My Washburn WP-50 (Les Paul clone)

[jonrpick]

The story is that a former Gibson Custom Shop employee designed / built these for Washburn back in '89. They only made them for one year before Gibson shut them down. I've bought seven of them, but traded #3 to a friend for some other gear under the agreement that I get dibs if he decides to sell it.

I refer to them by number. They're just numbered in the order that I acquired them, not order of importance. #1 was my main guitar forever, and I'm planning an overhaul on it since it was never done "right" and was customized one piece at a time. #2 became the next main guitar. But the rest have all sat for years waiting to be finished. I say "finished" because they came with crap pickups & electronics. The hardware was the standard stuff.

I redid #6 completely. New: tuners, bridge, aluminum tailpiece, locking tailpiece studs, Seymour Duncan Antiquity II humbuckers (reversed phase on one for the Peter Green tone), and new 50's wiring using old-school push-back wiring & orange drops.


Here she is...

 

[jonrpick]

Mostly finished... I'm gonna get the 1st-5th frets replaced as someone played nothing but open chords on it for years.

 

[JayBeezy42]

Are those photo tops or just really impressive flame?

 

[jonrpick]

Are those photo tops or just really impressive flame?

It's a real flame laminate over an otherwise (most likely) plain maple top. With the pickups out you can clearly see where the mahogany ends and the maple begins, and then you can see the roughly 1mm thick flame maple laminate on top of that.

This particular one does have one of the sickest flame patterns I've ever seen, IMHO.

Cool thing about these Washburns is that no two of the seven look truly alike. #2 & #3 are similar, and #5 & #6 are similar. At some point I'll take pics of them all and post them in this thread. #1 is probably the darkest "cherry" sunburst I've seen. #4, kind of a light tobacco sunburst. #7 is red on the back like a cherry burst, but tobacco on top. Makes no sense...

 

[MrWP50]

WP50's

I have about 12-15 WP50's. All flames are different. Some are cherry, some are tobacco, and some are brown. Fretboard woods are different from flame to flame. I have found that similar flame patterns seem to have the same type of wood used on the fretboards. I think i have 2 that may have brazilian boards. Some weigh 8.5 lbs and some weigh 10. Some necks are thinner than others. I have owned all brands of LP guitars and I always end up playing the WP50's. I go after the WP50's from 89-90 (prob Matsumoku with toggle switch up top) as opposed the the Florentine cuts with toggle by pots (prob Korean). I have 2 WP80's, 2 WP90's and 2 Pilsen Idols. I also have a prototype WP90 with a tremolo. I replace the plastic nuts with bone and swap all wiring and PUPs. I don't fall in love with all of them, but definitely know my type and which ones I favor by now. I just saw someone selling a cherry-burst on ebay for $1500.00 USD. I don't know if they got it but i usually see them from 375-750. I have one with very similar to the WP50 pictured above and it is one of my favorites. It is good too see that someone else out there appreciates these "sleepers".

 

[jonrpick]

Hey! Very cool!!!

I'd love to find a thicker neck WP50. #3 was bigger somehow. I never checked it with my calipers to figure out how. I think it was ever so slightly wider, not necessarily thicker. I didn't bond with it for unknown reasons. The neck wasn't the reason.

Very nice to e-meet someone else who loves the WP50's!

 

[MrWP50]

WP 50's

There are a few of us WP50 nuts out here. I have one that is getting worked on now that has a wide neck. The neck is very thin too. It is the only one i have like it. I am making it have all gold hardware and tuners and PUPs -- inlay too...we'll have to see what it looks like. If you like the WP's, you might like the Pilsen Idols, if you haven't tried them yet.

 

[jonrpick]

My #1 (a 3-pickup) will be getting an entire overhaul. I had started converting it to gold hardware, but stopped mid-way. I need to finish the job. It's a very dark cherry sunburst. I'll post a pic when I'm able.

It has crazy wiring... Neck tone became "master" tone. Bridge tone became middle volume, which bypasses the switch and connects directly to the jack. That way I can get all 7 pickup combos. All three volume pots are push/pull to split the pickups into singles.

I'll be replacing one or two of its pickups, cleaning up the wiring, and possibly adding a Bigsby as well.

 

[noTELEnoway]

I bought a Washburn WP50 around 1991.Cost me £200 in the u.k.she is an absolute beaut of a guitar.I recently had a setup on her,is playing better than ever.she is the only other guitar besides a tele that I feel at home on

 

[jamdogg]

great thread! I have an '89 wP-80 on the way - will faber bridge/tp fit without issues? also, any idea what size switchcraft toggle switch would be a drop in replacement? Just trying to get a jump on the parts i will be upgrading. thanks!

