This is a fully restored Washburn 1897 Style New Model 111 parlor guitar, SN 243678, probably an early one since it has the green, red, white binding which tends to be on earlier models. It is in excellent condition, fully restored and set up. It comes with hard shell case.
It has Brazilian Rosewood back, sides and headstock plate, original Ebony fingerboard, ebony nut, end pin, and frets (original except for the last fret, a modern replacement). Only one of the original tuner strips was there. The other was a mis-match replacement, however I was able to find an original matching tuner from another Washburn in my parts collection and installed that. The bridge is a CAD created perfect replica of the original Washburn flattened pyramid bridge, but has an angles saddle slot and a compensated bone bridge. The action is exactly set to Martin factory specs (3/32 at the 12th fret Low E and 2/32 at the 12th fret high E string). Intonation in right on all the way up the neck. The fingerboard is 1 3/4" at the Nut and 2 1/4" at the neck joint. The neck profile is a D shape with an ever so slight V bump at the back. The sound is pristine, clear and rich! It comes with a new hardshell case. This is a great fingerstyle guitar!
WORK DONE:There was significant damage to the instrument when I got it. This guitar was acquired with the idea of converting it to an X braced guitar. In the process of exploring that option, I came across an article in American Luthrie Magazine by Swedish Luthier Roger Häggström. He was demonstrating a new approach to strengthening ladder braced guitars for steel strings. I was intrigued and decided to try it out on this instrument.
The neck was loose and an unsuccessful attempt had been made to remove it. In the process, additional glue had been dumped into the neck joint compromising that whole area and damaging the back inlay strip to the point where I needed to re-build a segment about 2” long by hand. It proved to be a very complex process and I was able to get a close, but not a perfect match.
The next big issue was that a small section of the lower bout bass side top had been broken off and replaced with what appeared to be automotive bondo to reattach the back and sides and fill in the missing wood. To remove this, I had to remove the back and manually cut it all the bondo out, then replace the kerfing and inlay in new spruce to fill in the missing top wood. This proved to be a slow and detailed process, but ultimately was successful. While the back was removed, I glued and cleated 5 splits on the top, two on the side and one on the back.
I was able to remove the neck and realized that one entire wing of the dove tail joint had broken off inside the neck joint, which had been complicating the neck removal. I was able to free to broken section and re-attach it to the heel using epoxy. I also re-built other damaged sections of the dove tail.
This guitar had a steel bar in the neck, as many early Washburn’s do. I have found these to be quite effective and as a result, I didn’t add in a carbon fiber rod as I have on some restorations. Previous examples have all shown the steel bar in these guitars has proven to be very effective in keeping the necks straight. The fingerboard extension had already been broken off before I got the guitar (I had it and re-glued it); the guitar was missing the 13th fret from the neck removal attempt.
I rebuilt the inside of the guitar following the plans outlined by Roger Häggström. I kept the original ladder bracing, but did thin out the transverse top brace to reduce the mass but keep the strength.
I left the original back braces intact. I also added additional top braces as suggested by Roger modifying his design slightly to make use of the original transverse brace.
Once the bracing was completed, I re-glued the back and worked on the neck re-set. While this was time consuming, it did prove to be quite successful. I used the aforementioned CAD created replacement for the original Washburn flattened pyramid bridge and I added a compensated bone saddle as well. I filled in the old pin holes and located the replacement bridge correctly for intonation. I kept the original Ebony nut.
Once I had the neck on and the bridge replaced, I attached the fingerboard extension, carefully cutting a groove for the now slightly up angled steel rod to fit beneath the fingerboard extension. I removed the last fret and used it to replace the missing 13th fret, then I replaced the last fret with the closest modern match I could find. I completed the work by touching up the finish with multiple coats of French Polish over the original finish (also French Polish).
Once the guitar was fully assembled, I drilled out the new pin holes. I did a full level, crown and polish of the original frets and string it up for the first time. I was astonished at how good it sounded right out of the box. The action is right on the money, the intonation is spot on, the tone is clear and articulate, but full and not thin. Currently strung up with John Pearse Phosphor Bronze Slightly Light (11-50) strings. It is an excellent fingerstyle guitar!
