Washburn WG7SCE Review – A Performer’s Perfect Partner

While a rung or two below the likes of Taylor and Martin on the ladder of prestige, Washburn have been a big name in guitar production since 1883, and know how to produce a quality instrument. Plus, you don’t have to spend over the odds for their guitars! A testament to this is their WG7SCE, which is part of their affordable solid-topped Harvest Series – a guitar that’s made its way onto our chart of the best acoustics under $300. Let’s check it out.

Body & Neck

It’s hard to fault the looks of this Washburn, which strikes a nice balance between rustic and modern in its design. Rustic coming from the cool custom wooden inlaid soundhole rosette; the modern in the form of the generous single cutaway and the overall playability of the satin-finished mahogany neck. This features a rosewood fretboard (1.69” nut width) and 20 frets, all easily accessible. The body of the WG7SCE just feels great quality in its construction, with a 25.5” scale length Grand Auditorium body. The top of this, as with the rest of the models in the Harvest Series, is made of solid wood – Sitka spruce in this case. This is paired with a beautiful laminate mahogany on the back and sides, all finished in gloss and featuring cream body binding. All round, an elegant instrument you instantly want to pick up and play.

Hardware

Although we’re still in the affordable market, the hardware on this electro-acoustic is very solid. On the electronics side, you get Washburn’s EQ4T preamp system, which is impressive at this price range. Alongside the volume control, players get 4-band EQ (comprising bass, middle, treble and presence), and a notch control, to aid in feedback reduction. This system allows for both ¼” jack and XLR output. Elsewhere the WG7SCE is fitted with decent chrome die-cast tuners, a solid rosewood bridge, an ABS nut and saddle, and a good set of D’Addario EXP-16 strings.

Sound

The spruce and mahogany combine to produce rich, sweet tone with good warmth. With the solid top and large GA size, there’s big acoustic projection with the WG7SCE, although through the preamp the tone is amplified quite naturally. It’s perhaps not as organic as higher-priced models, but still worthy of stage performances, especially with the feedback control and onboard EQ adding huge versatility.

Conclusion

The woods, the EQ controls and output options make the WG7SCE a very versatile acoustic that would suit performance-minded intermediate and experienced players the best. It’s also highly playable, looks great, and feels very well-crafted – no complaints there. As far as we’re concerned, Washburn’s WG7SCE is a winner, and well worth the sub-$300 price tag. For more info about the Washburn WG7SCE, click here. For more Acoustic Guitars Under $300 you might like, click here.