Washburn N4 neck joint question

[lynchfan6]

I have an old 1992 N4......have they altered the neck joint (Stephen's) to where the front-visible"fin" is wider on some N4 models? I was looking at a replacement N4 body from 2006 for the heck of it,,,,and my neck wouldn't fit as the "fin" part on my 92 neck is smaller and wouldn't quited fill the whole pocket on the guitar.........came to like an eight of an inch or so short. Also, I can sort of tell by the lettering on the Stephen's joint,,,,,some necks seem to have bigger areas surrounding the writing. Also, mine has that little "wheel" at the end of the fretboard after the 22nd fret for adjusting the truss rod....I don't see that on any recent models.

[lynchfan6]

I was just reading some N4 history,,,,guess I'd better hold onto this old model. It originally had the "iredescent" finish that supposedly was put on when Stephen Davies was still assembling N4's outside of Washburn's own facility. A "transition" model N4. Unfortunately, I stripped the finish off, as I wanted a bare alder body. But I noticed that it has quite a few little characteristics differing from modern N4's. And the ever so smaller "fin" seems to match the ones Nuno is playing in the pictures I have.

[Aaronharmon]

Yeah N4 have had a few production changes over the years. The earliest N4's were made by Davies and may be worth a bit more (to the right buyer). Mid to late 90's are worth less IIRC because there were accusations that production was taking place outside Washburn (and possiblly even over seas) and the quality was said to suffer. IIRC early 2000's production returned to in house Washburn production in Chicago and quality is said to have improved dramatically. I have a paduak 2006 myself and love it.