Washburn BT4

New Washburn BT4, H/S/S, tremelo, rosewood fretboard. Grover tuners. Blue finish

Pretty good sound, for a beginner. I installed better pickups, now it sounds great.

Everything was great. I had to adjust the neck a little, but this is to be expected with a shipped guitar.

Good solid hardware, definitely a keeper. I have more expensive guitars but this on is really fun to play.

Hmmm. I haven't had any probs yet. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

A great player, especially for a lower end guitar. Pickups are crap, but that's expected for the price. Install some good ones and you'll be in heaven. Definitely one of the best, cheapest strat copies I've owned.

Not sure of the year, but I got it in a deal in 2000. 22 frets, made of mahogony. The knobs are volume and tone, with a five-way selector switch for the standard S/S/H pickups, and the tuners are Grovers.
It looks like a kind of semi-melted strat (but with a fanned tuning head), which I like a lot - no scratchboard, mine is plain wood finish. Very nice looking.

I like to play varied types of stuff - Bob Marley to Alanis Morrisette to Motorhead - but only to sit and while away an evening. I run it through a Zoom GFX-707 to a Washburn VGA15 amp, which is pretty good for my needs. The sound is nice, you can vary it a bit, and that's always good.

I think Mill Music set the guitar up before they sold it to me, and they did a fine job. The other guy complained about the action, but I've had no hassle with it. It's got an annoying hassle in the selector switch though - flick it into S/S or just S and it'll sometimes cut out. Nothing I couldn't sort out with a soldering iron though.
Mind you, if you so much as LOOK at the tremolo arm, you can forget staying in tune...

Don't use it live, just for my own practise, and it certainly holds up to that well. I'd have no doubts about lugging it about with me (it's followed me across the country with no problems), as it seems fairly sturdy.

If this guitar were stolen, I'd be as gutted as if some low-life had stolen my bike. Having said that, I don't think I'd go out and get another. It's good for learning, but there are much better out there.

22 frets, i think, solid mahogany, i think, standard strat controls, h/s/s rosewood fretboard, some kinda varnished, natural look, its a unique body style, quite attractive, thick neck, to thick for my taste, crap tuners, dont know wat they are, but they dont work, i thikn its a gibson LP neck scale the shorter one.

This sounds terrible, i have never heard a worse guitar. It buzzes incesantly. If it didnt buzz, and had a decent action, i would imagine it owuld be best suited for more rythm orientated styles, certainly not fast lead!!

THis guitar is utter crap. When i brought it home, and opened the box, i couldn;t believe how crap this guitar was set up. The action was about as high as my acoustic, making it virtualy useless for lead playing. Despite this ridiculous action, the frets still buzzed (i can't explain this?.
The body of the guitar was also quite seriously flawed. There was a mother of a dent on the rear of the guitar, bigger than any dent in my 6 yr old gibso LP. There was a scratch along the front of it, and another smallish dent on the headstock.

This guitar is built well for the price. It is quite heacy, and i would feel confident that it wouldnt break or something when dropped. I don't know about the finish, ive never owned a guitar with this type, but is seems ok.
I would, however, never use this guitar live without a backup, infact, i would simply never use it live, this thing cannot stay in tune for more than a couple of seconds.

Don't know

Ive been playing guitar for 8 yrs, and play a gibson les paul studio, and a yamaha pacifica 112. This guitar compares to neither of these. The yamaha is of a similar price, and although it isnt built as solidly, at lest u can play the thing. if this pile of crap wer stoled, i would hunt down the thief, and shake his hand, before buying him an expensive meal. Thats how much this guitar sucks. The only nice thing about this guitar is the way it looks, so maybe i would lke it back to customise it and make it look more pretty, but i would never want to play it again.
i don't know if this guitar is a faulty one or if all are like this, and i dont care, i am curently trying to sell it.

i got it in 1998, made in some forign country, 22 fret neck, bolt on, very thin. solid top, 1 tone 1 volume 5 way selector, s/s/H, stock pickups passive electronics, some deep dark brown wood for the body(i took off the black finish and made it natural. its a nice looking wood.) lopsided strat body with a non locking tremlo(strat style), grover sealed tuners (very nice once you tighten them) kinda wide neck. i would have loved this guitar if it had just had a floyd rose.

I play blues, punk, metal, ska, reggae and jazz. this guitar is very versitile, the neck pickup is very warm and good for blues, but its kinda quiet. the middle pickup, in conjuction with the neck is nice, and it makes the neck louder. the bridge pickup is a very hot, bright humbucker (open coil). its great for clean stuff (reggae, blues) but lately its been screeching allot when i use distortion, which shows signs that maybe i need to replace it although i live its sound clean!

when i got it, the action was sky high (i was a beginner and didnt know i could adjust it) and that was good cuz it made my hands strong now. the finish was ver neat, as i said, the tuners were loose and went out of tune if you touched the headstock. i live in hawaii where it rains 200 inches a year, so its expected that the pickups and hardware are rusting, hell my gibson is starting to rust to, cant stop it. the tone knob is really loose and i scratched the old finish fixing it.

