Hey, Washburn, we have an idea!

[DontTreadOnMe]

Nick, your efforts and responses to suggestions have been recognized and appreciated by some of the forum members.

There have been a lot of suggestions to Washburn in other posts on a variety of product related topics, but I thought this would be a great place to capture serious suggestions and thoughts to feed back to Washburn from the Forum members.

All I can suggest is that we keep the suggestions and comments as  concise and specific as possible, and try - hard as it may be - to minimize the pokin' - OK, forget that, I know it's an impossible request anyway!

Nick, I would suggest making this a sticky, or start another thread as a general repository to solicit serious feedback.  

I'll go first...

Can Washburn have a 'checklist' that ALL vendors must go through before delivering an instrument? Much like a car dealer, to give a final once-over and make sure nothing was damaged during shipping, and give the customer higher confidence that the product they receive is what Washburn intended.

This comment goes back to my asking various vendors about the condition of an instrument, and the response being they check all that at the factory and at the Washburn warehouse.  I know that there are vendors that already do this for their customers based on other comments I have seen, Funky Munky is one that comes to mind, and that is very much recognized on the forum. All the WB vendors should give a final quality check before sending out an instrument.

[cedwards]

+1 on DTOM's suggestion. A simple add . . . get guitars into bricks 'n' mortar stores . . . everywhere. Prime the sales guys. That's what sold me on my first Washie and look! I've bought three more since then. I've said it before: the product sells itself. Put it in peoples' hands. Period.

[DontTreadOnMe]

Shiner, I knew it was only a matter of time... but hey, it's a forum, with a good group that likes to 'discuss' - and that's what it's here for.  Like Rocket said in another thread - Nick has editorial power, he can thin out any posts he wants to.
Heck brother, I'm just glad somebody else added to this, I was just trying to get some forum brainstorming going.

BTW - maybe it needs to be a signature/photo model (That would be a photo of a bottle of Shiner Bock, of course!)

[Nagarajah]

quote:Originally posted by luvmyshiner

I would suggest marketing a Shiner approved signature guitar.  I would personal inspect every guitar which bears my signature and mark it with a Rocket approved method to prove it passes my strict standards.[8D]

(sorry Greg, couldn't resist it)

. . . because without beer, things do not seem to go as well . . .  Brother Epp, Capuchin Monastery, Munjor, Kansas  1902

That's a f****n great idea.  I was going to fill my guitar body with Shiner beer caps. []

[BGRooster1]

I myself look for shops that do this sort of final inspection.I would expect any reputable shop does this but maybe doesn't give a stamp or document of approval.
 It is plain to see that some shops don't.I see pics of guitars that would never see a consumer if this type of inspection was done.Surprising to see so many obvious laps in quality get out the factory door.

[mapexzil]

START SELLING DIME WASHBURNS AGAIN!!!

Washburn DIME2ST

[darreno27]

Washburn needs more cool associations with their products instead of just adding metal artists to the roster.  I honestly think a washed-out 80s rock star is more noticeable than a new incoming metal band (unless of course the new metal band breaks the scene in high popularity)  I've talked to artist relations at Fender, Del Breckenfeld in relation to this (who was also Washburn's AR back in the early 90s).  A product can be amazing, but it is still a tough sell if there isn't some other association with it that makes a customer interested.

For example, I want a Peavey Vandenberg custom very badly.  I know the based on the neck profile specs I will most likely never seriously gig with the guitar (I only buy guitar I will gig with), but I want it anyway!  The guitars are unique in many ways regardless of the specs, and Adrian Vandenberg is a prolific artist who is still noticeable by many younger audiences.

Be it artist endorsements or vintage mojo, which is MUCH easier for Fender -  but either way a company needs it.  Unfortunately, this also requires the $, which I'm sure FMIC has more of in all departments.

