Washburn BT8

this is just a follow up to a previous review I posted a good while back.(I'm the guy with two of them.) First, I chose the BT8 section because there was no listing for a "Billy T" Both of mine are set neck Billy T's made in Korea. The "6" I gave on the fit and finish was a mistake and should have been a 91/2. While the stock pickups are fine, I have now swapped the pickups on the stock one for Dimarzio Dual Sound. There is an improvement making it sound even better. But as with the other one, in which I put Duncans, the difference is nowhere near major. My new Carvin Belair amp does wonders for both guitars. I also have a 73 Fender Dual Showman, and a Roland Jazz Chorus 120, and the Carvin definitely sounds the best. I now use one of the guitars for slide and it sounds awesome!!( the one with Dimarzio's ) And I didn't have to change the action any at all. I have also bought two bolt neck Billy T's because they can be had for about a hundred bucks on Ebay. I also bought a BT290 in brand new condition, from an individual for $139. It has P90s. It is a great slide guitar, although I gave the seller a hard time for getting his info incorrect, cause he said it was Korean, but was actually Indonesean, and he got the weight wrong too. (mental note, never email anybody concerning anything, 3 hours after you've had oral surgery, and have eaten two Percocets, It's just now a good plan)In my oppinion These are some of the best guitars for the money you will ever find anywhere. I also have been buying BT bodies and building some great guitars. So if you have some BT4 bodies for sale. Please give me a call. Don Phelps 919-362-9463. As I said before in my previous review, These are the most comfortable guitars you will ever wear.

I have 2 of these. Both are Korean, 22 frets, mahogany bodies and necks,with rosewood fingerboards. 1 is red all over with an incredible flawless flamed maple top the other is red all over with an orange sunburst flamed top. I have seen these "tops" refered to by one dealer as a foto flame, but I have checked them out thoroughly and I believe that both are a thin venneer of real maple.Therefore neither has a "real maple cap, or top" both have 2 Duncan Designed humbuckers, three way selector, and tun-o-matic bridge, cream body and neck binding. One vol, one tone. Medium jumbo frets. I bought them from separate music dealers for $200.00 each, used. The offset body is more comfortable than any thing I have ever played strapped on standing up. Both are lighter (weightwise)than most Les Pauls. They both have medium sized necks with a slight "V" contour, and are easy and comfortable to play.

Both my guitars have quite adequate pickups, however, I put USA duncans (59 neck,pearly gates bridge) in one. That guitar does sound better, but the difference is so minor that it doesn't warrant swapping out the other guitar's pickups, in spite of the fact that I have Duncans and Dimarzio's on hand to do it with. The stock pickups are fine. They are completely quiet, and full sounding, and give you ABOUT the same variations soundwise as you will find on a Les Paul.

Both were used and so I did the setup. they both play extreamly well.As far as fit and finish are concerned, this is about as good as you will find coming out of Korea. The overall look of these guitars has brought many positive comments from other guitar players.

I've had no problems so far. Ive owned one for 3 years. They are very well built and solid

Dont know cause I bought them used. Any time I've called Washburn for info, they were helpful

I've been playing for 35 years. I build Strats and Tele's. I buy and sell. so I keep about 40 guitars on hand all the time. This review is done on the perspective of a $2oo.oo Korean guitar. Does It sound and play as good as my Les Paul DC Standard, or my 59 Les paul junior? (a real one,not a re-issue) SHIT NO!!! But do the math!! Both those guitars cost 6 times as much!!! I would give both those Gibsons an "11" but I'd give the Billy T 8's a SOLID 9. And as I said in the beginning, the offset, double cutaway bodied are more comfortable to "wear" than anything I've ever played period. I wish thet had a 9 1/2 rating for this catagory

Made in 1999, In korea. 22 fret laminated top. 2 selectors etc...

It suits my style ok, I guess. I play mostly hard-rock I am running it with a Tech 21 Power Engine 60, a Sansamp GT2, and a DoD Grunge. I use to use this with an old crate gfx-30, and it sounded good at the time. I think the pickups suck on this thing. Since I have gotten this guitar, I have grown alot musical and can tell shit when i hear it. I was thinking about putting in new pickups but read on for the full story... Ill give it a 6 for the sound, (2 if the pickups didnt suck)

The action was setup fine, no fret buzz or anything, pickups were setup high but they fell back into the body after about 2 weeks. I lve the beautiful orange sunburst finish though, hard to see minor scratches. It was setup pretty good when i bought it..

