Washburn WI68

Made by Washburn Custom Shop in Chicago, USA. The body and neck (glued) are mahogany, the table is AAA flamed maple. The model I chose has a superb finish blackburst. The key is rosewood, with beautiful veins clearer. It has 22 frets. Pins are key to the side instead of being centered, and are flame maple, natural finish. I love it! The pickups are humbuckers with chrome cover, Seymour Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge, and Seymour Duncan'59 for the handle. There is a three-position switch, volume control and tone for each pickup, and tone knobs are push-pull, allowing the split single-coil pickups. This guitar is also equipped with the Buzz Feiten system, so the intonation is almost perfect. The fittings are chrome Tune-o-matic and Grover (I've replaced with self-locking Sperzel, despite the strong performance of Grover tuning, but it handy to be able to change his six-string in five minutes!). Violin making and manufacturing are generally best, so good!

UTILIZATION

The handle is quite nice, but its size quite generous, it requires some adaptation, at least fans sleeves "on Ibanez." For me, having played on Les Paul, I do not see any problem! Access to acute is easier than on a Les Paul, with deep muzzle, but this is not a Jackson Randy Rhoads is clear! the ergonomics are fantastic, the carved table is a wonder, really! However, the handle of a piece is quite heavy, so that the guitar is not perfectly balanced and tend to "bite the head." This is also the only weak point of this guitar, but given all its qualities, is more than happy that it adapts.

SOUNDS

I play power metal. It is clear that this guitar is more suitable for large rock, and perfect for the blues. However, I always preferred the guitars versatile metal type guitars, especially at the micro: I prefer finesse and subtlety of a good passive pickup to the coldness of an EMG.
I use a Marshall JCM800 mounted on 65/50 Engl 4x12 Vintage and a Marshall 4x12 Sovtek MIG50 on 1960A. As effects, I use a tube distortion Rocktron Silver Dragon, a Dunlop Original Cry-Baby, a Boss SD-1 Overdrive, a Boss CE-5 Chorus and Reverb Boss RV-5, which sends the signal to two amps with its two stereo outputs.
The distortion is exactly the way I like, sharp and couillue at a time! My previous guitar was also mounted by Seymour Duncan, so I did not notice a huge difference in full. However, the clean is the day and night, thanks to split the pickups. I splits the bridge pickup and put the selector in middle position pickups, a touch of reverb, a chorus of LPs, and with the two amps in stereo, it's nirvana! Overall, this guitar is comfortable on all fronts. I had the opportunity to try on many amps (Krank, Mesa, Engl, Peavey and Marshall) and buries it objectively all the guitars I've experienced.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for over a year. I am in love with this shovel: I love his mouth, its curves, its finish, its microphones and split, and his extraordinary versatility. I affectionately nicknamed "The Burn", and frankly, if I had to sacrifice one of my three balls, it would not be that one is saying! I find that criticize his slight imbalance, which I quickly accommodating. I played on Jackson (Asian), Les Paul and SG, mainly. The price / quality ratio is very correct, not indecent, but adequate, given the services provided. This guitar is the very high end Washburn, therefore the risks of disappointment are relatively small!
I want to say that it is a custom guitar, so no two alike, both in terms of sculpture of the table of flaming wood. I could try both, and as I fell in love with one that is now mine, as the other did not make me feel great, at least at the level of the game Go figure!
Is what I would do this choice? Uh, wait, I think ... Damn, sometimes twice a day!