Washburn BT2

the story 1:
ive had it about 3 years now.its a std BT2.the one u can see in the ads onlne.
Its funny i was out going to buy a rack mount for my home set up.
Unable to find a rack i wanted ..
we were on our way home & we noticed this small shop with guitars.
Having lots of spare cash to hand i thought id at least tempt the shop
keeper to let me demo a few.Anyhow i strolled round the shop & there were a few nice fenders
.Then at the back of the shop there were 3 guitars.The Washburn was quite stunning
.It was finished in a silver with a small amount of glitter .. but u have to get the light right to see this
.Anyhow i took the thing off the peg & it just felt right.It had been in a accident ..
there was a nasty dent/crack in the bottom where it obviously had been dropped.
The rest of the guitar was pristine.i looked around the back & there were a couple
of small cracks where the plate bolts the kneck on. Well reading this u probably think
" Forget it ! " ... but like me .. i could see a good deal coming. I haggled just for a short time ..
as the shop keeper realized it was to plain to see .. not to disagree with. So i got some cash off.

the story 2: getting it home i was pretty pleased with the action.The sound was quite surprising.
Its not a very expensive model .. in fact its about one of the cheapest ones u can buy thats fitted
out half decent.Anyhow i compared it to my old Rossetti that ive had for years .. & it was much cleaner.
Considering the pick-ups are just cheapo,s .. they aint bad. Most in fact all of my music i do at home for
fun thru a zoom 505 & then a zoom 1201 for room ambience only.I mix it down with my sequencer to mini-disk
.The results are amazing.I read that the 505 zoom is rubish live on stage but it works ok in a home set up.The sound .
. i always end up playing power chords or bad lead with the guitar using the zoom set with an overdrive / sustain & the
EQ pushed in the mid band .. & i get a sound which works .. but again its down to the fx box & the sound from the
pick-ups.Ive read that someone had a bt2 & fitted it out with Seymore duncans & it was fab !! Ive no idea ..
mine sounds ok as it is.Id probably go & buy another guitar if i wanted a fender sound .. why bother to change the
pick-ups to make a Gibson sound like a Fender ?

the story 3: The action was very nice .. in fact a short while after .. i changed the slightly heavy strings to ultra-light ones ..
ugh .. much to my surprise .. i always used to use light guauge .. but this was awfall ..
it was like playing with elastic bands .. quik chord changing was teribble !!! my fingers were going between the strings.
So i threw them off & got another pack of lights.They wernt much better so i ended up using regulars. It plays fine.
Stays in tune & sounds much more tunefall.The pickup adjustment was ok.The kneck is very thin ..
& is also nice n smoothe.(must have been a good day).After the string change i noticed a buzz / resonance around
the bottom end of the fret.It got anoying that i thought i had always had this problem & was about to sell it & buy another ..
then just out of the blue i happened to have my son round & he just happened to put his grubby hands on the machines while
i demonstrated this anoying buzz .. & presto .. it stopped ! so further examination revealed that
some of the locking nuts on top of the machines were loose!Yes i also had a dodgey selector switch from day one
.But i took it apart & greased it & its not too bad now .. it just gets in the way up here.

story 4: well i dont gig with it so ice no idea .. although that kneck is a little fragile looking.
The hardware / switches look simular to every other in the mags.I liked this guitar so much i went out & got hold of a
2nd hand Washburn Falcon .. This is really nicely put together .. thru kneck & weighs a ton.The bloke who sold it to
me said he got fed up taking it on gigs .. i cant blame him.But said all this i still prefer to play those bum notes on my BT2! ..
i dont know .. it just feels nice.

no idea

Ive been practising for some 20 years on n off.I have other instuments in a midi set up.My 1st introduction to drums on a cheap Casio keyboard gave me the inspiration to take it all up again.& wot fun it all is.!!!! .... something else i wish i had .. yeah .. dont we all .. loads of spare cash to try everything out & a room i could let rip at 4am with nobody complaining !

1999, Sunburst mahogany body, maple neck with 22-fret rosewood board,
made in Indonesia, passive dual-humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone. Tunomatic
bridge with stop tailpiece and Grover tuners; 24.75" scale. Has its
own unique double-cutaway style; sort of retro, yet modern at the same
time! I like the body style because it's different; sort of Les Paul
Special meets Mosrite, yet not! Basically a simple yet effective setup with the 2 humbuckers, more than versatile enough, especially in
the price range

Nice little guitar! I play mostly hard rock/metal, but also SRV-type
blues and a little of everything, and it's surprisingly good for any
time when I want to play without a trem (most of my guitars have Floyd
or Kahler or Wonderbar trems - I'm a trem nut!). I use Carvin X-60B heads and 412 cabs with a plethora of effects, and it's a ballsy axe!
The pickups are pretty quiet, and I get a nice Gibsonish sound out of it - between an SG and a Les Paul sound (I own both of those models so
I can compare directly!). For the money and compared to its peers it's astoundingly good-sounding!

