Buffalo Grove, IL (January 22, 2014) -- The Nuno Bettencourt N4 has long been a popular model in the Washburn line. The combination of the Stephens Extended Cutaway with a Floyd Rose has proved irresistible to shredders the world over. Now Washburn ups the ante with the addition of a carbon fiber fretboard and stainless steel frets.
The N4CV’s 22 stainless steel frets are silky smooth and will last the life of the owner without needing replacement. The carbon fiber fretboard is extremely fast and slippery so bends and dives never bind your fingers.
The N4CV is made in the Washburn USA Custom Shop and features a vintage matte finished alder body with a Seymour Duncan '59 neck pickup and Bill Lawrence L-500 bridge pick-up complemented by a Floyd Rose bridge & locking nut system and Grover Exclusive 18:1 tuners. One of the hallmarks of the N4 is the Stephens Extended Cutaway on the maple neck which allows for unprecedented upper fret access. The Buzz Feiten Tuning System allows for perfect musical intonation at every point on the neck. The stripped down control layout features a 3 way pickup selector and 1 volume control.
The N4CV comes with a Washburn GCN4 hardshell case and retails for $3,999.90
Washburn Guitars announces the addition of 3 new parlor sized guitars to its broad line of acoustic guitars. The new parlors are based on designs Washburn used over 100 years ago.
All 3 parlor guitars are 24.75” scale and feature a natural stain finish, solid cedar top supported by quarter sawn scalloped sitka spruce bracing, abalone rosette and standard Washburn rosewood bridge. The mahogany neck features a rosewood fingerboard with 44mm nut and gold open gear tuners. These specs produce a nicely balanced tone perfect for fingerpicking and singer/song writers. The clarity of the parlor sized body is especially suited to recording and mic’d performance.
The WP26SNS features beautiful rosewood back and sides with highly stylized pearl fingerboard inlays and retails for $712.90.
The WP21SNS specs are identical to the WP26SNS with the exception of pearl dot inlays on the fingerboard. It retails for $622.90
The WP11SNS features mahogany back and sides for a slightly more focused, articulate tone and has pearl dot fingerboard inlays and retails for $533.90.
Washburn Guitars is pleased announce a new addition to its Idol family of solid body guitars, the WI40NM. The Idol series has been a popular line in the Washburn family for over 15 years and the new model builds on the Idol’s solid feature set and sexy looks.
The WI40NM features a solid 2 piece mahogany satin finished body with a Canadian maple set neck with recessed heel for upper fret access. The 22 fret ebony fingerboard accentuates the pearloid block inlays and the gloss black capped headstock features pearloid Washburn logo and stylized W inlay. The all black hardware compliments the mahogany and maple and features a tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece and Grover 18:1 tuners with keystone buttons. The electronics are what make this guitar a real star. A hot alnico bridge humbucking pickup wound to 16k has been chosen to excel at rock tones and soloing. The neck alnico humbucker is wound to 8k for pristine jazz or rhythm tones. Both are controlled by separate volume and tone knobs. Taken together, this pickup combination makes for an incredibly versatile instrument.
The WI40NM comes equipped with D’Addario EX-120 strings and retails for $1069.90.
Washburn Guitars is proud to announce a new signature series with legendary Six Feet Under and Feared guitarist, Ola Englund. The new Solar Series is part of Washburn’s recently introduced Parallaxe Series. It consists of 6 and 7 string, 25.5” scale guitars offering standard Parallaxe features for the most demanding metal players with the addition of Evertune or Hipshot/style bridges. The Parallaxe Solar Series will feature 9 models, 5 of which will be built in Washburn’s USA Custom Shop just outside of Chicago and will cover a wide range of price points.
Parallaxe is Washburn’s recently introduced metal guitar series focusing on the worldwide rock/metal market and aiming to serve it with dedicated and advanced guitar technology. The line includes features that the most demanding rock/metal players have requested for years. It is stage & studio ready and packed with unique features such as the Stephen’s Extended Cutaway, Buzz Feiten Tuning System, Spring Silencers, big brass trem blocks, super jumbo frets, EverTune bridge and USA hardware & electronics.
