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Post by Tony Ravenscroft on Dec 11, 2020 18:01:56 GMT -6
  Produced 2004=2008, but you wouldn't know it from the market -- these have become very difficult to spot. Take a standard 21-fret alder Stratoclone. Trim the outline a little to achieve the slimmer Soloist shape -- for good measure, carve the top. Do away with the pickguard, back-rout the controls, back-mount the pickups. Instead of the generic floating trem, source one that has a big steel surround, for sustain. Give it three of the house Shaman pickups (a series only used with one other Washburn model), add Grover 18:1 tuners for good measure, and throw in a "Buzz Feiten Tuning System" shelf nut because... well, because.  You're looking at the only two option choices: black/maple or TSB/rosewood. You may have noticed that there are no inlays -- these are the v.2 X-33. The v.1 had a big jagged abalone "X" centered above the 12th fret, which is kinda endearing at first blush, but I can see where it might become annoying after a while. That went away after (as far as I can tell) late 2005. The only training wheels you have are the side dots. (The X-30, X-40, and X-50 show the same evolution.) As I detail elsewhere, Washburn has only produced 19 S-S-S guitars since its 1978 beginning, making this model even more significant. All told, by hewing so obsessively to simplicity, it becomes an incredibly flashy guitar. I think I paid around $200 for my black v.2 in 2014. I have seen these go out for $150, delivered. If you have a desire for a Strat, consider this before you get too caught up in a Squier or even an MIM Fender. |
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Post by Tony Ravenscroft on Mar 13, 2021 10:44:51 GMT -6
{Repost from 2015.}
Now that the NGD thrill has worn down a little, I can safely report that I still really like this guitar. The strings really are half-shot (the G is all but black!) but it takes a fair bit of bluesy mangling to throw the tuning off significantly. There's a little buzz around fret 6 for both E, but that could be due in part to marginally too-light strings, & I figure will be entirely remedied by a basic set-up. The nut is reasonably low, but inconsistent, & will want a touch of the file. Solid alder body, & factory Grover 18:1 tuners -- rarely the sign of a cheap-ass axe! Only 21 frets, but I don't spend much of my life up above 14 anyway, & I've got a half-dozen 24s if I feel the craving.
Really appreciating the finish on the neck & fretboard: satin, & not much thicker than rubbed oil. Though the axe I've had longest has a gloss finish, it's often been a deal-killer for me over the years: supergloss just don't feel right, & I suspect it kills tone far worse than thick body paint. One oddity: the painted side dots are more than 1/8" below the fretboard top, double what I've come to expect even from inlaid dots.
Few thoughts yet on the pickups. Sorry, but I can make just about anything sound decent with just about any amp, so there's really no basis for objectivity. However, it looks like the previous owner has pushed a couple of the slugs down, making "stagger" quite literal, so I'll have to go in & poke them back to proper height. And, naturally, the bridge pickup is so close as to overwhelm the other two AND kill tonality -- hey, if it ain't loud enough to drive yer hair-metal amp, that's why God gave us the Tube Screamer. 8)
While the top carve is nowhere so severe as my Cort Viva (almost 1/4" thinner at the center & tapered front AND back), it's very comfortable, & stands out visually. I've been a fan for years of what Washburn calls the Soloist shape (skinnified Strat).
Here, there's a nice little touch not apparent in the catalogues or even mentioned in any review. Just about EVERY guitar I've seen in this shape has the upper strap button either dangling from the teeny sharp horn (generally with a screw no more than 3/4" long, thus with maybe 1/2 of wood contact) with its edges in air, or cops out & attaches it lower (sometimes so low as the heel). The sheer wonder is that there aren't many more guitars with ripped-away upper horns!! The X-33 has a lateral groove cut into the end of the horn, so that the button's entire foot can be securely seated against the finish. Well, okay, to be honest, mine shows a paper-thin gap between foot & finish, clearly meaning that the hole wasn't countersunk & the button is standing up on castoff.
That heavy "Washburn designed" six-screw bridge certainly can't hurt the tone, & looks nice too.
All in all, I got a guitar that takes the classic Fender Strat configuration, leaves almost all of that in place, yet improves on it. I rediscovered the joys of the single-coil bridge pickup a couple of years ago. This is my third s-s-s guitar, which I'd be happy to stand up against most MIM Fenders & even some USA. If you need an s-s-s guitar, leave the $$$$ Fender safely at home, get one of these for $350 or less, spend $50 on a pro setup.
Lest I be remiss --
If you like what I'm sayin', but you're more in the market for an h-h, & want a thru-body hardtail, then keep an eye open for the X-30 (with the "Headhunter" pickups that in themselves are somewhat collectible). These guitars wander past for $250 & less.
