Wow. It has been four years.

Thanks to all for your responses. I'm happy to say that I passed on that Washburn guitar. Not too long afterwards, I saw the same model guitar in a different city. It was poor - twisted neck, intonation off, even worse sound.

At Winfield that year, a fellow with a Washburn briefly joined the group I was playing with. After he left, my friends made it clear that my Yamaha sounded better than his. And my S&P sounds better yet.

A local music store closed last year, and for the first time there was an advantage to playing left-handed. In their last 10 days, 4 of the 5 remaining guitars were lefties, including a Martin DM. I got it at a significant discount. It has very good sound. Interestingly, the body size and shape are identical to that of the S&P. I am now comfortable with that.

So, patience paid off and I ended up with something far better than the Washburn. Thanks again for your opinions and insights.