Ola Englund is widely known for being the guitarist for legendary bands such as Six Feet Under, Feared and recently joined Swedish melodic death metal band The Haunted. He is also highly respected by the worldwide metal community for his professional YouTube demos and reviews for countless manufacturers.
Due to the success of last year’s USA Custom Shop P4 Princess, Washburn is adding another, more affordable model, the P2 Princess.
Like the P4, the P2 features a single cutaway solid mahogany bound body and is an exceptional value with premium hardware and electronics. It features USA Seymour Duncan pickups, Tune-o-matic bridge with Schaller fine tuning tail piece and Grover 18:1 chrome tuners, the combination of which provides unparalleled tuning accuracy and stability. The set mahogany neck features a 22 fret ebony fingerboard with tear drop inlays. The pickups are controlled by single volume and single tone knobs and selected with a 3 way toggle and the body shape is complimented by a 3 ply white/black/white pick guard.
The P2 is ideal for producing thick, meaty tones perfect for classic rock, blues and jazz. It is available in Black Sparkle and Silver Sparkle, comes equipped with D’Addario™ strings and includes a premium Washburn gig bag. The P2 retails for $1065.33
Washburn Guitars is pleased to add a new and unique parlor sized resonator to its line of resonator guitars, the R360K. With the current popularity of Folk and Americana music styles, the R360K brings a unique voice to the genre, thanks to its smaller body. Players looking to add new colors to their tonal palate via slide or fingerstyle will find the R360K to be the ideal instrument.
The R360K is a parlor guitar with a biscuit resonator cone. It has the look and feel of a guitar that would have been made in the early 20th century and played well since. It features a spruce top and Trembesi back and sides with a mahogany neck. The old style slotted headstock features distressed classical style tuners and classy pearl inlaid Washburn logo and design. The rosewood fingerboard showcases period correct traditional pearl inlays and has a 48mm nut width to facilitate fingerpick or slide styles. A custom cover plate with antique bronze finish matches the tailpiece and tuner hardware. Mirror image f holes adorn both sides of the fingerboard extension.
The R360K is equipped with D’Addario strings and includes a Washburn hardshell case. It retails for $1,069.90.
Washburn is pleased to announce the arrival of three new Idol models at this year’s NAMM in Anaheim, CA.
The flagship Idol, the USA Custom Shop WI68XVCG, makes its triumphant return in the stylish Cognac finish. It features a mahogany body with flame maple cap showcasing a reveal binding that lets the beauty of the flame show through. The mahogany neck sports a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard containing beautiful offset figured maple block inlays. Accented with classic gold hardware that includes Grover® 18:1 Rotomatic tuners, Tone Pros Tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece and gold knobs. Gold covered coil tapped Seymour Duncan SH1N neck and SH11 bridge pickups complete this tonally versatile package.
The WI68XVCG is equipped with D’Addario strings and comes with a Washburn GC5 hardshell case. It retails for $3,999.90.
Continuing with our vintage finish inspired guitars comes the WI60V Idol. It features a solid mahogany spruce veneer capped body and a mahogany set neck with recessed heel for upper fret access. The 22 fret rosewood fingerboard accentuates the pearloid block inlays and the matte black capped headstock features pearloid Washburn logo and stylized inlay. The vintaged hardware compliments the finish and features a tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece and Grover® 18:1 tuners with ebonite buttons to tie in with the ebony control knobs. Dual humbuckers give the guitar a warm, creamy tone.
The WI60V comes equipped with D’Addario EX-120 strings and retails for $890.90.
