Washburn Model 5238 Deluxe Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1932)
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Item #12126
Washburn Model 5238 Deluxe Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, c. 1932, made in Chicago, serial # 1973, natural lacquer finish, rosewood back and sides, spruce top; mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, original black chipboard case.
This Washburn "Deluxe" was the largest and finest standard guitar Lyon & Healy offered in the 1920s, the height of the Chicago-based company's accomplishment in 6-string design. This is its direct descendant, the fanciest guitar style they offered dating to the period when the Depression had really kicked in. Unfortunately expensive guitars were a tough sell at the time, and this lavish instrument sold only in small numbers.
After decades at the forefront of the fretted instrument business, in 1928 Lyon & Healy (perhaps seeing the stock market crash in a crystal ball!) sold their manufacturing operation to the J.R. Stewart company and gave distribution of the Washburn line to up-and-coming Chicago jobber Tonk Bros. Soon enough the Depression hit, and Tonk simply stopped ordering instruments leaving Stewart's over-extended factory operation to go under fairly quickly, allowing the Regal company to sweep in to buy the factory and its contents at pennies on the dollar. This instrument has the DNA of all these folks in it; the 20 fret fingerboard suggests it was made after Regal assumed control from Stewart who usually used 19-fret fingerboards.
This 12-fret, X-braced rosewood Auditorium sized guitar is slightly larger than a Martin 000-28. It was the top of the Tonk/Washburn line and expertly made with the finest materials available. This is an extremely well-crafted, high-grade instrument, quite different from both J.R. Stewart and Regal's more common bargain basement fare. It was made in the same factory, by the same folks who built the high-end Washburns for Lyon & Healy -- just with a different name on their paycheck!
This guitar is clearly stamped "5238"on the heelblock, yet is built with a 15 1/8" wide Auditorium sized body, the hallmark of the newer larger model 5234; the 5238 was supposed to be Grand Concert sized. We don't know if this was a factory error or if Tonk was still working out their designations at the time, but whatever it is marked as this is the largest, most deluxe guitar they built at the time.
The woods and construction are lavish all around. The red spruce top has finely crafted double X bracing (an early and lighter version of this design) and a small maple bridge plate. It is surrounded by six alternating B&W purfling lines around the top and back bound in ivoroid; the bound soundhole has a multiple ply double-ring rosette. Continued from Lyon & Healy practice, the back and sides are of 3-ply laminated rosewood rather than solid Brazilian Rosewood; although frowned on today, this was touted as a desirable feature at the time for strength.
The comfortable round-backed mahogany 12-fret neck is topped with an ivoroid bound ebony fingerboard inlaid with delicate shaped pearl snowflakes and slotted diamonds. The tuners are beautiful engraved gold plated strips with genuine pearl buttons. Distinctive features are the unique ebony "Smile" bridge with pearl insets, fluted crown slotted headstock with a pearl "Washburn" inlay and the trademark delicate gold leaf filigree designs on the top, something that kicked around Chicago makers from the early '20s up into the late '30s. A small wooden plaque under the soundhole reads "Genuine WASHBURN, Tonk Bros. Chicago Co. sole distributors".
This is quite a rare guitar and one of the best steel-string flat tops of the period -- a worthy competitor to Martin and the Larson Brothers' similar products. The model 5234 (which this guitar technically is, even if it says otherwise!) was priced at $100 in 1932-3 (without case) which was considerably reduced from the years before, a sign of the depression's effect on the guitar market. This was still more than a Martin 000-28/OM-28 listed for.
The Guitar plays beautifully and the sound is huge, powerful and round but crisp It fingerpicks beautifully but also has considerable muscle in reserve, with plenty of volume. It makes a fine flat-picked strummer as well. This guitar is a beautiful example of this rare and lovely large body pre-war rosewood flat-top, an excellent example of the best Washburn/Tonk had to offer.
Overall length is 40 1/16 in. (101.8 cm.), 15 1/8 in. (38.4 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/4 in. (641 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.).
This large body Washburn is a very nice example overall. It shows some play wear but far less restoration than most and remains an extremely fine-playing and sounding instrument. There is some typical general finish wear with checking, dings, dents and scuffs. The top shows pick wear mostly below and behind the soundhole with a smaller area above, as well as scattered dings and dents. The back has some deeper scrapes and fabric contact spots, but no heavy buckle wear loss. There are several dings in the back of the neck with a larger scrape mark in the 7-8th fret area but none of the heavy capo wear often found on older flat tops.
The guitar has no discernable crack repairs except one very small impact mark off the back upper edge of the soundhole. There is a deep scratch to the top forward of the treble side bridge wing that look like a grain crack but is not through the wood. The ebony "Smile" bridge is original; it has been lowered a bit and reglued, probably more than once. There are some tool marks and finish marring around the bridge from this. The small maple bridge plate is original with some wear; all internal bracing is intact and original.
The neck may have been reset but if so it was an unusually clean job, we do not see any residual marks. The tuners are the beautiful gold plated, engraved and pearl button originals; even the celluloid bridgepins and endpin appear original. The frets are the original small wire with plenty of life left. This guitar plays and sounds magnificent, with a powerful attack and a lot of sustain for a flat top guitar. We are always thrilled when nice examples of these high-end Washburns arrive; they are uniquely attractive guitars both sonically and visually. It is still housed in the original chipboard case. Overall Excellent Condition.