Heres where my problem sits....The selector switch is total garbage. AFter only a month with this thing, it shorted out about 3/4 of the time when i select the bridge pickup(major turnoff) The volume control has also went. Everytime it is turned below 7 it omits a very loud, high, shrill almost scream like noise. Hampers ability to anything other than full blast severely. Also, there is a large fret buzz on the E string, I havent been able to fix it short of just cutting the damned fret off. I didnt abuse this thing and now everything seems to be going on it. I would get it fixed, but there is too much wrong with it and I'd be better off getting a new one.

Never Dealt With

I have been playing for over 5 years. This was my third guitar. As I said before this thing sounded good whenver i bought it, but it's quality went downhill after that. If it were stolen I'd probably laugh at the stupid fucker, then save up for a Washburn BT2QVS. My favorite feature is definetly the striking sunburst finish ala PRS and even some Gibsons. For the price, its a good beginner guitar but not anything more. Who knows, I just could have gotten a flawed guitar from the factory, seeing as not many people here have these problems. All in all get if if you are absolutely desperate, I know i cant count on it anymore.

I have no idea when or where it was made, but my guess is around -99 in Taiwan och Korea. 22 frets, 1 volume, one tone knob and a 3-way switch to switch between the two passive humbuckers.
The style is somewhere between a Strat and Eddie Van Halens Wolfgang signature. Nice red kind of flamed top ond Grover tuning.
When I bought it I didn't get any extras. No gig bag no nothing. Which was kinda cheap since the guitars kost a lot more in Sweden than in the US. The original price on this one was about 749 dollar but I got it on sale.

This guitar suits my music style real well. I am an allround guitarist and I play both blues and death metal, and I must say that this guitar handles it very good. When i play blues I only uses my guitar and my amp (a Laney Chrome-O-Zone) and sometimes my Bad Horsie wah-wah and in my darker moments I also use a Danelectro FabTone distortion pedal.
One thing I've had a problem with is that the pickups likes to make a lot of noise while I ain't playing. It's very irritating.
But overall it's a very good guitar that you can play most styles in music with.

I had a problem with one of the humbuckers when I first got it. Sometimes it worked great while other times it could go silent. But I got that fixed on the warranty.
And, to my surprise, the Gover tuning pegs were kind of bad.

I have played some live shows with this guitar and so far I haven't had any problems with it other than it likes to go out of tune now and then. The finish is still good after a year of playing so it lokks like new. I allways use this guitar on gigs without a backup since I haven't got any other guitar. But I trust it so even if I had another one I wouldn't bother taking it along also.

I got a 1 year warranty and I've used it one time and there was no problem at all. So the place I got it from was real good.

I've had this guitar for about one year now and it's still in perfekt condition. But there are better guitars than this one, but not at the same price. Before this one I had a Fender Tele and I had all kinds of problem with it, but not with this one.
If it was stolen I wouldn't buy the same guitar again since I'm trying to sell it allready in favor of a new guitar. I don't like to have a guitar for too long since I often play different kinds of music styles. But this one is an real allaround guitar.

So if you're in to many different styles of music and only can afford one guitar, I say that this is the guitar you're looking for.

This guitar was made in Korea, and has 22 frets. Not sure about the year, serial # is 7120144, you can figure it out if you want. Laminate top, and is a dark red on the edges, but more orange in the middle. This guitar has one volume and one tone control. Washburn-Duncan hybrid pick-ups and grover tuners...nice. Body is mahogany, and the neck is probably maple. I'm just going from my dad, who knows about wood. 2 pickups and a three way switch. Mine came with a strap, but only because of some Christmas sale. This guitar is a Paul Reed Smith copy down to everything besides the head. Very nice. I could not ask for more in this category.

This guitar suites my style perfectly, which is all styles of rock and a little country. I'm starting to get into jazz a little, and though I can't play much of it, this guitar can get a nice jazzy tone. I'm using this with an Ibanez GT-10 practice amp, which is not exactly a quality amp or anything, but it still sounds awesome. It's not really noisy at all on any settings, except a little on distortion. The sound is very rich and very bright, but really only if you want it to be. If you mess around with the tone knob, you can get anywhere from muffled to bright. It's a very versatile guitar and can make a lot of different sounds, you can cover the whole spectrum of rock with it pretty easily. I haven't heard a song yet that I can't duplicate almost perfectly with this guitars. I have no dislikes whatsoever about it, it's perfect (for me anyway)

Let's go down the list.
-It was set up fine from the factory, I haven't needed to mess around with the action at all.

-Nothing wrong with the pickups, they are fine.

- yes properly bookmatched top, yes properly routed bridge.

-other than being a little dusty this guitar has no major flaws.