Originally introduced 15 years ago, the WI64 was the very first Idol model. The 2014 model WI64TRK reproduces every detail of the original right down to the revolutionary VCC tone controls. VCC varies the humbucker pickups from full humbucking mode to coil tapped mode and every tonal color in between. Go from thick crunchy tones to near single coil pristine tones by just rotating the knob. The WI64 features a thin mahogany body with set mahogany neck. The 22 fret rosewood fingerboard has dot inlays and the headstock features a gloss black cap with pearl Washburn logo and stylized W inlay. Hardware includes smooth operating chrome Grover 18:1 tuners, tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece.
The WI64TRK comes in Trans Red, is equipped with D’Addario strings and includes a Washburn GB4 gigbag. It retails for $890.90
Washburn Guitars introduces the WCG66SCE acoustic/electric guitar. The newest addition to the Comfort Series is highlighted by deluxe features and stunning visual appeal.
The WCG66SCE is a Grand Auditorium style acoustic/electric guitar with a venetian cutaway for superior upper fret access. A highlight of the Comfort Series is the beveled strip of mahogany at the lower bout which becomes part of the mahogany top binding. The guitar features a book matched solid Cedar top, spalted maple back and sides, mahogany/maple bound body and headstock. The satin finished mahogany neck has an ebony fingerboard devoid of inlays and in tandem with the mahogany bound ebony bridge adds an aura of understated elegance. A maple/mahogany/maple strip splits the book matched spalted maple back as well. The spalted maple capped headstock features a pearl inlaid Washburn logo and stylized W as well as Grover 18:1 tuners with ebonite buttons. The gorgeous rosette is made of alternating maple and mahogany.
The WCG66SCE is a fantastic sounding acoustic guitar in its own right but the addition of premium Fishman electronics makes for an outstanding stage performance guitar. The Fishman Presys+ is an integrated tuner/preamp system for versatile amplified tonal shaping.
The WCG66SCE is strung with D’Addario strings and is an amazing acoustic/electric guitar as well as an outstanding value. Suggested Retail Price is $1,247.90.
Washburn is proud to introduce the new Willie Kahaiali’I, “Willie K”, Signature Jumbo Acoustic Guitar model WJ55SCENS. Willie is known throughout Hawaii as a legendary vocalist/instrumentalist who excels at a plethora of instruments and styles from traditional Hawaiian music through Blues and Rock to Opera!
With a slightly wider than standard nut of 44mm, the WJ55SCENS is a 25.5” scale Jumbo Acoustic Guitar with a cutaway and Fishman Electronics. It features a solid spruce top with quarter sawn scalloped Sitka spruce bracing for strength without weight, Koa back and sides and maple neck. The beautiful abalone binding ties in nicely with the abalone rosette as does the rosewood fingerboard with the rosewood bridge. A satin finish brings out the beauty of the wood and adds to a smooth playing feel. A rosewood capped headstock showcases a pearl Washburn logo and stylized W inlay and features gold tuners with black ebonite buttons. Included is the Fishman Presys+ Tuner/Preamp system for superior live sound.
Says Uncle Willie, “This guitar was built for men with big hands and big fingers and you know what they say about men with big hands, they play better!”
Washburn is pleased to be associated with a musician of such high a caliber as Willie K who also chooses the Washburn HB36 for his electric performances.
The WJ55SCENS, with its player friendly wider nut, is the ideal performance acoustic guitar. The WJ55SCENS retails for $1,158.90
Long a staple in Jazz, Blues, and Rock circles, and loved for its fat, meaty tones, the hollowbody has been ubiquitous in 20th and 21st century music. Washburn has contributed to much of that music and is proud to introduce the HB45WH double cutaway hollowbody guitar which is based on our best-selling HB35 model.
The HB45WH features a double cutaway maple body and includes a solid maple block in the center, increasing sustain and reducing susceptibility to feedback in high volume situations. Additionally, we’ve removed the F holes traditionally found on guitars of this style to further reduce susceptibility to feedback and contributing to an overall cleaner look. It features a maple neck capped with a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard with split block inlays. The gold hardware includes a tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece with Grover® 18:1 Rotomatic tuners for exceptionally smooth tuning and stability. Humbuckers in the neck and bridge are selected by a three-way switch and provides players with a wide range of tones.
