Washburn BT2

Think it's Japanese, it has 22 frets, it's not solid wood.
Two humbuckers, that are pretty muddy.
Black paint job - nothing special.
The body style is in between a super strat and a Peavey Wolfgang - this is what attracted me to the guitar. It's light and very very well balanced, and I like it.
Tuners are Grover, frets are standard.

It just doesn't cut with those pickups, they're really poverty spec.
You can't get decent harmonics, as the sustain isn't good enough - it tends to get muddy when you play runs.
Also it doesn't really have a lot of variety.

Terrible set-up.
The bridge has been randomly slotted in too far up as I cannot set the intonation. There is no hope to get it right at all.
After a couple of months of playing, it liked going out of tune - a lot.
You can't bend a string without it going out. It's a budget guitar, and it's nice looking, but I relied on this for a few years, and it's really pissed me off at times.
I can't progress anymore with it, it's just not that great a guitar, which saddens me as it's been with me for 5 years.
I will never part with it, but it's quality, especially the bodged bridge fitment, let's it down.

Going out of tune - I used this for around 100 gigs, we used to go ballistic on stage, and used to have to tune up between every song - yeah, how professional.
Pickups are plasticky. My paint has chipped, but to be honest, it has been through hell and back with me playing it - it is lived in, and I have a love/hate thing with it.
Strap buttons came out. I put two three inch ones in the base, and they came out due to the plywood laminate construction.
I haven't joined another band because I know this won't cut it anymore - it's lasted a long time, and I think it's time to retire it.

Nevr dealt with them.

Playing since 1993
Two Marshall heads, two Marshall vintage cabs
I'm glad in a way I bought this guitar, it's taught me the hard way of playing
I love the shape; tiny body with a fat neck - I hate the playibility, the out of tune-ness, and the intonation - the pickups are useless.
I wouldn't compare it to other guitars.
I wish it had a Floyd Rose, but I've come to like the simplicity.

i wrote a previous review & ive noticed a few moans about this low priced beginers guitar. Well ive still got this BT2 & apart from having bought it a 2nd set of strings (only to brighten it up) im still impessed with with this baby. I did once own a ST Savage Hohner
guitar with a floyd rose system .. & it was terrible. I sold it soon after.It would not stay in tune. It had one of those spiky heads which made the strings bend exccesivly thru the nut.
The BT2 is about 6 years old now .. & it still stays in tune (maybee i was lucky ) but if u just look at the way things are laid out its easy to see why. The strings dont bend sharply on the head .. everythings pretty straight.Theres NO trem system so why should it go out?
Anyhow .. 6 yrs down the line its still the same as when i bought it. I know its made in korea .. but it dont sound bad with a fx pedal.

it dont sound bad with a fx pedal.

as before .. adequate for home use & practice

live playing ??? its pretty solid .. apart from the thin neck ..
the frets havnt gone skew yet.

ni idea

XP30 / electribe-R / boss660 / NS5R / BR532 for fx only / zoom 1201 / zoom 505 .. mixers & minidisk
wish id had the gear as a gift .. HI !

Made in Korea. Rosewood fretboard, bridge humbucker, 2 single coils with a five way switch (all passive, all stock). Tone and volume. I don't need any more features than that.

The whammy bridge is a bit shitty.. I rarely use mine as a result.

I play mostly pop/rock/folk (Counting Crows, Elliot Smith, Nada Surf style) but have also used it for 70's style rock. You can hear it all over my recordings: www.mikekuehn.ca
Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive - Radial ToneBone Hot British - Danelectro Delay - MusicMan 210HD (130 watt tube combo w/trem+verb) or Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Sound is actually VERY useable for a guitar of this price. For comparisons sake, I also play a Godin LGXT with Seymour humbuckers. The bridge pickup on the Washburn is NOT noisy at all - and has a very agressive sound (hyped high mids). It can be kind of thin, but also can serve as a nice focused sound depending on how you set up your amp and overdrives. I really like the middle single coil, but it is kind of scooped sounding, and quite susceptible to hum from r/f, power supplies (magnetic fields), pretty much anything. I found the five position switch quite useless, as pos. 2+4 sound quite bad. The neck pickup is WAY too scooped sounding, and is virtually useless for what I'm doing.
I will probably swap out all the pickups to get a more balanced sound (more bass on the humbucker, more mids on the single coils).
It does sound excellent through a variety of different overdrives/amps, but you will usually have to futz around with the eq on the amp. Not a lot of sustain or "fullness" compared to the Godin w/Seymours.

