Newmarket Travel - History Of The Washburn Guitar

Maxwell Street would end up being the center of the Delta Blues movement in the 1920's. Just a few blocks away from Maxwell Street, washburn first starting making guitars in 1883 in Chicago Illinois. The Washburn guitar Company has been producing guitars for over 120 years.

It was an everyday occurrence to often see people meeting up on the streets and jam with each other. The Delta Blues scene had performers playing on the side walks and alleyways as well, besides the common locations where you would often see musicians such as bars. The atmosphere in this area would have been amazing to be a part of because music was performed everywhere you would look, also. The raw and emotional music that was created in this area ended up changing the way Blues and Rock and Roll would be played forever. African Americans that moved to this location from the Mississippi Delta started the Delta Blues scene.

This then led to the increase in popularity of Washburn guitars as well. People that were coming to check out the scene started to notice that most of the guitarists were playing Washburn's, when word got out about this amazing music.

Mandolins and even travel guitars, banjos, amps, washburn also makes acoustic and electric bass guitars. The company has made more than just acoustic and electric guitars, throughout the 100+ years of rich Washburn history.

Dimebag Darell (Pantera and Damageplan) and Paul Stanley (Kiss), nuno Bettencourt (Extreme), some of the big names to promote and have signature models made for them are Jennifer Batten (Michael Jackson and Jeff Beck). Washburn has had some of the greatest guitar players in music associated with them, in the past couple of decades in particular. The Washburn Company is also credited with being the first guitar manufacturer to use artists to endorse their guitars.

Just turning a knob on the guitar creates this blend. Which is a special coil structure that allows for a smooth blend between a humbucker sound and the single coil sound without the normal hum that you usually get from the single coil, washburn came out with the Voice Contour Control (VCC). The Washburn Company has also introduced some of the most innovative ideas to change the way guitars were to be made.

Which is a tempered tuning formula that uses a compensated nut and saddle to correct the inherent intonation problems of the Western tuning formula, they also came out with the Buzz Feiten Tuning System.

And Scott Ian (Anthrax), roger Waters, rick Savage (Def Leppard), peter Steele (Type O Negative), nick Catanese (Black Label Society), sammy Hagar, josey Scott and Wayne Swinny (Saliva), jF (Kataklysm), hugh McDonald (Bon Jovi), greg Tribbett (Mudvayne and Hellyeah), paul Phillips and Wes Scantlin (Puddle of Mudd), doug Ardito, dean Back and Tyler Connolly (Theory Of a Deadman), david Brenner, dave Bakash (Sum 41), some of the talented musicians that use their guitars are Dan Donegan (Disturbed). The Washburn guitar is still very popular with the great guitar players of today.