 1930s zipper-style inlaid herringbone stripe. The top has 3-ply ivoroid binding and the sound hole is finished by a ringed herringbone rosette.[24]

DIME 333 (Dean ML-style).

CP2003 "Culprit".

• "Dimebag Darrell" Abbott Washburn's Dean-ML-style Dime 333 and radical Explorer-like Dime Culprit models were the most popular. The Dime 333 had a Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo; the 332 variant featured a stop-tail bridge. The Culprit, with its sliced-up Explorer-style body, featured a Floyd Rose tremolo, a mirror pickguard and a pair of hot ceramic humbucking pickups with chrome cover.

Paul Stanley model.

• Paul Stanley Models for 2014were the PS2014, PS2012, PS 12 and PS10.[25] Previous models have been the PS600 and PS800 (extensively used while touring with KISS), as well as the "Preacher" PS7000/PS7200/PS9000/PS9200 (used during the 2006-2007 tour to promote his solo album Live to Win). Stanley's line also includes the PS9 and PS11E acoustic guitars that feature his image on the front and come bundled with a custom gig bag.
• Jennifer Batten — three guitars based on the WM (the USA version of the Maverick BT Series guitars). All had three single-coil pickups: JB-80 (Korea), JB-100 (USA), JB-100 MIDI (USA) with installed Roland GK-2A divided pickup system.
• Steve Stevens Signature Model (1993) — SS80 and SS100 models made at Washburn's Chicago custom shop, the SS40 mass-produced in Korea. The SS80 was produced in black with gold hardware, a Schaller-licensed Floyd Rose tremolo, and Seymour Duncan JB humbucking pickups. The SS100 featured black hardware and Frankenstein monster graphics.
• George Washburn / Stephens Extended Cutaway electric models — introduced in 1987, designed entirely by Stephen Davies. The series comprised the EC-26 Atlantis, the EC-29 Challenger, and the EC-36 Spitfire. The EC-29 and EC-36 were the first mass-produced guitars that had over 27 frets. The 26-fret EC-26 was made in the United States and is a very rare model.
• Nick Catanese Signature Model (1999) — Idol Series (WI) models for Nick Catanese.
• Stu Hamm - signature electric basses designed with Stu Hamm.[26]

• Dan Donegan Signature Model/Maya Series (2003) — six-string electric guitar series for Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan and named after his daughter Maya: the Maya Standard (DD-70) and the Maya Pro (DD-75). Both use Seymour Duncan pickups.
• Bootsy Collins Space Bass (2006): model for Bootsy Collins. Features Fender Jazz Bass pickups.