I am extremely impressed with the action and playability of the guitar. It is just great.. I love the feel. Quite low... many people (especially acoustic players) may actually like it higher. Small neck. No fret buzz whatsoever. The bridge can buzz a bit, but the pickups don't hear that.
I don't give it a 9 because the pickups required a bit of adjustment.
The guitar also looks more expensive than it is.. my finish was flawless. The only things I don't like the look of are (a) the pickups (esp. the bridge, ugh) and the bridge (too shiny, given the rest of the guitar).

No problems at all. I've had it for at least 5 years now.

I'd definately recommend this to both beginner guitarists, and experienced guitarists looking for a backup/extra for alternate tunings, whatever. It does have a reasonable sound, not good for EVERYTHING, but it usually works for light rock/pop/folk/country. Great playability too.

Not much to say really, your basic cheapo beginners guitar. I've had it for about 6 years now, ever since i started playing and i use it live happliy enough..though i guess its kinda embarrassing coz it looks like a piece of crap. woot!
Original pickups are terrible so i fitted some emg 81's in the mofo. The pure simplicity of the guitar is a major good point. The guitars best features are that its weighs basically nothing and the neck is really thin and notes are easy to reach...

i play rythem/lead in a punk/metal/emo..eyy band and its fine. the emg's sound great in it and played through my hughes and kettner amp the sound is floorless. I don't use any effects on the bitch purely because i hate effects, it degrades a real players ability especially in the style of music i play...in my oppinion..which probably doesn't mean shit! The sound i get suits a rythem guitarist perfectly and the lead parts still sound sweet. If i'm palm muting chords it like being kicked in the balls..in a good way.

ummm...the factory settinsg on mine went a long long time ago, and i'd say thats probably because they were pretty terrible! but still would be good enough for a beginner on some kind of 3watt amp the size of a mathbox like all beginners play.

hahahahahahahaa!!!! i've bascially murdered this thing and its still alive. check this too, i play with light guage strings drop d sometimes drop c and thrash the hell out of it, even live, and it'll go slightly out of tune after maybe..5/6 songs!! But anyway yeh mine has been through hell and back..its been thrown onto the cieling then back down onto the floor...and dropped on concrete from small heights to like 6ft. drops and its still alive and fine! Put it this way..if my house was under attack from an big heshan tank i'd probly cover the house with them and they wouldn't even flinch under the wrath of the shell!!! I did manage to break a tuning peg off and one of the strap button came out but thats no biggy.

never needed any!!*ding*

this guitar is awesome for beginners and i still love it after all these years. it sounds good and is more reliable then...time?!!? Bomb shelters should be built out of these!!

This guitar has an unusual shape, double-cut. It has a mahogany body with a bolt-on maple neck, 2 humbuckers, a tune-o-matic bridge, and grover tuners.

I use this guitar with a cheap Drive 30W amp that I bought for a sale price from Musiciansfriend about nine months later. It sounds ok for practice, but not that good when jamming along with other guitarists and a drumset. My main dislike is the poor sustain of the guitar, which might be a like for some. Power chords and bar chords sound fairly good, but if you want to solo, you should use a different guitar.

The factory set-up was very good, although this was my first electric guitar. The action was set-up low and the pick-ups were fine. The finish was also fine.

This is a very durable, heavy-duty guitar. I have had this BT2 for about a year and a half and it is still in very good condition.

N/A
This guitar is so solidly built that I can't imagine what someone would do to this guitar that would require any servicing or repairs.

I have been playing for two years, but only a year and a half of electric. This is the only electric guitar i own, and it is much better in many, many ways than those Squier Stratocaster starter packs. It is much cheaper and also an overall better guitar. This is truly a beginner's guitar, and I don't think they are still being made. This is one of the best beginner's guitar I have seen and heard, as well as a price that is very affordable.

three way switch two knobs volume and tone.
double cut black and orange burst. tune-o-matic bridge i personally think it looks cool.

I play strait into my marshall. Pick-ups a little muddy but im gunna replace um with seymour duncans. rarely give feed back pick-ups make little or no noise. great for price

set up for nines. guitar contained no flaws

indestructable. never goes out of tune. would gig without backup never had any problems cept with the part where u plug the guitar into the amp but tht was probly my fault. completely solid

never had deal with them for the resons mentioned above.

amazing for the price. i personally think its an awsome looking guitar thts why im putting better pickups in it so i can use it more.

