Washburn R45RCE

When I think blues slide guitar, I think about Robber Johnson and Blind Willy Johnson, since I grow up with my dad listening to all sorts of old blue guitar players.
But when it comes to today's players, only one name stands out for me - Eric Sardinas!
I got introduced by Eric Sardinas his music in 2000 when he was the opening act for the Steve Vai Ultra zone tour, and I was blown away by his style of playing and I loved him every since.

In April 2013 I started to record some new acoustic song material and for this I wanted to add some slide guitar on some songs, so I had to focus on the

technique for it but while I was recording, I found out I really sucked at playing the slide guitar and my techniques where really un-useful for my recordings.
So I put the project on hold for a little while so I could focus on learning the slide guitar first.
While learning, I got more and more interested in playing this kind of music style and I really loved the sound of the Resonator guitar.
So I started to do some research on the brands that made the Resonator guitar.

A few brands and models got my attention, but the Washburn R45RCE Bluegrass Resonator was really standing above all the others.
Not only they look great, but their sound is mind blowing compared to no other, so my choice was easy to make, I had to have a Washburn Bluegrass Resonator.
And now I am the proud owner of the Washburn R45RCE Bluegrass Resonator.


	Neck: Inlay: Body: Fret Neck: Middle: Bridge: Switch: Bridge: Nut:


	Flamed Maple/Rosewood Dot inlay Flamed Maple, Amber Stained Oil Medium frets Single Coil lipstick None None None Aluminum spider bridge White Bone






	The looks and feels like any traditionally build dreadnought type body. The main difference is of course the Acoustic sound hole with the Spider-bridge Biscuit and f-hole to give out the signature resonator sound plus the cutaway in the body. The wood is a bind Flamed maple top, back and sides in a Amber Stained oil with a mat gloss finish. The guitar feels comfortable and with the Aluminum spider bridge build in it's body, it is still very light in weight. The body has a warm, open, bright tone and sustain going on.






	The scale length on this guitar is 24.75" inch with a 20 medium fret neck on a rosewood fretboard with Dot inlay and flamed maple back and a white bone nut. The back of the neck and headstock is finished in the same Amber Stained oil like the body. When playing the slide you can see that there is enough high action on the strings so the strings won’t flat out to the frets, to avoid fret buzzing. Unlike some other (lap-steal) resonators with a square, this Washburn R45RCE is set up with a round slim neck profile like any other tradition acoustic guitars. So it is easy to play all your favorite licks, runs, rhythm, phrases and riffs. The cutaway in the body, which gives you an easy access to the high frets on the neck.






		As you can see the chrome is the main color on all the hardware for this resonator guitar. It really brings out the Amber Stained oil color and the Resonator Spider bridge it is one of a kind. The is a single aluminum cone, and the contour of the biscuit top and bridge feels fine and will provide you a stable mount to rest your hand on when you needed some muted sound on the strings. The pickup is a lipstick single coil connected to the Tone and Volume know and give the really chunky but clear sound, so you will get a perfect mix between the resonated sound from the Spider bridge and the sustain of the guitar it self, it even sounds a little like a pezio since it also picks up the resonating sound of the spider bridge.

For playing the slide guitar on this Washburn R4RCE Resonator, I use a few different slides for different soundscapes.
At this moment I got 4 different slides:
- Fender Brass 19 x 20.5 x 60
- Jim Dunlop 210 20 x 25 x 60
- Jim Dunlop 284 19.5x23.5 x 17.5 x 21.5 x 56
- Jim Dunlop 285 19 x 25.5 x 22.9 x 26.5 x 56.5

The Fender Brass was my very first slide and I have this one since 1985.
The Jim Dunlop 210 is the Glass slide, a slide that really gives a natural clean and bright sound.
Both the Jim Dunlop 284 and Jim Dunlop 285, are the Eric Sardinas “Preachin’ Pipe” Brass Slide, both give this nice rough sound with a little punch on the tone.
I got two different size’s for different feel’s when I am playing the slide guitar.
For now I love the small Dunlop 284 better since it fits my pinky better when I am playing, and I need it on my pinky to keep my other fingers free for chord playing.

For the plectrums, I use the Jim Dunlop 900rR Large plastic Thumb plectrum and Jim Dunlop 302B Sliver metal .013” on the index and middle finger.
When you are a shred player like me, at first you really have to get comfortable with those finger plectrums.
But once you got the technique down, they really help you bringing out the resonation tone on both the guitar strings and slide.

Sure you can use the Washburn R45RCE Resonator in a E Standard tuning, and some folks are really good in playing slide in Standard E tuning.
For me the standard E tuning never really worked and it was one of the reasons why I was never really good at playing the slide guitar, until I found out that most blues slide players use open tuning.


	There are different variations for open tuning, but the open tunings that I use for the Washburn Resonator is the Open G and open D tuning. Here is a little list of open tuning for slide guitar.


	Low to high stings: Standard Tuning: Open D Tuning: Open C Tuning: Open G Tuning: Open A Tuning: Open E Tuning:


	1 E D C D E E


	2 A A G G A B


	3 D D C D E E


	4 G F^# G G A A^b


	5 B A C B C B


	6 E D E D E E


	When you will use the open tuning for slide guitar, it is wise to set your guitar with a heavy set of strings, like a .013 set or else your strings will become sloppy and will fret out to the fret board. At this moment I am using the Gibson J-200 Deluxe Phosphor Bronze strings .013, .017, .026, .035, .045 and .056.


	The Washburn R45RE Bluegrass resonator is tuned in a open G tuning, therefore I use a heave gauges set of Gibson j-200 deluxe phosphor bronze strings .013, .017, .026, .035, .045 and .056 Since a lot of the slide action will happen on the "E and B" sting you need a good tension on the strings, because regular strings will give you sloppy buzzing sound. I will tell more about this in one of the Tutorials I am working on, since experienced the trouble you can get into when you have to find some useful information on getting your first resonator guitar and slides who are out there on the market. At the moment I am not using a strap on this guitar. I want to give a special thanks to Greg Heritier from Washburn Guitars, TheMusicFarm and everybody else who helped me getting this beautiful guitar.


	[Home] [News] [Guitars] [Gear] [Media] [Friends] [Tutorials] [Links] [Contact]


	Webdesign - Hosting StringStudio^® PurplePeachGeneration^® 1999 / 2020