I've played it live many times, it holds up well, the hardware seems to be very good but the volume/tone knobs and the pickups are kinda iffy. the finish is thicker than a rhino's ass. i was sanding forever! the neck is kinda starting to distort and bow but im gonna try and adjust the truss rod. the strap buttons fell off cuz i abused them by tightening them to much but a little elmers glue fixed that. after a few songs it is usually out of tune, but not horribly. i wouldnt use it without a backup though. this is my backup to my gibson sg

never had to deal with the company but now that i know that it has a lifetime warranty, im gonna get the knobs and neck fixed. the bolt on the input jack cracked in half on the inside but i just pulled it out and tightened the outer one so the jack sticks out like a quarter inch but its fine

I've been playing around 4 years, and i own a Gibson SG special and a yamaha 310 accoustic.
The Bt4 is no Prs, thats for sure, but for a good guitar to tinker with as a beginner, its great. i've never played a better guitar in this price range. if it was stolen or lost NOW, i would probably buy a standard telecaster or this other washburn Music exchange has with a Floyd rose. I love this guitar, and it play exeptionally nice for its price, and heald up to all my beatings, so it must be made well. it sounds and feels nice but i've just had a few problems with it. (some i think i caused myself like the neck thing)

it has 2 single coils up front and a hombucker on the bridge. grover tuners and a nonlocking trmelo. solid body electric. 22 frets. i think a mahogany body but dont really know. a very smooth nice feeling neck. tune o matic bridge. rosewood fretboard. i bought a tobacco sunburst color pretty cool. the body style is kind of a mishaped strat i think its better. 5 way selector and a tone and volume control.

i like the blues so this may not be the best guitar but it does its duty and very well if you ask me. albert king played a flying V i aint seeing nobody complainin bout him. a nice bright sound. full sound. i play it through a vox. i like it a lot.

nope nothing bad at all. a true work of art. i didnt have to due any thing at all

i dont know hasnt broken yet

thank god i havent had to

ive been plaing for a year and a half. i love everything about it but if it died i would probably want something more along the lines of a casino

Bought it new, had to be special-ordered because it's left-handed, so I got it right out of the factory. 22-fret rosewood fingerboard, inlays on the side. Maple neck & headstock, mahogany body w/ solid quilted maple top. S/S/H pickup config. Kind of a rounded Strat body style, I really like it. Fulcrum tremelo. Grover non-locking tuners. Really thin & speedy neck. Also got a BD-25 amp, gig bag, cable, picks, strap, basically anything I wanted. Master volume & tone and 5-way switch. Made in Indonesia, I think.

Suits my style well. I play anything from the Eagles and CCR to heavy, power-chord stuff. Play it through the BD-25 (great little practice amp) mainly, Crate combo on occasion. Low e string buzzes on occasion if it gets to a certain tuning situation. Bright sound. Played with bridge humbucker or bridge humbucker and middle single(my favorite, get a little more bite) can get a nice rock sound, sounds almost acoustic with only neck single on. Excellent overall.

Set-up fine when I got it, but the store did some work on it first so I don't know how it was out of the factory. Pickups were fine. I got it in perfect condition, but, again, the store did some work on it first. The paint is the most beautiful paint job I have ever seen. Cherry-sunburst (yellow center fading to red edges) on the quilted rock-top is great.

Seems solid. Feels like it's built like a tank. No pickguard, so the finish has been beat up pretty well with my hard playing, but no easily visible scratches as of yet. I would depend on it, but I would definitely carry a back-up because the tremelo worries me.

Lifetime warranty except on wearable parts (frets, finish, etc.). Haven't had to use it yet, though.

I've been playing for about 6 months, so I know I'm not that experienced. I play for at least an hour or two a day, though, so I've gotten to know this guitar pretty well. If you're laughing at the price, don't. The list price for the left-handed model is close to $500 by itself, and I got the amp, gig bag, strap, cable, picks, etc. for that price. It's expensive being a lefty. I would definitely buy it again if some other lefty (as if there are any other lefties on the planet) stole it. Stealing is bad! I compared it to a Mexican Strat and a Squier Strat (just for kicks) and this one just caught my eye and I really liked it. Plus, I like the humbucker, don't have that on a Strat. I do wish it had a locking tremelo or just a stop tailpiece. And I also would have liked locking Sperzels, but you can't have everything. I might put them on myself someday anyway. I love the pickup combo, the fast neck, the paint job, and the low string action.

Made in Indonesia 1999.
Pickups: S/S/H Sealed chrom tuners. Medium flat neck, rosewood fretboard Black glossy finish

General purpose classic rock and blues chord playing. I use a Peavey Audition 110 (25W) amp. I has a nice range of sounds, but I mostly use the neck pickup. Also I mostly use the amplifier "clean" channel.

The 5 position switch acted flakey, but it only needed to have the two outside screws tightened. Now it's fine. The action and intonation were a big mess and I spent 6 hours adjusting it. The paint had problems near the pickup cut-outs. The yellew primer was visible. I touched it up rather than send it back to American Musical Supply, using a black paint-pen. The neck is true and everything else is solid. The plastic casings for the pickups have begun to wear from the pick scraping them. The rosewood on the neck is low quality because it shows white streaks that cannot be hidden even when oiled.