This is a washburn BT-2. It's one of the recent lowered end models. It's is an ugly orange and red finish with a light maple neck. It has a tune-0-matic(only bridge i will play on) and has 2 humbuckers and a 3 way selector switch. It looks sorta a les paul turned upside down with a exaggerated cut. Again this guitar has a very ugly body but that's the least important thing in a guitar anyways.

My bands musical style is indie/modern rock and it suits that style alright. I'm using a fender 130 watt ultra chorus amp and it sounds okay. It has a rich and full sound when the pickup selector switch is all the way to the left and has a nice twang over to the right. I like the clean sound a lot on this guitar. This could just be because the fender amp gives such a nice clean but either way it sounds great. Once you get to distortion it's a little bit on the messy side. Not that it makes too much noise it's just that theres not enough distinction coming through with power chords. It sounds pretty nice for leads though if you do it right.

Well I didn't purchase this guitar from a factory i bought it on half.com from someone who got and didn't touch it for two years. Anyways, when i got my hands on it the action was perfect for the 9's on it. And it was simple to adjust for my standard ernie ball 10's. Overall the guitar was pretty well together. Another thing I love about this guitar is that it adapts to different thickness of strings very well. For example i recently started using it for open e tuning and it didn't really fight that and stayed in that tuning very nicely

The real reason I bought this guitar is because my friend had one, and time after time i saw him drop it, smash it into stuff, and once even dropping it as he was carrying it over his 6,4 head right into cement and then stepping on it. After all this the guitar consistently stayed in tune. Gave strings long life, and maintained it's sound. This guitar is indestructable from what i have seen and experienced.

never dealt with them and will never half to since this guitar is ridicously solid

I have been playing in a serious band for 2 years now. This is my backup guitar to a Epiphone SG Standard with emg 81's i put on myself, and i also have an epiphon aj15e acoustic electric. If this was stolen i'd get another because this is the perfect backup guitar. I say this because it's simple, always dependeble, doesn't sound terrible, and indestructable. The one thing i wish is that it wasn't orange and red because that looks like crap. I also wish they'd make a double cut model too. Overall this guitar is awesome for the price you can get it for.

already been said by everyone under the sun...i ripped the bridge pickup out, though, and put a PAF Pro in it..the stock shit was ok.. much better with the pickup switch. very solid, reliable, quiet. if you're looking for bells and whistles, get another guitar, or get this one and trick it out with the money you save.

i play all styles.. metal, rock, a little funky shit.. moody melodic.. whatever gives off a vibe i can run with. the factory pickups were about as good as you can get for stock shit.. save for ibanez.the pickup switch is very effective and the pickup contrast is really astounding.

i got mine from mars music (haha) back in 95 or so for about 200-250 new with a deep blue/green finish. i fucked with it after i got home, my settings aren't at all like factory settings.

i beat the hell out of it for almost 4 years before i got a second guitar and it's still sounding/playing great. i have and still would gig without concern.

none.. i was too cheap to get a warrenty haha..

i've been playing for around 5 years now.. understand when i say 5 years i don't mean 5 years every once in a while. i walk around with guitars attatched to my hip everywhere i go with the exception of work. i live guitar, nothing else. i play almost constantly, and i'm more dedicated than you could imagine. i know my shit despite my age. if i lost this, quite honestly, i'd be pretty pissed off. they don't make them anymore and i'd have to bag someone else's. you WILL NOT find a better value for this price. Everyone has ragged this gutiar until they heard it, played it, so forth. i saw a review in particular here where a guy said you can't do a pinch harmonic with it, which is total shit. i play pantera/ killswitch engage on a regular basis (usually to warm up) and i can rip pinch harmonics all over the neck. my suggestion to you, pal, would be to check your technique. you can do a pince harmonic on a shity squier if you know your shit ;)

Plain, simple, and beautiful. Red finish, volume, tone, 2 humbuckers, etc. The guy I bought it from had made a very unwise move and replaced the factory tuning pegs with some random unnamed brand of "locking tuners" which do anything but lock and tune. I have to get them replaced.

That aside, I have a serious soft spot for washburns. This style of washburn neck is the most perfect fit my hand has ever felt, and I usually compare other guitars to the way a washburn feels in my hand. The only thing I don't like is the loose bridge... I lost it once when I was giving it a good clean and had to take all the strings off at once. This is obviously one of Washburn's "lower-end" guitars and so the hardware leaves more to be desired than the more expensive models, but hey... it is what it is.

I play loud blues with some twang and some crunch and this thing has really never let me down, except when I joined a jazz combo at school a couple years back (with my old BT). The BT doesn't do jazz. I played in another group at one point, a rock outfit, and the guys were complaining about the twangy tone, but I liked it. But I have a ProCo Rat pedal, harmonic overdrive, and it sounds great with that.

