In this time I've been listening a lot of Yo la tengo and Sonic Youth, I like that "controled noise" and all the creative ways to express that you can find in there... I don't have a favourite, I can't have just one. Someday I readed ridiculuos post about the best guitar, and the best player. The mistake is not understand that the music is maded by people, by diferent ways to percive the world and the life, so the result MUST BE diferent as well. There are Stratocasters, and Les Pauls, because in the world there are diverse things to put in sound... otherwise you are being clasist, racist. To hear music is to hear the person who wanted to tell you something which is important enough to make a piece of music, is an act of respect and comunication.
But one of the people I like to hear is Mark Knophler -It's writed in the right way?- from Dires Straits, David Gilmour -those two guys allways know what want to tell you. Please try "Brothers in Arms" by Dires Straits and tell me if a virtuoso can compose and play that-, Jimmy Page, Aungust Young, and don't know... many many many many many others... anyway I don't like players very much, I prefer bands. I think there's not great thing about to be a solist, the hard thing is to have five guys playing the same note at the samen time with the same intention.
About the Wi64 It's gonna be a pleasure to recomend you the lady... I'll paste a review I wrote in harmony central whit some adds.
Features:9
A very good guitar, 1999 Korean made for lowering the prices, 22 frets. Mahogany neck and body the neck is set so you get a lot of resonance and sustain as in a very expen$ive PRS; the woods are PERFECTLY ensambled, so it's just as if you have a one piece guitar. 3 way pick up selector and 2 humbuckers, the standars washburn ones.
The strange Voice Contour Control which is a weack point at least to me; there are not tone controls because the tone knobs have been replaced for vcc knobs: it supossed that turning the vcc knobs you can move from the sound of a humbucker to a single coil pickup, but let me tell you... it's just bull****, you can't get a really sweet single coil tone, beacuse you don't have the W I D E R frecuencies range of a good single coil, it just take out some gain from your humbucker and it rings just as if you would have lowered the volume and added some hig frecuencies in a eq. The only thing it can achieve is a kind of P-90 pick up sound, I'm planning to change this thins for the classics and very usefull tone controls, you can do it and it's not a hard thing to do.
Tune-o-Matic Bridge with Buzz Feintein Tuning System: this is an ansowe feature. The Buzz Feintein Tuning System makes the guitar tune PERFECT, really PERFECT, very stable beside. I have owned more than teen guitars in my life and have played various more, and this is the best intonation that I've ever ever heard. The courious thing is I can't see any diference in the guitar construction... don't know how this tuning system works, but it does. Well, the good intonation is helped by Grover-non locking tuners... non locking but good tuners anyway.
I would give a 10 but the vcc controls are not what I want from a rock guitar. You know, when you chose an instrument you'r expecting a real thing, somethig serious to create serious things whit it, and not little toys to sell the thing to teenagers. Great construction anyway.
Sound: 10
I play basically... almost everything excepting metal. But when I bought the axe I was hearing a lot of sonic youth, yo la tengo, my bloody valentine, soda stereo, el otro yo, pixies, and somethig I allways like to play is Cure and Smiths... Beside Zepellin, Rolling Stones. A lot of Blues as well. I use the guitar throug a Digitech RP-3 into a 100w tube power amp that I made by myself -I love that creature- with a myself made too 2x12 celestion gt-75.
What I really like about the wi64 is that it's really have caracteristic sound... don't know really why all the guys are trying to get the starz sound when you must create YOUR tone... what I said at the beginin was just an example to let you see what I'm around, but the guitar has it's own sound and allows you to create into the humbukers boundaries. Though it's a VERY versatile instrument, you can go from clean to dirty, and from bright to dark. It's something common on most of the washburn guitars -I owned the g2v and was the same thing... but maybe too much, it was a kind of flat guitar... very versatile yes, but a little unpersonal thus-.
The standar washburn humbuckers tend to mid boost, like a vintage humbucker -60's gibson sg- but just a little bit. Don't get me wrong, those are not a pair of Dimarzio clasic paff and that's cool, because they have a good performance on all the frecuencies, but with a little tendency to mids; the quality of the tone is excellent... Rich and Full, very fat. I've thought about change the mics for something really pro, because is a great constructed guitar so you can make use of the advantage and put some additions on, but at this time my beauty is ok.