 

[jonrpick]

great thread! I have an '89 wP-80 on the way - will faber bridge/tp fit without issues? also, any idea what size switchcraft toggle switch would be a drop in replacement? Just trying to get a jump on the parts i will be upgrading. thanks!

The only "standard" part I had trouble fitting was full-sized pots. I had to use mini pots. Aside from that, just remember that the bridge uses the larger metric studs. I didn't get fancy with the bridge, I just installed a new Gotoh that I later aged. I used a pretty standard Gotoh aluminum tailpiece. It's a bit of an upgrade as it's designed to allow top-wrapping more easily than a standard TP. I top-wrap the three high strings only.

The toggle switch should give you no issues. I'm installing a Freeway switch on #1 at some point. That may have some fitment issues. We shall see.

 

[jamdogg]

thnx! Not a lot of options for aged gold parts, so I may have to do that myself.

What are the stock pickups in the WPs? Actually not too bad sounding if the tone is dimed.

 

[jonrpick]

I assume the same or similar to the stock pickups of the WP50... garbage IMO. I always toss them immediately and replace them. YMMV

 

[Lamf77]

Hi,
I hope it is okay if I jump in here. I have an opportunity to purchase or trade for a WP-50. I can not find any recent transaction to establish some kind of value for the trade.
Any idea what an very good to excellent WP-50 would be worth in a fair trade.
I appreciate any help.

 

[jonrpick]

I pay $350 USD on average. Occasionally I've paid more or less. Again, I always assume that I'll be tossing the pickups in the trash and rewiring. Often they need new tuners as well.

 

[Mbechmann]

Sorry but that story is not true. I have head the same story from Washburn, Aria, Harmony, Yamaki/Daion, Tokai and Greco. It also range from early 60s to mid 90s.

The truth is that before 1988 Washburn was being build by Chushin (from 84-88). In 1988 Samick/Cort bought a lot of the brands, parts, and so on including the Washburn contract. So the production moved from Japan to Korea. Because of that, several brands, models and so on, were only made for a very short time. They were simply discontinued.
They are still very good instruments. No doubt about that I do personally prefer Daions which is slightly earlier. But they were also build by the same people who build yours

 

[Lamf77]

I pay $350 USD on average. Occasionally I've paid more or less. Again, I always assume that I'll be tossing the pickups in the trash and rewiring. Often they need new tuners as well.

I am pretty much a novice with the iron and solder. I can take my time though and do a good job. I removed the cover of the WP-50 (I traded for it) and it looks like they are minipots in mine. If regular pots were to be installed, it does not look like the cavity has enough room for them to fit. The walls of the cavity are really close to the pot holes.
I hope this makes sense. Just wondering if the inner workings of each WP-50 are unique? I may just leave everything alone in there and consider a pick up swap. I appreciate any help.
Here is the new ax by the way.

 

[jonrpick]

I tried putting full sized pots in one... didn't fit. There's no advantage to full size pots over minis. Just get good pots regardless.

Despite what was said about them built by Samick or not, they're all unique. Some have bigger or smaller headstocks. Of my seven, #3 had a wider neck than the rest. #5 & #6 are 8lbs loaded while the others are closer to 11lbs. The finishes were very different from one to the next. #7 was really weird. Vintage sunburst top with a dark red back & neck... like they decided halfway through the finishing process to go a different direction. Very strange.

I've held an 8th one (not mine) that was similar to some, but still unique. I sold 4 of mine to a friend. If he decides to sell, I get first right of refusal. I just kept my favorite three.

 

[Tazz3]

Dam thats a nice LP congrats

 

[Lamf77]

I tried putting full sized pots in one... didn't fit. There's no advantage to full size pots over minis. Just get good pots regardless.

Despite what was said about them built by Samick or not, they're all unique. Some have bigger or smaller headstocks. Of my seven, #3 had a wider neck than the rest. #5 & #6 are 8lbs loaded while the others are closer to 11lbs. The finishes were very different from one to the next. #7 was really weird. Vintage sunburst top with a dark red back & neck... like they decided halfway through the finishing process to go a different direction. Very strange.

I've held an 8th one (not mine) that was similar to some, but still unique. I sold 4 of mine to a friend. If he decides to sell, I get first right of refusal. I just kept my favorite three.

Well, if he decides to sell, can I have second right of refusal? I have fallen in love with this guitar, and would snatch another in a minute if I could find one! Thanks for your help.