After all, tone and feel deserve precedence over pedigree. Washburn instruments, on the other hand, don’t necessarily leave much of a trail-which shouldn’t cause their instruments to be judged harshly. Historic companies like Martin or Gibson make instruments whose origin and date of birth can usually be traced. And as a small company, Washburn has focused on the business of building, importing and distributing their products not on heritage. In spite of its broad success, Washburn remains a small company. In that short time, he has amassed the world’s largest personal collection of Washburn acoustics, and perhaps the largest personal collection of acoustic guitars, period. Jim has been a Washburn collector for a decade and a half. He collects them in the name of preservation. doesn’t collect guitars just for their beauty, tone or scarcity. In most cases, it is the collection itself that is the Holy Grail rather than any one of its pieces.Īrchivist and collector Jim Smith Sr. They constantly evolve and change depending on cash flow, eBay and the gems found hanging high at your local indie music store. Understandably, guitar collections are dynamic things. How many guitars is enough? The question is, perhaps, unanswerable. This represents less than 1/20th of his total collection. Jim Smith with 25 of his Washburns ranging in age from over 100 years old to one year old.

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