It will probably last a long time, but will show wear quickly.

Lifetime warranty. If you have the time and patience to pursue it.

It's a nicely styled versatile guitar for the price. I have only been playing now and then for 5 years. If I lost it I would get an Epiphone humbucker thing or a Telecaster. I since have bought an american Stratocaster and use the BT-4 for open G tuning only. This guitar is better suited for rhythm than lead solos.

I don't know much about the woods and what not. The pikcups are stock, probably made by Washburn. The neck is a bit thick for my liking and not very fast or smoothe, in my opinion. The tuners are covered Grovers. It has very junky fulcrum tremelo that makes your guitar go out of tune like crazy, even when the bar is not in! I plan to add two more springs to the tremelo or just block it off. The body is similar to a Stratocaster, but smaller. I got a Washburn hardshell case for $80. The pickups are fairly high off the body, compared to other guitars, which can cause problems if you aren't used to that set up.

I play a wide variety of music from Beatles, to Hendrix, to RHCP, to Nirvana and it really doesn't work great for any of them, but gets the job done good enough. I play usually play through a DigiTech RP-7 into a Crate GFX-212 or an Estey, vintage 12" tube amp. Clean, this guitar sounds okay. Man, when I play through the tube with the neck pickup I get the sweetest, acoustic like sound. Not the greatest with distortion, the guitar sound almost like a toy or something. I only use pickup selections 1 and 5, anything in between just doesn't suit me.
The pickups, despite their height, aren't very high output, even with the humbucker. My friend a has Squier Affinity Series Stratocaster and it has higher output than this. I guess it is good for the price.

Uggg!!! The factory set-up was horrible! The strings buzzeed like crazy and the low E sting is WAY to bassy. I fixed the buzzing, but the low E is still way to bassy and you can't hear many of the other string over it a lot of the time. Plus, the low E seems to buzz when played above the 10th fret or so.
Like I said, this is the worst tremelo I have ever encountered. If you buy this guitar, just do yourself a favor and block the tremlo off.
The plastic parts on this guitar are cheap and won't hold up.
The finish is okay, but this guitar definitely isn't what I would consider to be rock solid.

I suppose this would hold up live, but I wouldn't use it unless I wanted that sweet sound from the neck pickup. The hardware looks solid and should hold up. Strap buttons are solid.

I have never dealt with Washburn. However, Swap-Shop is very good, alothough they take a while to reply via e-mail.

I have been playing for a couple years and I don't reccomend this guitar to anyone. Do yourself a favor and buy a Fender.

22-frets, on a fiveway selector with 1-1-2 pickup configuration. Maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. The only thing I would've liked to ship with is a cut switch, and a locking nut. (But I have yet to find a guitar that ships with a locking 1-way trem). But that would jack the price a bit :( I really like the playability of the neck on this thing. Compound radius neck, heavily cut away at the top for easy access to the top frets.

Well, I'm one of those people that believes about 98% of tone comes from a good amplifier. But that 2% of guitar is very important. It's like the guitar is your "face", while the amplifier is the mask you wear. If you've got a face like a horse, well... :) I ended up playing about 20 guitars through a marshall stack when I happened on this guitar. To me, only the American Strat sounded better clean, and only the Jackson Soloist had better kick. And definately, none of them felt as good to my hands.
I sure was surprised that the cheapest guitar around happened to be my favorite.

Workmanship is acceptably good. Not like there's glue on the fretboard or anything. I remember once that crap like that kept me from getting a $1000 Yamaha Pacifica. But, at any rate, I can't complain. Parts are solid, the wires were intact. Not that there's anything excessively complex with this model.

It's still new to me, so I haven't road tested it. I have, however, taken it apart, and it seems fairly good to me. No anticipated problems.

Never dealt with Washburn directly.

I've been playing guitar for about 5-8 years? Who keeps track? Anyways, awesome guitar. For $150 you can't go wrong. I sure was surprised when this one came out as my favorite out of all the guitars I've ever played. Well. Except one. (Slightly out of my price range, at 3 grand :)

My guitar was made in Indonesia. I got it in October of 98. It cost $160. Its jet black. The pickups are single, single, humbucker. The neck has a dark colored wood. The finish is non-transparent. Its double cutaway. And the great thing about it is it isnt just another strat copy. Its unique. Theres no pickguard (that doesnt matter. Theres a whammy bar, I never use. It goes out of tune alot, but dont all guitars. Nice size fretboard.

I play all kinds of stuff, and it serves my pupose. The circuits sometime screw up and I get that anoying static. But its a great guitar for the money and not for the money.

Every thing fine here except it has a moderate amount of fret buzz. But that might just be my playing.

All good here. It wouldve nice to have a seperate volume and tone nob for each pick-up.

??????? Never needed any!!

This reveiw might not sound so great, but its a great guitar. Get it if you dont have alot of money.