I was thinking about adding this to the 'Know your Matsumoku' topic, but the jury is still out whether these were made by Mat or not. Redeye knows I've been looking for a Washburn Falcon for a while and I finally snagged one recently. There are no less than 3 different versions of the Falcon (fuel for the manufacturer controversy) and each of those have at least three finish options, and remember that there are also Eagle, Hawk and Raven models, so the variety is pretty staggering. This is one of the more common Falcons, a model 'B' in Rosewood, arguably the most Iconic version they made. I assumed that these guitars had just a rosewood veneer, but if you look at this picture with the bridge pickup out, you can see the grain of the (almost inch thick) slab of rosewood in the cross section:
This example is in very nice shape with just a bit of belt buckle rash on the back:
These versions had a wooden Truss Rod and Control covers (pretty cool) and on the inside you can see the number 39.2 stamped on both the cover and the body:
I'm not certain what the numbers stand for, Build Date? Craftsman? Maybe just numbered so that after being stained the correct cover went back on the right body. I remember playing one of these at a music store back in the late 70's and being blown away by the scooped out heal:
What I don't remember is how heavy these beasts are! I don't have a scale, but it's gotta weigh close to ten pounds, thick bugger. It was about $400 out of my (highschool) price range, so I ended up buying a Ibanez AR50 instead, which was a pretty decent guitar in it's own right, but I never forgot about the scooped out Washburn. These have push pull coilcuts for each pickup located on the Volume pots (very Matsumoku...) and the indents under the pots for easy use (six years before PRS would start doing that). The neck is bigger than most of my Electras, so that's taking a little time to get used to, and it's heavy on my shoulder, so they're not the most comfortable guitar on the block. Not sure what kind of pickups these are, they have the three height adjustment screws, so I'm pretty sure they're Japanese made, and they may be waxed because I was cranking it out last night with minimal feedback (Bonus!). Overall it's an interesting design (just wish it was a little lighter) and I'm not sure if I'll keep it forever, but after 30 years of lusting for one, I just had to take the plunge. Mike.
It was packed very well but there wasn't any doubt what had happened to it. I let the buyer collect on it and he kept what was left of the guitar. I think he put a pick guard on it so he could still use it. It didn't run over the neck, just the main part of the body.