The action is great, but the problem I've had with both of my BT's is that the neck is extremely bendy and reacts strongly to temperature and humidity changes, as well as pressure changes. I use a vibrato technique on open strings sometimes (you might have seen/heard bill frisell do it) which requires me to bend the neck down towards the headstock, and it's good for this (although not very good for the guitar), but it's a pain when I just want the thing to stay in tune. So I have to set it up regularly.

But the action is great, the tension is perfect, the weight is perfect, and I can really do whatever I want on it physically.

This thing will never die. My first one was starting to give, but I'd had it and been playing it almost exclusively for not quite 4 years (it was my first guitar). The neck pickup was falling out, but I wanted to replace them anyway, and I'd dropped the thing several times, so there were some good sized chunks out of it, NONE of which effected the tone, negatively or otherwise. The new one I bought used, and it's had no problems other than those stupid "locking tuners," which really have to go.

I've been playing for 5 years, and I play primarily blues and funk but dabble in jazz and bluegrass. I also own a Steinberger GU and a Peavey EXP ltd, and a Cort 5 string bass. The washburn is the "cheapest" but by far my favorite (the bass doesn't count). Since it's the one I'm not afraid to thrash, it's the one I get the most results out of. The lower tension allows me to make the huge bends that I want to make (as opposed to the peavey) and it isn't expensive (as opposed to the steinberger), and it sounds just fine, despite what my bandmates though. A BT was my first guitar and it's turned me into a serious washburn pusher.

I bought this guitar because I wanted to go without a tremelo system . There's really nothing to it. Perfectly simple, perfectly easy. I wish that the neck felt a little faster and thinner, the frets seem great and the tuners are awesome. I never have to tune this guitar. (Be sure to tighten the Grovers when you buy it.) The features are exactly what Washburn promised me. A comfortable, cool looking, easy to use, easy to play guitar.

For a $150 guitar this has great sound. I keep reading the reviews of the weiners who bought this guitar thinking that it would out preform their dream vintage strat or Les Paul; these guys are dreaming. The reality is that the sound is really full, I had to brighten it up with some highs using my amp. But I think that it sounds great. Power chords sound great, the pickups growl really well. It's not particularly noisy which is why I bought it. The sustain is pretty dead (great for hard chunky riffs.) I can imagine that it would sound a bit funny playing screaming lead solos unless you had some great modeling effects. But anyone who can play a singing solo should have bought the Les Paul's that Epiphone makes for $300-$500. When I play my friend's Les Paul Custom through a good set up I actually think that it the Les Paul sounds worse. I'm just not good enough to pull a great solo out of a Les Paul. Through a great amp, this guitar sounds great. I use the Line 6 Spider 212 and Line 6 POD at home and this guitar sounds great. I can do anything that I want to do.

Came out of the box well set up. I personally think that this guitar looks really cool. Cheap strat copies look like junk. This guitar has some personality and looks pretty serous. Definately set for 9 gauge strings. I had to mess around with it a little to make the Hybrid Ernie Balls that I am using work. My action is pretty darn low and no buzzing. It sets a lot like the Ibanez that I have been using a lot. The finish was really nice. Much nicer than any cheapo guitar. Some guys said that they found glue spots on theirs, but mine looks great.

This guitar seems really solid. I bought it to bang around with at home and with the church band. So far so good.

n/a
I bought it at Music 123.com and they are awesome!

I've been playing for aobut 10 years. I'm not a great guitarist. I love this guitar because of the short neck and the lack of ringing sustain which seems to exaggerate my amateur playing. I'd buy another for the same amount of money. I really like it. In my opinion, you can't find a $150 guitar anywhere near this high of quality. I just haven't had one complaint about this guitar. I have an Ibanez JS600 Satriani and an Ibanez RG550 as well as a really cool Takamine Acou/Elec, when I am fooling around with my home recording equipment, I grab my washburn because it is ready to go, in tune, ready to play in alternate tunings and sounds great through my Line 6 modeling POD. I have lots of fun with this guitar. If I get a lot better, I'd love to maybe upgrade the pickups to some Duncan JB's or Buckshots or something. There just is not another better value out there. I do have to write a postscript here though too, I just get sick of the retards who feel that they have to buy this guitar and then give it a poor review. There's not a better value on any guitar. They knew it was inexpensive. Washburn never said that this is a Les Paul in disguise. I feel that I got a ton more than I paid for, I couldn't be happier.