To create atmospheres as in a keyboard I play kinda of hi-fi things too whit a lot of delays and modulators, and no problems at all.
Action, Fit, & Finish: 9
From factory was uhmm... right, but nothing -guitars I mean- comes in the perfect way from factory... becuase the perfect way is something absolutey personal.. The action was ok... a little high maybe but with 09 strings, and it helped to make it feel good. When I taked it home I changed the strings for 010 and lowered the action just a little... Don't know what you think, but the only way to get a clean sound is a hig action... any fool can be satriani, malstem or vai with a buzzzzzzing guitar and furious distortion with a lot of rever. The goal is try to play by your self, make it rings clean an rich -fast if you think it's important- unpluged. In few words, the most crucial step in your gear is the guitar player.
The action could be lowered somethig more, but it cause some scarce buzz in the 13 fret to up with the 5th and 6th strings. I'm a cleanliness maniac and I like to punch the strings very violently sometimes so a not so low action is suitable for me if I want to sound absolutely clear all the time, beside the fact that doesn't exist in the universe a very low action - I mean a VERY VERY low action, the one you like when you are learning to play and trying to be better than your friends- without buzzing noises.
The pickups where far away from the strings and was fixed in two minutes.
About the finish... almost perfect, yeah... almost. Though the work and the woods are near to sublime, there's a little split on the neck and when you buy an instrumet you want it unblemished... that's all.
The electronic stuff can't be better... nothing, nothing and nothing is noisy there. Sometimes I play before the pc's screen whit a lot of distortion and if the guitar doesn't sound noisy before a screen it's because is simply quiet.
Reliability/Durability: 10
I've giged for 8 months whit the wi64 and we -the guitar and me- are healthfull mates. I don't have nothing to say about it, it's really strude.
I have a squier stratocaster too, and I use the both in gig, but for different prouposes as you can see, so I trully don't have a backup, I depend on my guitars and they make they work without problems.
I use the guitar for practice too all the time. Everything is fine.
Obviouslly it's a guitar and not an M-16 assault weapon... If you don't treat your instrument whit the respect it deserves you'r going to have problems no matters what guitar you own.
Customer Support: 10
Once I sended an email to washbur asking for information about to change the fkng vcc for the traditional tone controls and they replyed in two days whit the information.
The warranty by the local store was for 6 months. The usual thing at least in my country.
Overall Rating: 10
I been playing for the 12 last years of my sad life, and I own a mexican squier strato which is a great guitar for the price as well. There's nothig I would like to ask about the wi64 -and neither about the strato- because they are not pro guitars if you take a while for check out the prices, I'm sure there're amazing guitars as prs, parker, fender, gibson, etc, but let me tell you that I can't notice the diference between my lady and a Gibson Les Paul custom, and for less than the half of the price. Is far away better than any epiphone guitar or another mid priced range instrument. If it where stoled... the fist thing I'd do is to cry, the second one is kill the stoler, his family, all his friends and pets, and finally I'd bougth a new one -in cherry color as my current wi64-. The only thing I don't like is the vcc, and the most lovely thing in the beauty is the quality of the contruction... If you know something about guitars you'll catch me, It's something in the wood, in the way it was ensambled, in the -THE MOST IMPORTANT THING KID- intonation, the action, the fit.
This is the best guitar I ever owned considering the price -don't forget about that- I've owned corts, squiers, epiphones, jacksons, guilds, and nothing is near the wi64. I think I'll never quit this guitar, maybe if I become famous I should try a PRO MONSTER... but in this moment nobody pay my rent for my music, however I really think there's nothing the wi64 can't do whit normal tone controls and a pair of pro pickups.
Have in mind too the importance of the rest of your gear... don't go with the brands, go with the tone and with the intelligence to set up a good combination.
Well that's all Lordathestrings... I'll try SRV and please take a view of Brothers in Arms...
Excuse my english... I learned to speak listening The Smiths, Cure and Morrissey, but to write is something diferent.