Washburn N2 PSK

Bought this guitar 2 years ago online thru a pawn shop somewhere in Texas. Paid $125.00 used for it; it needed some repairing and cleaning and such. Fixed it up, and it's good, playable and good sounding overall.


It had: a Bill Lawrence 500 pup in the bridge, and stock Washburn in the neck spot. I took out the stock, put the Lawrence in the neck spot, and installed a Dimarzio S.D pup in the bridge spot, and now it screams!!!!!!! Like the coil tap on this; as well as the locking trem. Even if it isn't a "true Floyd Rose", it'll work. Stays in tune great....




Seems somewhat dated, but really, it's all in what you like as a player, right? I like it overall. It's stripped down, 1 volume knob, no tone knob. When using the trem, especially playing out in clubs, people tend to state: "Here's the 80's guitarist again". I have a tendency to be guilty of whammy bar abuse like those hair bands sounded....but I can't help it, it's too easy w/ this setup....

The body is a natural finish; I don't know if it's ash or alder wood. Off strat fins. Frets are somewhat large, not jumbo, but not thin wire. Mine, for the $125 I paid for it, was ok. Beat up somewhat. I remember some hideous decal made of powder someone put on there. I sanded it off, and in the process, had to stain and lacquer the area. Btwn the pups, of all places. Then, had to remove the pup casing and clean, and clean under the volume knob. Selector switch was broken, replaced that. Dings and nicks over the neck, head stock and body...this probably was sold for $500-700 back in the day, had it's usage from someone to depreciate the Nuno, they dinked w/ it until they thought, "Junk it or sell it to some pawn shop". Which is what they did, and now I own it. It's clean, but appearance wise, it definetely looks like a used instrument....

For a buck and a quarter and some elbow grease, can't complain. I reviewed this at Harmony Central as well. Still have it since 2/01 or whenever. It works, and that's all that matters.....

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Type guitar solid body.
Asian manufacturing.
Maple neck D 22 fairly flat boxes.
Alder body.
key rosewood.
Configuration micro HH splitables 1 in Washburn neck and a Bill Lawrence USA L-500 XL bridge.
Washburn Floyd Rose vibrato under license.
1 3 position selector 1 volume / tone with push / pull (a bit hard) split.

UTILIZATION

Excellent ergonomics, with a light weight that allows you to play several hours without feeling the pinch at the back.
Access to acute is impeccable.
Already empty, the beast shows character ringing loudly. Connected, we discover a large range of sounds ranging from the round (a bit messy with the neck pickup original poor quality and will need to be changed), the slamming "stratoïdien" in splittant microphones at positions 2 and 3 selector. The bridge pickup is incisive and wish to have a very high level of output that does not allow you to use plain except the splittant.

SOUNDS

This guitar is versatile, but is clearly built for muscular rock.
Once the bridge pickup engaged and distortion on, you're the master of thunder and lightning! It is both powerful and accurate because, and this is especially true on the micro bridge, even with high saturation you will not lose in accuracy, or quality definition notes.

OVERALL OPINION

I use the N2 now for 7 months and it is not far from becoming one of my favorite of my collection. Nevertheless, and this is the flat model purchased in the rough, it will for sure make some small changes. The neck pickup as already stated above is of poor quality and is not up to that of the bridge. For my part, I replaced with a Dimarzio DP193 PAF. You can also consider a SD 59, which is a good choice and you will get the configuration of N4. Simplification by a single volume knob / tone is quite nice, however the effectiveness of this knob is not progressive in the race. Only the last third to the closure is convincing. It will therefore again this knob to change for the benefit of another better quality. Once these modifications, you will have a N2 close in terms of quality and effectiveness of N4 which costs four times more expensive ... And even if the hardware of the N4 is better bill the price difference is not justified in such proportions. For this section I note 6/10 by referring to the instrument in the rough, but taking into account the changes that I made it and I advise you, the note becomes that of 9/10! Finally, we note that the Floyd Rose vibrato under license takes remarkably good agreement. If like me, you are lucky to find it in perfect condition and 120 € ... JUMP above, you will really regret it.