Contrary to others' reviews, my guitar came out of the box set up nicely, playing and sounding great, and stays in tune! Just lucky, I
guess! I actually bought it from JC Penney's catalog for $119.99 as a closeout! At that price I figured it'd be a camping/beach beater if nothing else, and I do use it for that! It's really extremely nice though; I think the Indonesians are getting the hang of this guitar making thing! Personally, I've played some American-made Les Pauls and Strats that were dogs, and have a Chinese Squier that plays
like a good American Standard Strat, so I go with the individual guitar. This BT-2 is a good guitar out of the box, and I like it!

I see no problem with using this guitar live! The hardware is adequate, if you're not flogging the guitar! I'm too old for that so
it'll last indefinitely, as I treat my instruments with respect. The
finish is very nice, strap buttons solid; a workhorse guitar! I'd use it without a backup if I had to, but I have several other guitars
so I always have backups for the broken string scenario! There's not
much to go wrong with this baby!

N/A

I've been playing for 29 years and own many other guitars, as well as
several amps and lots of effects. This was another impulse buy from the JC Penney website's closeout section. If it were lost or stolen I
would probably grab another one, as they're dirt-cheap used because they have a bad rep (at least from some reviewers here!). I guess that there are some lemons out there, like any other make and model, and I know a lot of players don't like to work on their guitars at all
and might not want to pay a tech $65 to set up their brand-new guitar!
I'm no tech myself, but I learned how to set up and intonate my own guitars long ago, out of cheapskatedness! If you own a guitar tuner and a screwdriver you can set up your own guitar! (Okay, you may need
Allen wrenches too!) Worst-case is, you have to take it to the tech anyway! Best-case, you tighten this, loosen that and the guitar does
your bidding! This is a nice guitar for goofing around with, that will do as a main guitar if it has to, and if some drunk spills his beer on it you won't want to break it over his head! Even if you DO break it over his head, it's $120, not a $1200 Les Paul! Win-win!

model: washburn bt-2, sunburst, 2 hums, tune o matic, rosewood fretboard.

Controls (elec.): 3 way selector, with 200 series washburn open humbuckers. (passive)

Woods: mahogany, and rosewood

Hardware: grover tuners

Neck: thin and fast, w/ good low action

I play blues, texas swing, and heavy metal/hard rock, and to my suprise the guitar has been extremely versatile and playable.
The humbuckers are crisp and clean, with a good high gain. They do not hum or fuzz when "resting". The bridge pickup is a little bassy but it can be solved with amp adjustment and a little wah-wah.
Any good guitarist can play this guitar and be satisfied.

The tuners were a little loose, but a little patience and the problem can quickly be solved. The action was low and tight, as well as the thin neck allows for good fast playing. I own thirteen electric guitars, ranging from 2 ernie ball music mans (axis, and axis sport),
a les paul standard and studio, 72 tele, photoflame strat,and many others (mostly all high end guitars) and all have needed minor adjustments to fit my taste, so theres no reason to complain when you need to tweek a guitar to your standards.

Plays great , i have had no problems. Its basically my "back and forth" guitar that i use to avoid dragging thousand dollar guitars back and forth to rehersals, so it takes some abuse and has yet to fail me, so i would play it live any time. the guitar is solid and will probably last as long as i take care of it, just the same with any other guitar.

Havent had to deal with them.

Ive been playing for over 10 years and have owned and played many guitars. The bt 2 is tough, attractive, and sounds great. Alot of guitarists blame the guitar, but im sure hendrix or srv would have sounded good on any piece of junk you would have put in their hands.
I like the guitars just as well as any that i own, and i would like to have another, if i found another color i really liked. i would like to see it in a wine red with gold hardware, and covered humbuckers, with maybe locking tuners, but hell its fine the way it is.

1999 or 2000 - made in Indonesia. 22-fret, one vol, one tone, 3-way toggle on upper left horn. Pickups are Hum/Hum - basic passive stock p/u's (Washburn 200 series). Body is alder; neck is maple. Finish is a standard glossy finish. Neck has a matte / natural finish. Body style is somewhat of a cross between a Peavey Wolfgang and a Strat. Bridge is Tune-o-matic w/ stop tailpiece. Grover tuners. Neck has a Sonokelin fingerboard (rosewood, basically) with a 24 and 3/4 " scale. Standard fretwire.