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This Washburn "Deluxe" was the largest and finest standard guitar Lyon & Healy offered in the 1920s, the height of the Chicago-based company's accomplishment in 6-string design. This is its direct descendant, the fanciest guitar style they offered dating to the period when the Depression had really kicked in. Unfortunately expensive guitars were a tough sell at the time, and this lavish instrument sold only in small numbers.
After decades at the forefront of the fretted instrument business, in 1928 Lyon & Healy (perhaps seeing the stock market crash in a crystal ball!) sold their manufacturing operation to the J.R. Stewart company and gave distribution of the Washburn line to up-and-coming Chicago jobber Tonk Bros. Soon enough the Depression hit, and Tonk simply stopped ordering instruments leaving Stewart's over-extended factory operation to go under fairly quickly, allowing the Regal company to sweep in to buy the factory and its contents at pennies on the dollar. This instrument has the DNA of all these folks in it; the 20 fret fingerboard suggests it was made after Regal assumed control from Stewart who usually used 19-fret fingerboards.
This 12-fret, X-braced rosewood Auditorium sized guitar is slightly larger than a Martin 000-28. It was the top of the Tonk/Washburn line and expertly made with the finest materials available. This is an extremely well-crafted, high-grade instrument, quite different from both J.R. Stewart and Regal's more common bargain basement fare. It was made in the same factory, by the same folks who built the high-end Washburns for Lyon & Healy -- just with a different name on their paycheck!
This guitar is clearly stamped "5238"on the heelblock, yet is built with a 15 1/8" wide Auditorium sized body, the hallmark of the newer larger model 5234; the 5238 was supposed to be Grand Concert sized. We don't know if this was a factory error or if Tonk was still working out their designations at the time, but whatever it is marked as this is the largest, most deluxe guitar they built at the time.
The woods and construction are lavish all around. The red spruce top has finely crafted double X bracing (an early and lighter version of this design) and a small maple bridge plate. It is surrounded by six alternating B&W purfling lines around the top and back bound in ivoroid; the bound soundhole has a multiple ply double-ring rosette. Continued from Lyon & Healy practice, the back and sides are of 3-ply laminated rosewood rather than solid Brazilian Rosewood; although frowned on today, this was touted as a desirable feature at the time for strength.
The comfortable round-backed mahogany 12-fret neck is topped with an ivoroid bound ebony fingerboard inlaid with delicate shaped pearl snowflakes and slotted diamonds. The tuners are beautiful engraved gold plated strips with genuine pearl buttons. Distinctive features are the unique ebony "Smile" bridge with pearl insets, fluted crown slotted headstock with a pearl "Washburn" inlay and the trademark delicate gold leaf filigree designs on the top, something that kicked around Chicago makers from the early '20s up into the late '30s. A small wooden plaque under the soundhole reads "Genuine WASHBURN, Tonk Bros. Chicago Co. sole distributors".
This is quite a rare guitar and one of the best steel-string flat tops of the period -- a worthy competitor to Martin and the Larson Brothers' similar products. The model 5234 (which this guitar technically is, even if it says otherwise!) was priced at $100 in 1932-3 (without case) which was considerably reduced from the years before, a sign of the depression's effect on the guitar market. This was still more than a Martin 000-28/OM-28 listed for.
The Guitar plays beautifully and the sound is huge, powerful and round but crisp It fingerpicks beautifully but also has considerable muscle in reserve, with plenty of volume. It makes a fine flat-picked strummer as well. This guitar is a beautiful example of this rare and lovely large body pre-war rosewood flat-top, an excellent example of the best Washburn/Tonk had to offer.
Overall length is 40 1/16 in. (101.8 cm.), 15 1/8 in. (38.4 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 in. (10.2 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 25 1/4 in. (641 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.).
This large body Washburn is a very nice example overall. It shows some play wear but far less restoration than most and remains an extremely fine-playing and sounding instrument. There is some typical general finish wear with checking, dings, dents and scuffs. The top shows pick wear mostly below and behind the soundhole with a smaller area above, as well as scattered dings and dents. The back has some deeper scrapes and fabric contact spots, but no heavy buckle wear loss. There are several dings in the back of the neck with a larger scrape mark in the 7-8th fret area but none of the heavy capo wear often found on older flat tops.
The guitar has no discernable crack repairs except one very small impact mark off the back upper edge of the soundhole. There is a deep scratch to the top forward of the treble side bridge wing that look like a grain crack but is not through the wood. The ebony "Smile" bridge is original; it has been lowered a bit and reglued, probably more than once. There are some tool marks and finish marring around the bridge from this. The small maple bridge plate is original with some wear; all internal bracing is intact and original.
The neck may have been reset but if so it was an unusually clean job, we do not see any residual marks. The tuners are the beautiful gold plated, engraved and pearl button originals; even the celluloid bridgepins and endpin appear original. The frets are the original small wire with plenty of life left. This guitar plays and sounds magnificent, with a powerful attack and a lot of sustain for a flat top guitar. We are always thrilled when nice examples of these high-end Washburns arrive; they are uniquely attractive guitars both sonically and visually. It is still housed in the original chipboard case. Overall Excellent Condition.