The HB45WH comes in Gloss White and is equipped with D’Addario™ strings and a Washburn hardshell case and retails for $1,247.90.
For more information:
Washburn
Philadelphia-raised metal guitarist Xander Raymond Charles has built himself quite a following on YouTube—his subscribers now number over 120,000. But when he’s not YouTubing, he’s playing live, and earlier this year, he went out on a national tour with metalcore artist elijah. Charles formed half of elijah’s brutal dual guitar section, along with Brandon Kyle. Ahead of a recent Nashville gig, the two shredders sat down with PG’s Chris Kies to share what they packed for the road trip.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Rooting Around
Charles’ go-to metal machine is this Fender Jim Root partscaster with a 2014 Strat body and 2018 neck. He put in a pair of Root’s signature EMG Daemonum pickups, then pulled out the neck one out of “boredom” while on tour. He’s also replaced a lot of the factory hardware with odds and ends from Lowes or Home Depot. Like most of the duo’s guitars, the partscaster is tuned to drop C, and this one rocks a set of Nashville-made Stringjoy .012–.062 strings.
From the Bench to First String
Kyle’s main ride is this ESP LTD TE-401, which started its life as a backup but has graduated to be Kyle’s No. 1. It’s an affordable model from ESP’s line that Kyle maintains is one of the best-sounding guitars he’s ever played. He loves the playability and feel, which are similar to the Fenders he grew up playing. Obviously, the EMG pickups give it more gas than other T-styles.
Backup Warhorse
This single-humbucker, JM-style ESP LTD XJ-1 HT is another warhorse in Kyle’s stable and serves as a backup during elijah’s current set. It’s equipped with D’Addario XL .012–.056s.
Low and Long
This stunning Squier Vintage Modified Baritone Jazzmaster can handle all of Charles’ low-end demands with its 30" scale length.
Fresh from the Lab
Charles was gifted this 7-string Cerberus prototype, which is geared up with locking tuners, a single Guitarmory Pickups humbucker, and a 30" scale length.
Quad Power
Both Charles and Kyle are running Neural DSP Quad Cortexes, and after some testing, both decided to roll with a profile of an EVH 5150 loaded with EL34s. For clean sounds in the set, they lean on a Friedman profile. Sennheiser wireless systems let both guitarists cut loose onstage.
Eric Deaton - Oxford Mississippi
“It’s all about the one,” says Eric Deaton. “You’ve got your one-chord drone, so it’s just a groove and very funky—like James Brown’s bass players.”
Photo by Chris Johnson
Eric Deaton got his break one night when trance-blues patriarch Junior Kimbrough’s bassist didn’t show up at Junior’s juke joint, in the rolling hills outside of Holly Springs, Mississippi. Deaton was already a regular guest there, on guitar, but after he subbed on 4-string that evening, he became a staple of the low end for members of the region’s revered Kimbrough and Burnside musical families, and many other Magnolia State blues and roots players. In fact, if you’ve spent time in the bars and blues festivals of the middle and deeper South, and you haven’t seen the longhaired, cheerful Deaton bobbing to the beat, you probably had your eyes closed.
Schooled by the Kimbroughs and Burnsides, Deaton’s specialty is the rumbling, loping, snake-charmer’s pulse of north Mississippi hill country, where a subgenre of blues that lays bare the style’s deepest African roots has taken hold for generations. “It’s all about the one,” he explains. “You’ve got your one-chord drone, so it’s just a groove and very funky—like James Brown’s bass players. People talk about how hypnotic it is, and that’s true. Playing it, you feel yourself lifting off a little bit. It takes you to a whole ’nother level. It’s psychedelic!”