I play just about anything - rock, hard rock, blues, metal. With the right amp and FX, this guitar can do them all. It's not a speed/thrash guitar but it can do some decent hard riffs. Hums give a fairly full sound. Bridge p/u with the lows down gives a bright enough sound.

Overall, for the price paid, this is an extremely versatile guitar. With a little tinkering with an EQ and the tone/vol controls, you can get a lot of different sounds out of it.

Neck p/u is somewhat muddy on high gain with full lows. It is fine for clean rhythm work though.

One thing that bothered me is that the neck pickup will cut in/out sometimes when playing or switching p/u's. However, after removing the toggle switch cover, I found that the wires were touching the metal connector to the neck pickup position - which was causing the sound to stop and start sometimes. A little tape held them out of the way and fixed the problem.

Overall, there was not a whole lot that needed to be done. The action was pretty much perfect for me (fairly low but not too low). The neck pickup needed to be lowered and the bridge p/u needed to be hightened, but that's about it. The bridge and tailpiece were perfect.

This is my 2nd BT2 - the first i received was generally poorly done. There were some cracks at the neck joint, the nut was poorly cut, and one of the tuning machines was actually different than the rest. I took it back and receieved a much better guitar. The fingerboard was actually darker with the 2nd guitar - looks much better. The 2nd guitar has a beautiful nut and generally much better fretwork as well.

**These are mass-built guitars. Obviously, there will be some bad ones and some better ones. I got a bad one, but I didn't accept it and got a better one. I would suggest not buying one of these online, because you can't inspect it before you pay for it. If you can find a store with more than one, take a look at them all and find the best one.**

P/u selector is fairly quiet after the problem mentioned above was fixed.

This guitar would definitely withstand live playing. I haven't had any real problems with it staying in tune (don't listen to these people complaining about it never staying in tune -- it's called CHANGING your strings when they're no longer staying in tune). I change my strings every 4 weeks so generally it's always in tune. As long as you don't throw the guitar around into walls and jump on it, it will last. I've had this guitar for a year and I've played the hell out of it and it's barely scratched. I'm very careful about my gear, I guess. I've scratched the metal neck plate (where it bolts on) with my belt, and there's a few scratches and dents in it- but that just gives it character. The strap buttons are very solid- my strap has not fallen off yet. I've played this as my main axe for a year - recently I've upgraded to a Cort Viva Gold. I've depended on it and it's never let me down.

It wouldn't be smart to gig without a backup, but if i had to, i wouldn't be nervous. This guitar is dependable and rough. My main axe is now my Viva Gold, so this guitar is now my backup :P

Limited lifetime warranty

I emailed the company with my first BT2 when i noticed the cracks etc. They replied within 2 days and were very courteous. They gave me some good advice and I took my guitar back and got another one, no questions asked (although that isn't really the company but oh well).

I've been playing for 4 years, but some of my friends have said i sound like i've been playing for longer :)
I own a Cort Viva Gold, a Korg Toneworks AX100G and I play through a Crate GX-65 (1998 model). I also did have an old Fender 30 watt Vibro Champ which sounded great with this guitar. The pickups are fairly high output and on max volume they overdrove the tubes just enough to give you that nice overdriven bluesy/rock tone. I had to give the amp back though, since i only borrowed it :(

If it were stolen, i would get a better guitar - only because i'm not on such a tight budget anymore. I'm now saving up for either a nice Gibson or a high-end Jackson - i haven't decided. If i was on the exact same budget (ie. no money!!) i would definitely get this guitar again - but not the same color (light blue- ugh. black for me :)

I like the placement of the toggle switch- very Les Paul like. It's good that it's away from the other controls - but also it makes long pick slides harder, because your arm will hit the toggle swtich and change p/u's! I like the simplicity of the design as well.

I compared this guitar to some other ones (squiers (ewww), some low-end ibanez's (eww, also) and this one came out on top. For the price, i doubt you could get better (except maybe on a 1/2 price sale or something :)

The guitar is made in Indonesia, which is where most cheaper guitars are assembled anyway. Unless you guy the "American" series or something. It comes loaded with 2 above-average humbucking pickups, rosewood fretboard, and Grover tuners (very, very nice). It's got a stop tailpiece, which I like because it keeps the guitar more in tune than something with a tremolo. The neck is pretty thin, and allows for quick moving from one end to the other. Finish is pretty nice, could be more solid, but definately looks great for something as inexpensive as this!

