My main guitar was always the Ibanez Universe 7BK, but had the Bird Les Paul as my backup guitar. Unfortunately it showed some technical problems after a show and because the neck isn't all that any more I decided I needed a better backup guitar. That's where the Washburn RS-10V comes in the picture. I wanted a backup guitar that was pretty well built, good action, easy to modify, looked ok and above all not too expensive. So for a while I searched for Les Paul copies, until I stumbled over the Washburn RS-10V on ebay in Germany. The vocalist of my band has a Washburn RS guitar as well and I always loved the way it looked (PRS shape with ESP headstock) and played, so the choice was easy, especially cause no one else was bidding on the guitar. When I received the guitar I was quite happy. I thought it would be the same as my friends guitar, in metallic blue, but to my surprise it was shine through blue/green with a quite nice curved quilted maple top !. So now it not only had the shape of a PRS it also had some real nice wood  on it too. This was one of their top of the line guitars in the beginning of the 90's, so it's not a toy guitar, it's pretty good. As always I had to modify some things to the guitar (and clean it as well, probably the first time in 10 years). I removed the tremolo and took it completely apart, removed the volume and tone pots, removed the lacquer finish on the back of the neck with sandpaper and oiled it several times, put in a new volume pot, placed an authentic Les Paul switch where the tone pot used to be and rewired the guitar, used a mini switch to make tone on/off, put a piece of wood on the inside of the guitar between the body and the tremolo to eliminate movement, installed straplocks, completely cleaned the body, restrung it, intonated it and taped the guitar strings on the headstock and the springs of the tremolo to prevent 'singing' noise (TIP!). After a half days work the guitar looked like new, played amazing (thanks to the oiled neck, I hate lacquer finish), perfectly intonated. It looks so beautiful and plays so nice that I've decided to use it at our live shows. We have songs in either normal tuning or in dropped, so I used the Ibanez Universe for the dropped songs (most ones) and this guitar for the normal tuned songs for fast changes in between songs. (note, all our guitars are tuned down a whole step) Right now I have a Seymour Duncan Invader installed in the neck and a Duncan Custompickup at the bridge (both not shown in the picture). The guitar sounds really nice now. When combining both pickups the sound has a very dominant mid range boost. The bridge is full and clear, the neck is deep and powerful. Replacing the tuners one day might be a good idea as well, and maybe change the old style Floyd Rose tremolo for a newer Low Pro Edge, they are not in the way when playing, cause I keep on cutting my hand open at gigs thanx to the Floyd Rose II tremolo. Maybe I should just take it easier on stage...... Here is some info I found on the web: Washburn RS-10V Comments: Reply Hi, I noticed that you were looking for some info on the Washburn RS10-v. Well, I do know that this model of guitar was only made for one year, 1987, and was not mass produced. The guitar is USA made and is rare as only about 1100 were produced. They sold for nearly $1,500 in 1987, and in '87 that was almost enough to get a new car!! The body is made of Mahogany as well as the neck. The fretboard is extremely different, It looks like ebony, but its not. It's actually a composite, kind of like plastic. That's why the fretboard on that guitar is extremely smooth. Standard factory pickups are EMG select passive pickups, factory specs are; 3-way mini toggle switch, one volume, one tone, 24 fret with abalone inlay and dot markers on the side, set neck, locking nut, 16-18 degree back angled headstock and licensed Washburn Floyd Rose tremolo system. - Shawn Hey Guys these Guitars are very rare there were only 1100 produced; and flamed topped maples are the rarest and they go for what ever you can get for them...... was offered 3 grand for miy flame top but the is not a scratch on it my advice is to keep it you kick yourself if you get rid of one these things are worth more than les pauls.....later jon In Reply to: Re: Washburn RS(?) Guitar posted by Wayne Roeber on September 06, 2000 at 12:02:28: : : I think the letters RS stand for Randall Smith who collaborates with washburn, but I'm not sure. If anyone has info on what this guitar is worth etc. please e-mail me at the above address. : : : : P.S. I paid 230 English Pounds, which I think was a steal. Hello Jimmy, I just purchased this same model as you describe from Daddy's Junky Music (Rochester, NY) I paid just over $300 for it used. It plays like a dream and looks very much like a PRS. I am very happy with it and glad to know somene else with this model. : I've owned an RS-10V for over 13yrs. Must be rare, I haven't heard too much : about them, and have not found a lot of info on it. Obviously I love mine, purchased it for $350 : new back in 1987. It's transperent blue, I believe its a neck-through-body, mother of pearl fret dots : Select EMG humbuckers, and a Floyd Rose copy trem. I had to replace the springs in the : trem afew yrs ago, but thats about it. Solid as the day it was born. The washburn rs 10v guitar is a rare guitar indeed my friends. Back in the mid to late 80's washburn was trying new things and trying to get an upper hand on the guitar industry. They were WAY ahead of their time, but unfortunately washburn put too much money into the guitar and asked a little too much for them and not very many people bought them. I bet you didn't know what the fretboard was made of, it's NOT ebony like most people that have played these guitars think. It's a composite called "Carbonite". It's extremely smooth surface gives it an extraordinary feel and the tightness of the "grain" gives it an excellent crunchy bright sound at the bridge and a rather smooth buttery sound at the neck. These guitars were NOT neck through, but rather a set neck with I believe it was a dove tail joint. The inlays are Abalone and was not seen much in the 80's. the guitars are made of hard rock mahogony with a quilt top and the neck is made of hard rock mahogony as well. These guitars sold in between $300 and $650 depending on where you bought it from. What they are worth today is only between $250 to $400 in mint and original condition with the OHSC. BUT, keep in mind that once a guitar reaches 20 years old it automatically begins to appreciate in value as it becomes a vintage, and beings that the RS series guitars are rare, only around 500 was produced in `87 and 450-500 in `88, they WILL be worth a lot of money. Bare in mind that EVERY SINGLE ONE of these guitars were HAND MADE!!! If anybody has further questions you can contact me at Jeanclaud00003@cs.com Take care and enjoy those guitars. Also if anybody knows of someone that would be interested in trading one of these guitars for a Professional 12 channel mixer please email me as my RS 10v was stolen. ps if anyone knows more about this guitar, please let me know.

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