Richie Owens was brought up in a bluegrass family and began playing Dobro when he was just a boy. By the time he was in his teens, he was building and fixing his own instruments. Today, Richie designs, builds or repairs instruments for the likes of Nils Lofgren, Ron Wood and The Dixie Chicks. He recently was on tour with Dolly Parton as a featured performer, playing mandolin on her “Vintage Tour”. Richie collaborated with Washburn in developing their new M-120 Mandolin.

I had the chance to talk with Richie and ask him what was different about this instrument. He was very excited about the new design.

“Since the 1920’s the basic design of the Mandolin has been the same. Way back when, fiddle players and women mostly played them. This was reflected in the overall small design of the instrument. Today, more and more guitar players are picking up the mandolin. They’re often looking for a bigger sound and approach the instrument with a more aggressive style. The M-120 is aimed at giving them a more comfortable, high quality instrument with a “throatier” tone and more volume.”

Washburn has approached this new mandolin with a fresh eye. The f-style body design is deeper than traditional instruments for more volume and projection and it has a wider nut, with wider string spacing to accommodate bigger fingers. Aesthetically, the M-120 is not quite as ornate as mandolins are known to be, but still, the carved, solid spruce top and carved flamed maple back and sides make for a beautiful instrument. Washburn went with higher quality hardware, including a cast Monteleone tailpiece. As Richie said “You no longer have to wait 30 years for a mandolin to start sounding good.”
Get the sound you’ve been looking for today with a Washburn M-120.