The sound out of this thing is amazing! (As soon as you replace the factory installed strings and adjust the action.) It's extremely clean. I had problems with a cheap Lotus strat-copy sounding muddy, so I got rid of it and bought this baby. I think I've died and gone to Heaven! It's got a pretty rich and full sound for an electric, and sounds closer to a vintage Les Paul than many other models I've played of similar guitars. The sound is not muddy at all, and sounds great and full in both clean an distorted channels!

The action setup at the factory sucks! BUT IT'S FIXABLE! At first most of the strings buzz against for frets, but all you need to do is raise the bridge and possibly play with the truss rod a little bit. After a few minutes of dinking around, I got all the buzzing out! Now it plays great! You also may have to adjust the pickup height, as they come set fairly low. However, this is a very simple fix and should take no more than a few seconds to set.

Are you kidding? You could drop this thing down the stairs at a Rage concert, bash people over the head with it, and set it under your anvil... and it would still play! The tuners on this thing are amazing. Probably the best factory sent tuners I've ever seen. The only problem is that they're loose upon arrival. You should tighten them as soon as you can, because they'll rattle if you don't. After that though, the guitar stays in tune pretty well, even after a lot of bending and stuff.

I've never had to deal with the company, thankfully.

I've been playing for about 4 years now, and I love this guitar! It's my main axe, I don't even use a backup with it (although I probably should anyway). It's extremely reliable, very versatile, and plays and sounds like a dream come true! If you're looking for a very nice guitar for the money, check out the Washburn BT-2!

It has 22 frets, H/H pickups, 3-way toggle switch, passive electronics, tune-o-matic bridge, Grover tuners, and a beautiful cherry sunburst finish.

This guitar is very nice for the price. I am into alternative, hard rock, and blues, and it suits me very nicely. I have heard it through several amps, and it always sounds great. There is no hum to it. It is a little bassy on the top setting and really twangy on the bottom, but very versitile. It has a very rich sound to it. It is awesome.

Honestly, the guitar was set up very poorly at the factory. Like all the others, the tuners were extremely loose and it went out of tune if you looked at it wrong. The strings were horrible, and the neck and bridge needed adjusted. However, with about 15 minutes of work, this guitar is great. The finish has a few bubbles in it under the bridge but it still looks great.

This guitar is will not break. I dropped it on its neck and it didn't even go out of tune. The finish seem like it will last just as long as the rest of it. Everything is solid. As for playing a gig without a backup, I wouldn't do it ever. Something is bound to go wrong, broken string, things like that.

I have dealt with customer support and they were very reliable. They were very willing to help in any way that they were permitted.

I haven't been playing long but I love this guitar. Of everything I have played, I would take it over almost anything, other than a Gibson Les Paul. If it were stolen I would defenitely buy another one. It was well worth what I paid for it!

Same BT as everyone else's here. Just wish I could've gotten the cherry sunburst finish instead of the flat black.

I'm using a crate gfx-15 right now. The sound is fairly bassy and I keep the tone set to 10 on the guitar most of the time. If you use this guitar with a decent amp and effect pedals it can sound pretty nice. I don't have any buzzing or the like either. The sound could be a bit fuller though.

The guitar had some problems when I first got it three years ago, but they were easily fixed. I tightened up the tuners, threw on some ernie ball super slinkys, tightened the nut around the pickup switch, and had to move the bridge pickup to the left so their wasn't a gap to the side of it. I got lucky and didn't have anything major wrong with it. Some complain about the guitar seeming to fight you while you play. If you VERY carefully sand the polyurethane off the neck with a very fine grit paper you can drastically increase the speed of play along the neck. Just be VERY careful not to take off more than needed.

Guitar is pretty tough, the finish is thick, and it feels pretty solid except for that damn toggle switch. The black screws have oxidized a bit too.

Never had to deal with them.

I have been playing about four years now and recommend this as a good guitar for beginners, but beware as the BT2 you get may not be as problem free as mine is.

22 fret, thin neck, 1 tone, 1 volume, maverick series, rosewood fingerboard, grover tuners, stop tailpiece, H/H config., 3-way toggle.
I really wish they would have put audio taper pots on here instead of the linear. I have no idea when this was made... got it about 2 years ago (which would be 1998).

This guitar does not suit my style. The humbuckers seem to be adjusted to be versatile, but end up making everything sound horrible. Try as I might, I cannot get a decent sound out of them. I adjust the height, EQ, and everything you can think of, but to no avail. I am also puzzled by the fact that you pick it up from the stand and put it into playing position and it goes out of tune. This is amazing - I've never seen anything like this. I favor playing 80's rock and roll, hard rock, and stuff in the syle that the band Live plays. This thing just tries to make too many different sounds.