While Deaton, who also fronts his own band on guitar, has been a fixture on that circuit almost since he arrived from Raleigh, North Carolina, in the early ’90s with a powerful yearning to play the blues in the land where it began, his profile has risen sharply over the past three years. Major-league raw-and-dirty blues fan Dan Auerbach drafted Deaton for a host of productions, including Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ Grammy-nominated Cypress Grove, Hank Williams, Jr.’s Rich White Honky Blues, two albums by Robert Finley, and the Black Keys’ Delta Kream. Auerbach also brought Deaton to play bass on the Keys’ 2022 world tour, and special dates to promote his Easy Eye Sound label’s 2023 blues compilation, Tell Everybody.
“I’d never been in front of an audience of that size prior to that, so it was just an amazing experience, to see how a big tour like that is put together and all,” says Deaton, who plays a Blues King PJ made by St. Blues in Memphis. “And musically, it’s been a lot of fun because I am playing the same basslines I’ve been playing since I was 18, but doing that in arenas and Red Rocks and places like that. Because Dan and Pat [Carney, Black Keys drummer] made me a featured artist on the Delta Kream record, we got to share in a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album, too.”
— Ted DrozdowskiDezron Douglas - New York, New York
“To be honest with you, I'm never worried about taking a solo. You know, that's really not my job.,” says Dezron Douglas
Photo by Andrew Blackstein
Dezron Douglas is acutely aware of what he needs to do on any given night. Whether he’s playing challenging modern jazz with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane at Birdland or he’s deep in a spacey horn-fueled funk jam at Red Rocks with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, the vibration, according to Douglas, is the same. “Too many bass players are thinking about soloing. And you can hear that when they’re playing,” he Douglas shortly before a recent Birdland hit with Coltrane (who he has been working with for 20 years). “To be honest with you, I’m never worried about taking a solo. You know, that’s not my job.”
Douglas’ style is rooted in jazz, but not bound by it. He was mentored in college by legendary saxophonist Jackie McLean and was taught that real music education needs to happen outside of the classroom. “Jackie let me out of school for my first tour ever,” remembers Douglas. That tour was with guitarist Johnnie Marshall and it was a brutal eight-week run through the chitlin circuit. Young Dezron was ready to solo and show his new employer what he could do. “I took a solo. The crowd was clapping and whatnot. And then for the next week and a half, he didn't give me another solo,” laughs Douglas. It was a tough lesson, but taught Douglas that his role needed to be supportive above all else.
Douglas has released a string of solo albums since 2012, led his own quartet at the Village Vanguard, and developed as a composer. His latest album, Atalaya, is a deep portrait of an artist who has not only an original voice on his instrument, but in his tunes. That is increasingly rare in today’s jazz scene, where there’s a trend to value obsessive technicality over melody and groove.
In 2021, after the death of bassist Tony Markellis, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio chose Douglas to join his solo band. “Tony and Trey had a report for 30 years,” says Douglas. “And, you know, you can't recreate that. All you can do is learn the material, pay homage, and create something different of your own.” Douglas’ intrinsic versatility has been a perfect fit with Anastasio’s soul-funk outfit. “With Trey, I get to be myself,” he says.
—Jason Shadrick
Paul Bryan - Los Angeles, California
“With the bass, you’re the bus driver, musically,” Paul Bryan explains. “It’s natural to keep your eye on the ball in terms of rhythm, harmony, arrangement, dynamics … developing spaces at the core of all of those things.”
Paul Bryan’s new album, Western Electric, is a journey through melody and groove in service of a futuristic jazz-rock sound that references classic jazz, dub, and post-rock. Bryan’s groovy and lyrical electric bass welds musical elements, intertwining with drummer Jay Bellerose, saxophonist Josh Johnson, and overdubbed synths, all often generously dosed with effects. Each sound is in service of a bigger picture—the kind of cohesive vision he seems to bring to each project.
