American guitar manufacturer Washburn offers some of the best looking budget friendly guitars in the market, and the WP26SNS is one of them. This affordable parlor style guitar comes with impressive specs and cosmetics, most notably its solid cedar top with vintage 1880-style inlays that give the instrument a more premium appeal.
Having been building guitars since 1883, the Washburn brand is one of the few with actual experience and know how when it comes to crafting old school instruments. As such they are in the position to produce impressive parlor guitars, and they do so at incredibly reasonable price points. Drawing from the 19th and early 20th century parlor style guitars, they were able to come up with the WP26SNS, and produce it for budget conscious players to enjoy.
The WP26SNS is based on a 100-year old design, having a small body that is comfortable to play and pleasing to the eye, while still producing good acoustic volume. They were able to do this by crafting the body with a solid cedar top and rosewood for the back and sides, a tonewood combination that makes sense for parlor guitars.
The warmer sound that the solid cedar top brings will help smoothen the midrange, resulting in a balanced tone that is more mellow sounding. Couple this with quarter sawn sitka spruce bracing and rosewood back and sides – and you have an ideal guitar for fingerpickers and singing guitarists. More than just sounding distinct, the volume of this particular parlor guitar is also surprisingly loud for its size – you won’t have a problem cutting through an acoustic jam.
The guitar’s C-profile neck is crafted from mahogany, following traditional specs. It has a scale length of 24.75″ and a nut width of 1.73″. The rosewood fretboard has a total of 20 frets, with the neck meeting the body at the 12th fret. Serving as guides for your fretting hand are fancy looking 1880 style inlays. The slotted headstock completes the guitar’s vintage vibe, and it comes equipped with gold finish distressed classical tuners.
Other features of the Washburn WP26SNS includes having a rosewood bridge, bone nut and saddle. Check out the official video demo:
The Washburn WP26SNS parlor is currently retailing for just under $400.