--------------------------
www.vintagewashburn.com

[Ascension]

Washburn simply needs to do 2 things if they want to really succeeed in the market.
First and foremost they need to beef up the dealers network. I live in the largest City in my State and there is only one tiny dealer for Washburn within 40 miles of me who has almost NO inventory. If folks never get a chance to pick up and play a Washburn they will simply not buy them!
Second GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT!! The HM series for example. GREAT line that should have been a winner but what does Washburn do? Instead of hitting the entire line with a major marketing campaign and getting the guitars into the shops you guys DROP the line?? Has anybody there looked at just how many threads are running on boards about the HM's?? The WM 526 was a KILLER but few were produced and all that were production guitars had the soul less EMG's. The price was high but there was no flamed top option nor were any produced in a SSH set up. Also the WM 24 with the resin board was a winner but lasted what 2 years with NO marketing campaign to speak of?? Almost EVERY player who picks my 08 WM24 up is blow away by the guitar and these SHOULD have sold as fast as they could be built. However Washburn never got them out to the masses and properly marketed then. The reviews that were out there RAVED about the guitars but the public could never get their hands on them to see how good they really were so they did not ever really take off. Now you are dropping the cool headstock and phenolic board??
 Get a clue guys or fade away!!

Washburn USA's 1995 MG 102,120,122,1993 MG 104, One off Grover Jackson era Prototype , 1996 USA A-30,
Carvin  1990 X220C
Amps
 Zinky 25 watt Blue velvet
Zinky designed Fender Custom Shop Prosonic Black combo modded to a 1/12
 Marshall JCM 900 MK III High Gain Dual Master Volume 1/12.

[serazac25]

They could always offer different things, most companys offer OFL, washburn should come with the OFL PRO, most come with EMG's ,
WB gives you Blackouts (at least as an option). And 24 fret Idols would be killer, like legit. And the x series was pretty neat, I have one of the low end discontinued models, pretty deece guitar for the price.
Hope they bring back the WM models, and THAT green finish, and a symetrical version of the WM would be nice, probably will capture
more eyes, since a lot of people are not fan of guitars that don't look traditional.

[ds76]

I have an idea. I think you should start phasing out Chinese manufacturing and start making more guitars in the U.S. Now, before you dismiss me as a gingoistic reactionary, or give me a second grade explanation of labor costs and economic realities, just humor me for a few minutes. Are you  old enough to remember when you could walk into someone's home and see a Magnovox or RCA or Motorola telivision? What do you see in most peoples' homes now? Sony? Samsung? LG? Do you ever ask yourself why? The practice of American electronics companies shifting production overseas became popular when I was a kid. Back then, people considered anything made in Japan to be a cheap shoddy imitation of American products. As time went on though, the Japanese got better and better at building electronics and before you knew it, made in Japan was a mark of quality. Then something else happened. Small Japanese companies that we never heard of began marketing products in the U.S and elsewhere under their own names. These names are now very familiar to us; Kenwood, Kyocera, Sony, etc. And a lot of American brand names simply disapperared.
Now consider guitars. When the Washburn name was resurrected in the seventies, where did they make their guitars? Well I have a nice old Prairie Song made in Japan. A lot of companies made theirs in Korea, then Indonesia and finally in China. The first Chinese guitars were better suited to paddling a boat than they were to making music. But then they got better; and they're still getting better. A Chinese company called Biyang is marketing effects pedals under their own name in the U.S. Their website says they are coming out with their own brand of tube amplfiers. Do you see history repeating itself here?
Fast forward eight or ten years from now. You walk into a music store and see a couple of guitars on the wall. Both are made in the same factory, by the same Chinese workers out of the same woodpile. One of them says Washburn and costs $650. The other says Biyang and costs $350. Which one will you buy? Maybe sometime later as you sit playing your Biyang guitar you'll remember the old Washburn company and think how sad it was that they cut their own throats in search of short term profits.

[Tony Raven]

+1 on cedwards & Ascension.

