1932 Washburn 5200

ARCHIVED • SOLD

1932 Washburn 5200

Serial # 1038. The Tonk distributed 5200 model Washburn was the company's base model back in the early 1930's. It featured sides and back of solid mahogany, a red spruce top, ebony bridge and ebonized maple fingerboard. Roughly the size and shape of an 0 sized Martin, the guitar is X-braced as well, and sounds very good. Tonk-Washburns remain the sleepers of the vintage acoustic market, offering some of the best vintage tone available, but at prices much lower than similarly appointed Martins and Gibsons. This particular guitar is very punchy, with a volume that belies its small size. It has a mahogany snap and brightness, and an incredibly open voice and resonance. The guitar is ridiculously lightweight, weighing in at a mere 2.75 pounds, but that doesn't mean you have to be gentle on it. There's enough headroom on this one to flatpick to your heart's content! In our shop the instrument received a neck reset, a leveling of its bar frets, and set up. We filled and re-routed the original saddle-slot for proper intonation, and installed a replacement bone saddle. The guitar now plays perfectly, with fingerstyle action and standard light-gauge strings. Its nut is 1-7/8" wide and the large C-shaped neck has a short 24.25" scale. No cracks or repairs, and completely original. The finish is in good shape, too, but with two small areas on the back and another on the lower treble side where the stain appears not to have taken properly. We suspect this dates back to the manufacture of the guitar, as the finish is uniform throughout; but we'll never know for sure! We'll continue to source out these fine Washbuns as long as we can, but we suspect their affordability won't last forever.
With original chipboard case
SOLD
1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200
  • 1932 Washburn 5200

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