Washburn 12 string - help?

31maxh

Hi all,

I am trying to find some info on this guitar: 

https://i.ibb.co/qsdH9BJ/Whats-App-Image-2023-12-14-at-20-41-45.jpg

It looks to be an EA20 or similar. Can't find any in this finish online and prices range from £300-3000! There are no model or serial numbers on the guitar, perhaps the label sticker has come off over time? 

Any info at all and help valuing would be very appreciated. 

Cheers! 

ICBM

Washburn Woodstock series, not sure of the exact model number but it will be a higher model in the range given the multi-ply body binding and bound fingerboard. Made in Japan, 1980s. Here's a similar one in a slightly darker finish...

https://reverb.com/uk/item/28366671-washburn-woodstock-12-a

They're nicely made but have that hard glassy polyester finish typical of far-east guitars of the time. That's an earlier one with the preamp on the upper bout - yours is a later one with it (Equis II?) on the side. They sound *very* bright in general, even for a 12-string - not a particularly popular sound now.

If it's in good condition all round I would say £500-£750 with the case - they were very popular in the 80s, even with some fairly big names, but any price over about that would have to have some celebrity ownership provenance.

Does that help?

31maxh

Thanks @ICBM ! That's very helpful, yeah. So possibly a EA30/40 I guess. It is Equis II yeah. I did forget to mention that this does say made in Korea on it. Not sure if that adds some clues! 

Thanks again, really appreciate all the info there. 

ICBM

31maxh said:

Thanks @ICBM ! That's very helpful, yeah. So possibly a EA30/40 I guess. It is Equis II yeah. I did forget to mention that this does say made in Korea on it. Not sure if that adds some clues!

Ah - must be a very late one. I didn’t know these were made there, but some of the other brands (eg Aria) moved to Korea in the late 80s - in Aria’s case because the Matsumoku factory closed, but I’m not sure if the earlier ones of these were made there, although Matsumoku did make some Washburn electrics I think.

It doesn’t change much - the quality probably remained about the same, and I doubt it’s worth any less.

31maxh

I love this level of knowledge! Thanks for sharing.