[THE "N" THAT STARTED IT ALL! > TRADED FOR AN IBANEZ RG2610]
An acquired taste! After some financial independence, this was my first imported guitar from the USA. At first i was not very impressed. It was good, but not great. I had great expectations, but i wasn't very happy when i played it the first months.
One day - don't remember when - i took the guts to tune more than the strings. I tuned the bridge, i got it a bit lower, and... oh yes, now we're talking! The funny thing is, i prefer carved top guitars, i find them very beautiful, and in the end... a non-carved top conquered my heart.
Later on, i made some pickups changes along with my friend Bruno Marques - one of the most patient guys in the world - and finally i decided to stick with the Dimarzio D-Activators. At the same time i can play rock/metal, but in the neck i can have a better blues/jazz sound than with the Seymour Duncan SH1 '59. When i thought off D-Activators, it was not quite what i expected!
The Projects
At the same time that PGM and '72 Telecaster were built, and even after that, something came up on Ebay; G.man, Boogie Street Guitars and Funky Munky Music began to sell some Washburn N model bodies and necks. I think that some Washburn plant closed down and they bought the stock to make either custom models, and sell those which weren't high quality.
I litteraly lost my head!
I had already seen customized Washburn N models, and it became favourite guitar model. Especially after seeing models like Korina Custom, N4 XX Anniversary, and some walnut and koa models. I completely forgot my taste for Les Paul type guitars and archtop models!
Washburn N4 Black and Gold [PRJCT-07]
[SOLD]
Black matte finish, original Washburn/Schaller and Gotoh gold hardware, quilt maple neck with a ebony fingerboard with no inlays, a couple of EMG HZ2s with gold poles (lovely sound and lovely look). The headstock is not quite the Washburn headstock, more of a reversed Strat headstock. The neck is also a lot thicker, but at the same time the sound is kind of a Les Paul tone, very full!
Washburn N6 White and Gold [PRJCT-08]
[SOLD]
White finish, original Washburn/Schaller gold hardware too, a beautiful set of gold/black tuners, quilt maple neck and fingerboard with pearl inlays, 1 Seymour Duncan SH13 in the bridge and 2 Artec hot rails - middle and neck. After these pictures, i bought a real Schaller gold nut.
N4 Zebra and Wengé [PRJCT-09]
[SOLD]
Wengé varnish and cream finish, cheap black hardware, quilt maple neck and zebrawood fingerboard with no inlays, 1 Dimarzio Tone Zone on the bridge and 1 Dimarzio PAF Joe on the neck (direct mount). Sold in 2012, because it had some tuning problems in the neck; i think that the nut was 1 mm out of place. Never the less, one of my favourites!
Washburn N4 ESA Custom [PRJCT-10]
[SOLD]
I found this Washburn on Ebay on March 2013, and i bought it to install some pickups that i had left. It seems the neck and fingerboard was made by a luthier in the UK.
In the end, the neck wasn't that great, and i took it to my luthier José Pereira @ Portugal for him to move this body to the N6, and sold the N6 body with all the rest of the parts left from this N4.
[Before]
[After]
