hi, yep still lurking, and still own one washburn. well, kinda. D10's have LONG been a wonderful value. A very competent, playable, good sounding acoustic for very little money.
This is an example of high volume = high value. The D10 is the cash cow for the company, and the director of manufacturing, who spends half his time in Asia inspecting operations (and who learned the guitar business in a similar role for Tacoma for many years) told me personally that making sure that particular model is basically underpriced is a huge priority. I've had lunch with him several times. My sales job use to take me by the shop often and we became well acquainted.
You're experience is consistent with everything I've heard and experienced about them. I've got a buddy with a 2000 model, and made it a point to find one in a shop and play a 2011 model because the company changed hands and I wanted to see if the quality had suffered.
Washburn "fans" will tell you that it's a shame, with such a great magnet for aspiring guitarists in the lineup, that they don't have a better, well, lineup! There really isn't that much in the stable to graduate to. They haven't had a US made acoustic for many years, and the last ones they had, were in fact done in house, and had very mixed reviews given the price point and competition (2k and that ilk)
My "washburn" is actually a Bourgeois from the mid 90's, cosmetically appointed for Washburn, but in all ways that matter, it's a bourgeois "Standard D", and listed, in '95, for $2500.00. that signified a pretty major statement about their acoustic aspirations. Those days appear to be long gone.
"It's never too late to be what you might have been" - Eliot
Guilars: '02 Heritage H-535 ASB; '04 Larrivée LV-03 w/Fishman Blend; '95 Washburn/Bourgeios D-55SW Cherokee
Amphs: Boogie DC-2; DVM/BYOC Tweed Champlifier; Marshall AS50D
Currently on Board: Ditto Looper; Boss TU-2; EB VP Jr; crybaby; DVM Spring Fever; DVM Mini Klone, Brena Effects Cali-Tremor tremolo; Strymon El Capistan