Washburn D10S

Lets begin with the product specifications provided by the sellers. There is not much to know here except to give it a cursory glance. Wood type and quality used for the top, neck, back,sides and the fingerboard ultimately decide the resonance and the sound quality. The quality of wood is a major determinant of the price and sound quality of a acoustic guitar.

Washburn D10S has a spruce top and the neck, back & sides are made up of high quality mahogany. The fingerboard is made up of rosewood. Both mahagony and rosewood are very good material for a guitar in this price range. The fretboard made of rosewood allows for an easy fretwork in Washburn D10s. The tuning knob for D10S is made up of chrome. Higher end guitars even use Gold for this but it is more about aesthetics and its affect on the sound quality is negligible.

The two best selling models of Washburn D10s comes are 1. Natural (model number: D10SK) 2. Black (model number: D10S B).
The guitar is also available in Natural Deluxe, Natural Satin, Quilted Sunburst Tobacco Sunburst and White. The deluxe editions are higher priced and my preference is black and natural in the order mentioned.

The D10S comes with with a limited lifetime warranty. So that is all about the product specifications. Now lets assess the D10S on various parameters. For sake of clarity, I have broken down the parameters into two segments - Things that I liked ad the things that I did not like about the D10S.

Price & the Value for money
D10S is a bang for buck deal and no other guitar comes even closer at this price. I mean, which guitar would offer a solid spruce top, mahogany back, sides, and neck, a sleek rosewood fingerboard, bound Vinci strings,Grover-style sealed tuners and a case. And as if all this was not enough, this comes along with the SCHALLER sealed tuners System. This is something I had never expected to get at this low a price. The only other option that some how comes close to this sound quality in this range is the Alvarez MD350C but it comes for an additional two hundred dollars.Gibson, Alvarez , Yamaha, Martin and other brands have no offerings in this price range. This is perhaps the reason, Washburn D10S has been the best seller for more than 10 years.

Sound quality
A sweet pitch not only the upper strings but even the lower strings is something very unique to D10S, thanks to the SCHALLER sealed tuners system. But perhaps the best thing about the D10S is an exceptional pluck harmonics at almost every fret. The good quality mahogany and solid spruce renders a warm full tone. This is something that lower end guitars with laminated tops will not offer.

Craftsmanship
Washburn D10S is a product of exceptional craftsmanship. The attention paid to details renders an nice warm tone.The fret is laid down with sharp precision and it results in almost nil fret buzz. After the first few days that it takes to adjust, Washburn D10S stays in tune, thus doing away with the need for frequent tuning.The narrow fretboard design makes playing a breeze. The Vinci strrings that come with the original Washburn D10S are perhaps the best match for the guitar. I had once replaced the Vinci strings with the D'Addario and I did not like the tone.
The string response time of D10S is pretty good thus it is easy to match the rhythm.

Ease of playing
The fret board and the neck of Washburn D10S is the thinnest and one of it kind in the acoustic guitar segment (resembles the thickness of elcetric guitars). This greatly eases improvisations on the guitar. No doubt Washburn D10S is a teacher's favourite as teaching & learning becomes very easy with the D10S.

Aesthetics
I like the looks of the guitar. This is more of a personal choice though and nothing to do with the playing.

You should know this before you buy a Washburn D10S - The guitar is made in China. Without in ways intending to be derogatory, I have had very bad experience with 'made-in-China' products. I was pretty skeptical about buying a Wash burn D10S when I heard about this. But a limited life time warranty by the manufacturers eased out things for me at that time. I rarely use my gig bag for the D10S because I simply want it to come handy when ever I get into the mood but the guitar has survived me despite my rough usage.And now after several years of my tryst with the D10S, I guess it has proved me wrong over and over again.

And I guess, this is the reason why Washburn has been able to price the guitar so low, despite offering so many amazing features in this guitar. Despite this I am still skeptical to embrace any other Chinese-made guitar except for the Washburn D10S. I guess that's me.

I review a lot of high-end guitars of numerous brands., so I have a good deal of experience with them all. So honestly it will not be possible to give a 100% marks to the D10S on the sound quality with all high-end guitars offering a more richer sound. But on a day to day basis, I guess this is the guitar that I would have played the most. Why ? Because, I like its sound and I do not have to keep it and take it out of covers every time I want to play . This USD300 guitar pretty much over delivers in terms of the sound, aesthetics, durability, craftsmanship and the ease of playing and is my recommendation as the first guitar for beginners and as a regular practice guitar for more advanced players.

Another point worth knowing The last time I bought this guitar around, seven months back when the piece was more expensive at that (USD 400 approx). The Washburn D10S Acoustic Guitar has now been selling at a much lower price and I am really chapped that I paid a higher price for mine. You can do better here: Washburn D10S Low price deals and perhaps save good amount of dollars towards buying standard picks, guitar straps, additional strings and possibly a tab sheet for recording your learning. This guitar comes with a case so you do not have to buy a gig bag to keep it free from scratches.

Rock on !