Washburn unveils new 4N model

[littlebadboy]

I'm a big Nuno Bettencourt fan!

From Guitar World:

The 4N features a thinner ebony fingerboard and deeper neck profile than the N4, Bettencourt's previous Washburn signature.

Washburn has announced the 4N, an updated version of Nuno Bettencourt’s signature guitar.

The 4N features a thinner ebony fingerboard and deeper neck profile than the N4, Bettencourt's previous Washburn signature. It has a birdseye maple neck, and its body contours have been redesigned.

The guitar is made with an alder body with a Stephens Extended Cutaway, a Floyd Rose Original Tremolo with Kahler nut and Seymour Duncan ’59 and Bill Lawrence L-500 pickups, complete with a single volume control and three-way selector switch.

The Washburn Nuno Bettencourt 4N is expected to be available this spring for $2,599.

What say you? (I don't like the price tag)

 

[bracky]

It needs more glitter stickers.

 

[Jason B]

Washburn exists?

 

[Bdtunn]

Always wanted one of these

 

[dhgrind]

2600$ for a naked strat?
I hope it plays and sounds amazing.

 

[Yul Brynner]

$2600 for a plane jain Indo superstrat with a sticker on it???

 

[bnzboy]

Lost me at birdseye maple. My JP6 with that particular maple neck was the most unstable neck I have ever had.

 

[BrailleDecibel]

Nunope!

 

[mystix]

$2600 for a plane jain Indo superstrat with a sticker on it???

Indo?

 

[SDMFVan]

I paid less for my padauk N4 from the Custom Shop, and it came with a flight case. Is this really Indo made??

Edit: I just looked it up, USA Custom Shop. I didn't even realize that was still open.

 

[Yul Brynner]

Indo?

I have no idea. Sounds like it could be true right?

 

[Jeff]

$2600 for a plane jain Indo superstrat with a sticker on it???

It’s USA-made. But yeah, still grossly overpriced. Nuno needs to jump ship to someone else. And SEC needs to license their patent to Warmoth. I would go broke.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Who's making these now?

 

[Sermo Lupi]

Lost me at birdseye maple. My JP6 with that particular maple neck was the most unstable neck I have ever had.

The idea that figured wood is unstable is a myth.

If you want to argue that a quartersawn one-piece neck is less stable than a multi-laminate or reinforced one, sure. But that doesn't make one-piece necks inherently unstable either.

Ironically, the Music Man JP6s have a great reputation for tuning stability despite lacking a locking nut. The oldest of mine is a 2001 model from the original launch, and even at ~20 years old the neck is rock solid and keeps tune just fine.

So, not to discount your experience obviously, I'm just saying I wouldn't let it put you off an entire neck construction method. One-piece quartersawn necks are fine, figured or not.

 

[spudmunkey]

Were people complaining about the thickness of the previous ebony fingerboard?

 

[bnzboy]

The idea that figured wood is unstable is a myth.

If you want to argue that a quartersawn one-piece neck is less stable than a multi-laminate or reinforced one, sure. But that doesn't make one-piece necks inherently unstable either.

Ironically, the Music Man JP6s have a great reputation for tuning stability despite lacking a locking nut. The oldest of mine is a 2001 model from the original launch, and even at ~20 years old the neck is rock solid and keeps tune just fine.

So, not to discount your experience obviously, I'm just saying I wouldn't let it put you off an entire neck construction method. One-piece quartersawn necks are fine, figured or not.

ya maybe I had a lemon but that guitar's neck would move drastically. All my other guitars have not moved all that much. Maybe it was a combination of humidity (again all other guitars were in good shape), thickness (so thin), finish (oil) and the neck wood itself.

 

[feraledge]

I know he's been with Washburn for ages, but this would make a lot of sense if it was a Charvel.

 

[SDMFVan]

Who's making these now?

Supposedly there's an actual "Washburn Custom Shop" in Cincinnati making about 6 models. Not sure if anyone from the Chicago factory is working there.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

ya maybe I had a lemon but that guitar's neck would move drastically. All my other guitars have not moved all that much. Maybe it was a combination of humidity (again all other guitars were in good shape), thickness (so thin), finish (oil) and the neck wood itself.

Yeah, hard to say. Could've been any number of things, really. But even if the wood was the problem, I doubt it was the figuring as opposed to the wood grain running the length of the neck. This 4N having a birdseye neck shouldn't raise any flags for anyone, it's just a cosmetic feature.

Were people complaining about the thickness of the previous ebony fingerboard?

I was curious as well, so I went to the Washburn website. On the product page, there's no mention of the ebony fretboard being thinner, and this is all they say about the neck:

The Team at the Washburn Custom Shop went to painstaking lengths to capture the uniqueness of Nuno’s 4N. Chris Meade, the Head at WCS not just studied the instrument in hand but also designed and made a set of custom tools so he could accurately measure the neck!

Looking back at the old models, the thickness of the fretboard was not especially extravagant. Angle isn't great for a thorough comparison, but have a look for yourself. It looks to me like all the fretboards on the current 4N and N4 models (the first three images, taken off the washburn website) are more or less the same, while the fourth image (from google) looks maybe a little thicker. Fifth image compares two older N4 models against one another, yet once again looks comparable to the new 4N model (to my eyes, anyway).

So who knows. NAMM just wrapped up...it is possible Washburn switched to slightly thinner fretboard blanks for no particular reason (supplier changed spec, etc.), and this gets mentioned off-hand during a product demo to the Guitar World rep at NAMM and makes it into the article. It certainly doesn't LOOK like a meaningful difference to me.



New 4N model:

N4 'Vintage':

N4 Paduak:

N4 Korina (from Google):

N4 (from wikipedia):

 

[Randy]

Not to be "that guy" but I always get a little bit of blue balls when somebody announces a "new model" and it looks identical to something I saw in a Musician's Friend catalog when I was 13 years old.