As I say in another thread, if the Epiphone prefix listing does indeed apply a little to Washburns, the "N" prefix might mean these were made by Fine Corporation (Incheon). They apparently supply some guitars to Davitt & Hanser -- lately sold by Hanser Music Group to JAM, which owns U.S. Music, which owns Washburn. Small world, eh?
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Post by Tony Ravenscroft on Mar 13, 2021 10:46:47 GMT -6
{Repost of the followup.  }I plugged into the Princeton Chorus (2-10, USA). As luck had it, I'd left the bass & treble cranked, the mid zeroed, & Gain up high. Messed around for a half-hour, & am satisfied that the X-33 with them Shaman pickups is credible for blues, flatpick country, blues, & metal. I don't find the pickups any more "noisy" (a complaint spotted more than once online) than any typical single-coil. They don't go lifeless when I dial back the guitar's volume knob, & come through nicely when I zero the Tone (two tricks that often bring out the worst in a pickup, especially with a solid-state amp). The X-33 is certainly a worthy heir to the Stratocaster design. Comparing to my few s-s-s guitars, it's all-around better than my Squier "Vintage Modified" in terms of tone AND hardware AND playability, so the VM might be moved along to a new home. Washburn has such an uphill battle!! The X-33 had a Suggested Retail Price somewhere $600-$719 (stories vary), with common street price $400-$450. Meanwhile, a Fender Standard (Mexico) goes out for $499, has better resale value, great distribution, & top-notch name recognition. I'd say this X-33 is at least as good as a properly adjusted MIM Strat. On the upside, if you want to play a guitar & not just "collect" in hopes of someday retiring, you will see a few wander buy for under $150 -- four recent eBay sales have been $108, $134, $244, & $379, a strange range that tells me there's lingering demand for the model, but sporadic. UPDATE -- but as I say elsewhere, those lower-end 33s have disappeared since I wrote this half a year ago
I haven't yet mentioned that the X-33 has a skunk-stripe neck, something that still pleases me after all these years. I have a few guitars, but only like five striped, which includes two Squier Strats & a Precision bass. Then again, I also think the X Series design would be improved by a "pinwheel" trussrod, as weirdly used by Washburn on their cheapest (X-10) AND priciest (N-5) guitars but nothing in between. This not only adds significant strength to the headstock joint, but makes it a breeze to tweak with no strings in the way & NO special tools (like the otherwise useless worn Allen wrench in my toolbox). The honeymoon continues. I've been running the X-33 through either the Zoom GM-200 modeler (for headphones) or Princeton Chorus. Those Shaman pickups are NOT gonna convince anyone this is a Fender! They've got some serious bite to 'em. Very much NOT a one-size-fits-all design. My gut says they COULD be, but that may require two pedals: graphic EQ & perhaps some kind of limiter/compressor to shave some edge off that attack -- these are some moderately DEAD strings, remember, & a change could make it sweeter OR nastier. At one point, trying to push the boundaries, I set up a "metal" rig on the GM-200 & cranked the low E down to D... ya know what, it sounded great.  The neck pickup, on its own, is so dark as to be kinda muffly, but in position 4 the tone is rather nice, so I'll probably leave it alone. But the bridge reminded me of a bright humbucker, with less mid/low mud. I don't have the action super-low, as the guitar is intended for general-purpose duty & will have to handle the usual bar-band fare. Then again, if it were to get a pro setup, I think it'd be near-ideal for shred.
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Post by Tony Ravenscroft on Mar 12, 2022 10:22:47 GMT -6
Here's something for the hardcore collectors who might find this post in 2045 after I'm long dead and assuming that civilization has not utterly collapsed.  During its heyday, and particularly from about 1994 to 2005, the people in Washburn had some quirks and in-jokes, and often enjoyed repeating a theme. I think I found an "easter egg."  The X-33 is a radical take on an iconic electric-guitar design: maintaining all of the core elements yet playing with them. That top carve on the X-33 is very distinctive, cleverly taking the Stratocaster's butt-carve ("arm cut"  ) innovation and going entirely around the surface with it. At about the same time, Washburn also put out their Idol Series WI-66PROG. Let's see if you can spot the similarities.   (This is one of the very few Washies that actually calls itself a "Pro" model, not just a word stamped in a heel plate.) If you are in the market for a quality clone of a '54-'57 Les Paul Custom, I doubt you can do half this well for $500.  |
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You're looking at the only two option choices: black/maple or TSB/rosewood.
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The neck pickup, on its own, is so dark as to be kinda muffly, but in position 4 the tone is rather nice, so I'll probably leave it alone. But the bridge reminded me of a bright humbucker, with less mid/low mud.
) innovation and going entirely around the surface with it.
