GEAR REVIEW
WASHBURN’ S RETURN OF THE SEMI-HOLLOW ELECTRIC – SH35 | Bruce Adolph
My History: The Wing Series consists of the Raven, the Hawk, the Hawk 12-String, the American Hawk 78 and the Semi-Hollow SH35. Back in the 1980’ s when metal music was having its heyday Washburn was making waves with their electric guitars. I was a Washburn dealer in the Christian record store that we also blossomed into it a full MI( musical instrument) store. So, we sold Chrisitan metal band’ s records( Stryper, Holy Soldier Neon Cross, White Cross and others) right next to Charvel, Ibanez and Washburn electric guitars. Now that was fun!
I liked the Washburn electrics a lot for their features and price point. They were well made and not too expensive. When I heard they were bringing back their Wing Series of electric guitars at this last NAMM, I was glad to see that what I liked so much about them then … still rang true for today. They have the features; they are well made and priced right. How cool is that?
As part of our 10 Cool Things at NAMM Live
Stream we featured the new Washburn Hawk electric in our segment for the new SoloDallas Compander CD65 pedal. You can watch that here.
One of the guitars we didn’ t get to cover that day was the SH35 Semi-Hollow. With so many worship guitar players using different Semi- Hollows on the worship platform this was an easy one to pursue from my vantage point as this Semi-Hollow combined vintage vibe with modern versatility. The SH35 lands a little wider body-size-wise than its Hawk and Raven siblings at 16” wide. This gives ample room for the classic F-holes and resonate tone.
The Features: The Wing SH35 sports that wide but thin body with specially voiced humbucking pickups( optimized for rich resonance that only a semihollow guitar can add). The Wing SH35 is designed with a flame maple top and maple back and sides for outstanding tonal clarity, punch and detail. Add to that a set-neck construction that enhances stability, resonance, and sustain. Wow!
Un-Plugged: After sitting down with it for a bit several good things surface. The three-piece maple neck’ s shape feels great in your hands. I know it is a bit subjective to try and describe a neck shape, but I would call this a soft“ C” with it not being too thick nor too thin … it just feels“ right”. The Satin finished neck feels nice to the touch and the lowprofile volute adds a bit of high-end comfort to your left hand when playing chords in the first position. From one end of the 22-fret rosewood fretboard to the other the touch is spot on. With the double cut body shape, you can easily reach those high D notes you longed for when playing a 21-fret guitar. Plus, the bound fretboard’ s 14” radius feels good all the way up the 24.75” neck. The symmetrical double cut design grants you full access to the fretboard. The nut width is a comfortable 1 & 11 / 16 and is rounded nicely.
I sat on the couch and ran through a few of my favorite electric guitar snippets just listening to
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