Recall that great Luke Skywalker quote: If there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from. Okay, that's kinda where I live. There are three official Washburn dealers within 100 miles of me. (In the same radius, there are seven Fender dealers.) One of 'em is a nice shop, & responsible for showing me how good modern Washburn & Oscar Schmidt acoustic guitars are. But at my last visit they had three Wash acoustics, one electric, & no basses.

I could probably find at least a hundred dedicated amateur players, in any musical niche you could name, yet there's no apparent effort to expose 'em to these great & affordable instruments.

resident troublemaker: http://forum.frugalguitarist.com/

[Tony Raven]

I've been letting this run in my head, & I think I see part of the problem in getting word out about how great Washburn instruments are: diversity.

If I were to win Powerball & be able to be (IMO) a proper Washburn dealer, I'd open three shops:

• solidbody electrics, heavily into everything Nuno for starters
• acoustics
• basses

Too many stores' websites proudly splash huge corporate logos all over the place... then you walk into the shop & find they don't actually STOCK even a single example of half those. "Oh -- but we can ORDER it for you!!" just does NOT cut the mustard. When someone walks in the door who looks like a credible customer, especially a first-timer, I tend to chat 'em up for two minutes, drag 'em over to a display, & proudly say "You really gotta try THIS." Bam -- emotional buy-in. Most won't buy right then-&-there, of course, but they're impressed that I have THEM in mind, & this greatly improves the chances of a near-future sale... something that ain't gonna happen by flipping through a catalog.

{No, I've not yet opened my own store, but there are at least five shops who've made the joke that I should be getting a commission, because I often know the stock better than their clerks.  I love guitars, & I support my fave dealers.}

First impressions are SERIOUS business. If a metalhead looks through the door & sees racks of lovely acoustics, he might never enter; conversely, if the front is clogged with flashy shred-machines, this could be chasing the country players away. If they're all mixed together, then everyone gets the impression the store doesn't give a damn about anyone.

And that's kinda where Washburn is.

[wn50 d10s12 h1260 ej200]

Hey,folks!Just a by'n'by thing-artist endorsements might do something for first-time buyers,but if you look at the previously posted "wish list",most intermediate and up players talk about what they like(body size,style,tonewoods,bracing,scale lengths,tuners,finishes,etc.),not who they want to play like.A vast majority of prolific guitarists play stuff they have built by individual luthiers or custom shops,no matter whose mass produced item it may resemble.Peace,out-and remember;my kids are better looking than your kids!-Jamie

[cfhmachado]

Heres a few things that could really help washburn .
Bring back the idol and it's original shape. bring back the wm526 , even if was a ebony fretboard version. Some how bring the dime models back, even if they werent called dimes and had slight variations to them to make them legal. The x series were great aswell.
All these models need to be Offered as USA custom shop Models, that's what people really want!!!

And most importantly open that custom shop back up, and get those skilled guys back to work. Mid 90's - early 2000's you guys were putting out the amazing guitars. It was really insane to go from that to where we're at now.

As is I wouldn't  even buy a electric Washburn from the current cataloge(except for a nuno).

I own 10 USA custom shop Washburns dating to the yrs earlier mentioned , and they are all excellent .
That's what company needs to recreate , in order to survive amongst the current guitar market.

[aggtex]

I don't think u are the first person who has requested these items! As of the Dime guitars , I think Washburn does own the Dime3 shape , someone correct me if I am wrong, cuz Deans is a little different but just can't put Dime at the headstock anymore, I think anyways..I am kind of glad , along with some other folks, that they stopped making Dime Washys..only cuz it makes all my others worth more & very rare.. Not trying to be selfish but I like it when not everybody owns the same items I do..The Dean USA Dimes are great models but we all know the finishes are not that great! This same topic was brought up awhile back, I know it sucks if you wanna buy a USA Washy Dime these days u gotta pay & arm & a leg ,& sometimes ur soul too! Good luck with your Movement!