The action was actually set up fairly well. The tuners, which seems to be the case with these, were loose and went out of tune every time I touched a string. I tightened them up and so far tuning problems have decreased, but it still requires occasional tightening. Other than this the only things I found wrong were a loosened nut around the toggle, and glue on the fretboard.

This monstrosity will last forever.

never dealt with em

I've been playing for 6 years. I don't know why I still have this guitar. Maybe keep it for one of those on-stage smashings. If it were stolen I'd laugh at the effort spent by the person that stole it. I simply do not like this guitar... the sound, the tuning problems, the sharp frets, everything. This is not worth your time or money.

Features were good although the pickups could be changed and the strings were of poor qualilty. the grover tuners were of most part,not tightened at the factory. I had to do some work on it myself and get it to where I wanted it. But for a first time guitarist, these features might end up overlooked.

The sound I got from it after the work was as close as a gibson epiphone. I let some first time guitar players hear it and they say that they don't get the sound from other guitars like this one. I play the jazz/blues style and with a wah pedal, there's nothing smoother sounding. I play it through a Peavey Bandit 112, and the sound is clear and I still get that high-end crunch.

I loved it at first site. The cherry sunburst finish was an eye-catcher. The contour of the body was sleek and it keeps you off the mind of all those other fender look-alikes. The many different colors offer you your preference but all of them look good. I ahve to say............ " UNIQUE IN IT"S OWN CLASS"

I have had it for Two years and the only thing wrong with it is the button broke at the top of the guitar, but that was because it was mishandled. Yet I haven't figured out a good use for it.I have no gig bag and the transportation from home to wherever I am goin, doesn't put it out of tune or scratch it up. As all guitars, it needs a little polishing every now and then.

I got the button replacement and the people were very friendly but not quite sure of why I wanted it so bad. It is just that the guitar is original so it needs it's original components.

I have been playin for two years and from beginning until the end, this guitar was by my side. I considered it the best around. I have another Fender, and I haven't played that one since. Only for home practice. This guitar is great for anyone who wants to try a quality guitar with great sound, features, looks, and an unbeatable price.

H/H pickups, 3-way selector switch, 1 volume, 1 tone, passive electronics, tune-o-matic bridge, nice tuners although they were all loose, thin neck, beautiful sunburst finish. Made in Indonesia, possibly 1999 or 2000. 22 frets. 24-3/4 scale neck.

The sound of this guitar is decent, but only average. Nothing to write home about. I own a Washburn BT-4Q/CS, which blows this guitar away...better sound, playability, etc. I picked this one up because it was cheap ($159 used) hoping to pick up something nice at a ridiculously low price...boy was I disappointed. I got a lemon.

The action is typical of Washburns - TOUGH. The nut slots are cut too high, and there is something about the way they make their necks that just guarantees a stiff, unpleasant feel. It's like you have to fight against the guitar to play it. It came with 10s on, I changed to 9s right away...and I got a nasty surprise. The neck had a little too much relief for my taste, so I proceeded to adjust it. The truss rod was almost virtually immovable. As soon as I put the allen wrench into it and tried to turn it, I felt a sort of spongy resistance, and I heard - I kid you not - a sort of sucking, slurping sound, something like the Elephant Man would have made just before he tried to speak. I have owned more than 15 guitars, cheap and expensive, and I have never heard one make that kind of sick sound in my life. All it would do was move about 2 millimeters in either direction. Needless to say, I didn't make any further attempt to adjust the truss rod after that.

So...I slapped the 9s on, and proceeded to tune the guitar. That is, I ATTEMPTED to tune it. The darn thing wouldn't stay in tune, no matter what I tried. The intonation was fairly decent, and yet, even an open D chord at the 2nd fret sounded horribly out of tune. I have never seen anything like it. Tune the strings so the D chord sounds right, then open G or open E chords sound way out. I was thoroughly disgusted, and returned this miserable excuse for an axe back to the music store the next day.

Hah! I would quit playing out before I ever used this guitar as my main axe. It's a joke. It looks good, sure - but it plays terrible. And watch those sharp frets when you move quickly up the neck! Ouch! And why is it that merely moving the guitar from the guitar stand to playing position causes it to go out of tune?? I play in churches, gospel groups, praise and worship teams, etc. I think this is "the guitar from hell".

Wouldn't even consider keeping it long enough to need it. My other Washburn sounds great, but I had to do some nut filing, truss rod adjustment, bridge work, etc. At least it paid off in that case, but this is a lost case.

If it were stolen or lost, I would rejoice for me, grieve for the unlucky victim. May it find repose in the hands of some novice who doesn't know any better. Once I was 5 years old too.