And yet another guitar. Picked this up tonight where my daughter takes her guitar lessons. Don't know much about it other than it's a Washburn Lyon strat made in Korea. I liked it because of the sweet chunky neck and when I was told I can have it for $60 I jumped on it.
The neck feels amazing however I notice that it's misaligned. The low e-strings are much too close to the edge of the fretboard. I loosened the bolts and shifted the neck and tightened it - it's better but could use a little more but going to wait until I do a tear-down to inspect the neck pocket. The nut isn't in the best shape- actually it binds / pings more than any guitar I've ever experienced. The tuners however, are unlike any design I've ever seen - they are extremely solid and the knobs just feel amazing. I'm going to hit them with a touch of oil but they are sweet. The truss rod adjuster is one of the bullet designs - which I like.
I'm expecting the electronics to be the typical cheap variety and the switch doesn't fill me with confidence. It looks like the bridge humbucker has been replaced at some point. It would be nice if it was upgraded to something good but not holding out hope. The body has a few marks - mainly on the back - and it's really dirty but I think it will clean up well. The real strength of this one right now is the sweet feeling neck!
I see other Lyon models with different headstock designs but not much on this one. Anyone know anything about this model? Pics to follow.
NGD - Washburn Strat from Korea
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toomanycats
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- Joined: Wed May 27, 2020 7:43 pm
Nice grab. These older, MIK Washburn Strats are good guitars.
Five years ago I bought a 1995 Korean (Samick) Washburn Shadow Series SSS Strat. The headstock is identical to your guitar. It may have even started life as an HSS like yours, as the body is routed as such.
I posted about it here:
viewtopic.php?t=944
While your's looks all original, mine had been modified. I'm not sure about the relationship between the Lyon and Shadow Series.
I'd call the neck on mine exceptional, though it is not "chunky" as you describe your's, but rather feels something like a Kramer Baretta.
Does your neckplate have a serial number indicating the year?
Five years ago I bought a 1995 Korean (Samick) Washburn Shadow Series SSS Strat. The headstock is identical to your guitar. It may have even started life as an HSS like yours, as the body is routed as such.
I posted about it here:
viewtopic.php?t=944
While your's looks all original, mine had been modified. I'm not sure about the relationship between the Lyon and Shadow Series.
I'd call the neck on mine exceptional, though it is not "chunky" as you describe your's, but rather feels something like a Kramer Baretta.
Does your neckplate have a serial number indicating the year?
“There are only two means of refuge from the miseries of life: Music and Cats!” Albert Schweitzer
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Tiga
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- Joined: Thu May 28, 2020 1:32 pm
I smoothed out the nut slots with my files which improved the tuning stability. The nut is plastic and I'm planning to replace with Tusq. I then took off the old strings and removed the pickguard. The body is routed HSS (pic below). The electronics are interesting - I've never seen a switch like this one. It seems well made but it doesn't feel great when moving the selector. The pickups I'm guessing are just cheap ceramics and like a dummy I didn't test them out before removing the strings. My plan is a new pickguard with just one new humbucker - so I'm not putting the pickguard back on. Oh well.
Back to the neck - it's finished very nicely and the wood has a nice grain with a little bit of flame in places. It has a 1.69" (43mm) nut width with a D-shape profile. It's a 12" radius with a thickness of .87" at the first fret and .92" at the 12th. Nice!
I think this guitar is going to be used as a project with my daughter and will eventually go to her. The plan is to get a new nut, lubricate the tuners, give the frets any needed attention, get a new humbucker, jack and pot. We have a few other fun things in mind that I'll post on. Here's a few pictures.
Back to the neck - it's finished very nicely and the wood has a nice grain with a little bit of flame in places. It has a 1.69" (43mm) nut width with a D-shape profile. It's a 12" radius with a thickness of .87" at the first fret and .92" at the 12th. Nice!
I think this guitar is going to be used as a project with my daughter and will eventually go to her. The plan is to get a new nut, lubricate the tuners, give the frets any needed attention, get a new humbucker, jack and pot. We have a few other fun things in mind that I'll post on. Here's a few pictures.
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Tiga
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- Joined: Thu May 28, 2020 1:32 pm
So even though my serial number is a different format I'm just going to assume this is a Samick guitar as well. The headstock is identical to yours and I have the same saddles, just chrome. I actually really like the saddles - no sharp edges. My grub screws stick up a bit so I'm going to address those.toomanycats wrote: ↑Thu Apr 24, 2025 10:12 am Nice grab. These older, MIK Washburn Strats are good guitars.
Five years ago I bought a 1995 Korean (Samick) Washburn Shadow Series SSS Strat. The headstock is identical to your guitar. It may have even started life as an HSS like yours, as the body is routed as such.
I posted about it here:
viewtopic.php?t=944
While your's looks all original, mine had been modified. I'm not sure about the relationship between the Lyon and Shadow Series.
I'd call the neck on mine exceptional, though it is not "chunky" as you describe your's, but rather feels something like a Kramer Baretta.
Does your neckplate have a serial number indicating the year?