“With the bass, you’re the bus driver, musically,” Bryan explains. “It’s natural to keep your eye on the ball in terms of rhythm, harmony, arrangement, dynamics … developing spaces at the core of all of those things.” And he does so on a wide variety of projects. Over the course of his career, Bryan’s played bass on recordings by many artists, including Norah Jones and Mavis Staples, and is in Aimee Mann’s band in addition to having produced five of her albums. He’s also a member of the Los Angeles creative-music scene, where he’s active as a player, engineer, and producer.
As much as Western Electric is a product of that fertile scene—which also includes Johnson and Bellerose—it’s so clearly from Bryan’s brain. The Fender Jazz and Jag player is an obvious record head, citing Jo Jones and Milt Hinton’s Percussion and Bass and Sonny Rollins’Way Out West as references—both of which sound nothing like Bryan’s record to a casual listener. But the concept is clear, foregrounding the relationship of his melodic, effects-heavy playing and Bellerose’s deep grooves.
And beyond the playing, Bryan approaches the album’s sonic details like a dub master: “Once you've heard something for 20 seconds, your brain goes, ‘Okay, I know what that is.’ So, I’ll do some cool reverb trick or add some cool low-end thump. I’m always trying to reset the table throughout the song.”
—Nick Millevoi
Sébastien Provençal - Montreal Quebec
“It’s all about notes duration, my intentions behind the notes, the tones, and being blessed to play in a band with my best friends, who are amazing musicians,” says Sébastien Provençal.
Photo by Vincent Gravel
It was pouring rain when Population II took the stage in Montreal’s Parc La Fontaine on June 23. The hometown trio were headlining a progressive celebration for Québec independence on the eve of St.-Jean-Baptiste Day—the Francophone Canadian province’s equivalent of the Fourth of July. A couple hundred people splashed around in the swampy grass to catch the band’s free set, and it was immediately evident why: Population II are one of the most exciting Canadian bands of the decade.
In a trio, all members are especially responsible for the band’s success or failure, but that feels particularly true for Population II, whose daring arrangements and sonic explorations dart between post-punk, jazz, garage, new wave, psych- and prog-rock, and more. Twenty-nine-year-old bassist Sébastien Provençal, sporting a 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass routed through a playground of pedals into a 1972 Hiwatt DR201 and blasted out an Ampeg 8x10, establishes and carries arrangements forward while vocalist/drummer Pierre-Luc Gratton and guitarist/organist Tristan Lacombe thrash and spark around him. Amid the storm in Parc La Fontaine, the combination was euphoric.
Provençal’s opening bass line on “R.B.,” off of this year’s EP Serpent Échelle, is an instant classic, perfectly setting the tone for the song’s mad ramble. The riff is elastic and fluid, but it’s also martial and commanding. This is the heart of Provençal’s playing: It’s playful and exploratory, but executed with such authority and precision that it feels industrial, ruthless. See also his introductory synth-bass gambit on “Orlando,” the stunning opener from their 2023 LP, Électrons libres, du québec. Provençal’s tones often mutate and morph between movements within single songs—it’s clear he puts a ton of thought into not just his arrangements, but the textures they’re presented with. “It’s all about notes duration, my intentions behind the notes, the tones, and being blessed to play in a band with my best friends, who are amazing musicians,” Provençal says. “With this in mind, my style is intentionally bold with a strong sense of vulnerability.”
Provençal’s top influences also offer a vivid picture of his style. Bootsy Collins and Aston “Family Man” Barrett knock up against punk Mike Watt, Can’s Holger Czukay, Yes’ Chris Squire, synth-rock pioneer Simeon Coxe, jazz-prog wizard Hugh Hopper, and Miles Davis’ fusion specialist Michael Henderson (“The best to ever do it on the electric bass,” says Provençal). Excellent bassists have been making smart, challenging weirdo art with their instrument for decades, carving out new meanings of the word “bassist,” but I’m grateful that I get to hear Sébastien Provençal do it here in Montreal, pushing music and this province, and this country, to weirder, cooler places.
— Luke Ottenhof