The Washburn brand goes back to 1864 when founders George Washburn Lyon and Joseph Patrick Healy opened a retail music store in Chicago.
Twenty years later the duo decided to manufacture guitars and the line-up included mandolins, banjos, zithers, and ukuleles. Some of their "presentation" grade parlor guitars, highly ornate and decorative, were of the most expensive of the late 1880s.
Like most guitar companies from a 100+ years ago there were many iterations of ownership and brand name transfers. The Washburn brand as we know it today was resurrected in the early 1970s and really put on the map in 1978.
1978 was the first year Washburn produced electric guitars, launching their "Wing" series. Models included the Hawk, Raven, Falcon, Eagle, Scavenger and T-Bird. All were double cutaway body styles with two humbuckers.
Bob Marley only owned seven guitars during his life. One was a Washburn Hawk and is also one of the highest priced guitars ever sold at auction at $1.2 - $2 million (exact price unknown). The Jamaican government bought it as his assets are considered national treasures.
Washburn made slight variations of each of the models before ending the original production run in 1984. The Eagle was the cream of the crop, pictured below.
Washburn Eagle specs: Ash body, maple top. Maple neck-through. Ebony fretboard. Washburn power sustain humbuckers, 3-way switch, push-pull coil split, two volume and two tone controls.