I have played this guitar live before small audiences and it holds out fine. The hardware will definently last, this guitar is already several years old, and in perfect condition. The only problem I have had is the nut that holds the input jack in place popped off....yeah that brought it down a little. The guy at the shop fixed it for me in about 5 minutes and I haven't had a problem since. The finish will last FOREVER no shit. The strap buttons have not so much as jiggled in the time I have owned this instrument. I could depend on this guitar easily. Last of all, if I had to, I'd play this without a backup. I'm not worried about the guitar, but the quality of it won't help much if the strings break or something. It gets a nine from me because of the nut incident.

I have no experience with Washburn.

I have only played one year, and I own a Washburn D-8 accoustic guitar. You might want to discredit me now, especially because I gave the BT-8 almost all tens, but my guitar teach is almost thirty, and has been playing for at least 15 years. He agrees with me on everything I have said. The guy I bought it from has played even longer. Trust me, I am not over exagerating anything. This is a really fucking (please excuse the profanity) sweet guitar!!! I don't see how it's possible to lose a guitar, but if it were stolen it would be a dark day for whoever did it. I would buy it again. Other guitars I have played are a used american fat strat, an ibanez RG something-or-other, a peavey detonator, some shitty squire. This guitar beats the hell out of the other guitars, yes even the fat strat. Buy this guitar, and send me money for recommending it.

I'm not sure what year this guitar was made, I believe it was made in Korea, the BT-8 was discontinued, so the info isn't on the website. 2 frets, solid top that is dark orange around the edge and fades to a lighter orange in the middle. Grover tuners and some kind of washburn pickups. It has two pickups, one volume and one tone knob. Body style is sort of strat-like but not really. Non locking tuners.

It would be cool if it had a middle pickup and maybe a sepperate volume control for each pick-up. Still gets an eight from me.

I play mostly power-chord type rock, but also some other stuff. A litte clapton, r.e.m., some older classic rock songs that just stick out in my mind, DMB. It sounds very nice for all of them. I can get just about any sound of it. I last used it with a roland amp and an ibanez distortion pedal. When the distortion is really heavy, individual notes are kind of loud. It really does have a nice sound, but it's a little wimpy when it's clean.

The action on this guitar is great, it was designed very well. No manufacturing flaws that I have found. Very pretty red-orange color, Grover tuners, so it stays in tune nicely. Great guitar.

Well I haven't flung it against the wall or anything, but I have bumped it a few times and it's pretty solid. The strap buttons are very solid, I'm not worried about them coming loose. I can definently depend on it, and I'd use it without a back-up if I had to, but it's always a good idea to have a back-up.

I bought it used and didn't get a warranty. I haven't had the need to call Washburn about it yet, so I can't comment on ths.

All in all this is a great guitar. It was a real steal at 310.00, which is what it came out to w/tax. I even got a strap for free with it. Hooray. Buy it! It's a great guitar that I would recommend to anyone. If someone stole it I would publicly castrate them. I seriously would compare it to an american series fat strat I played at a different shop, the BT-8 sounded better. Buy this guitar now, or Satan will come to your house.

this guitar was made in 2000, i belive in korea (cost?), it has 22 frets and a solid flame maple top over a mahogany back, the neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard and grover tuners (read: the best) are nestled nicely on the machine head, 1 volume, 1 tone, 3 way selecter, dual humbuckers a transparent metalic clear finish over a red stain, which looks absolutly amazing, rivaling even some of the best of PRS, tunomatic bridge, stop tail, no tremelo (on mine, i belive it's available) nylon nut

musically i couldn't ask for much more in a guitar, perhaps individual volumes per pickup, but there is no noise, it is capable of a very bright and a very mellow sound, and the pickups run hot enough to give a nice edge, but lack when trying to shred, you want metal buy another guitar, this one wasn't made for metal, it was made to sing

luckily the shop i bought this guitar from had a full intonation, action, and other such final touches setup before i got there, although i was told from the factory it wasn't superb (which is to be expected), the finish is flawless, and beautiful...not to mention hard as a rock, this guitar could easily play live, even without a backup

so far so good, but time will tell, i've had it for 6 months now and the only problem i've come across was a lose volume switch (which took all of 5 minutes and a small wrench to fix) i'd rate it higher but 6 months for even the cheapest guitar will ussually not tell much, we'll see....

i've been playing for over half my life (not exceptional considering i'm only 17) but have played very few guitars which deliver a better package than this, especially considering the price. i own a 67 gibson les paul and find it cumbersome to play in comparison (not to say it doesn't sound better, then it comes down to style and taste)
if it were stolen i would first cry, second wipe my eyes, and third go out and buy another, the only thing i'd change is locking strap posts (just in case), duncan pickups, a graphite nut, and individual volume control for each pickup

Definitely a 9 rating. Grover tuners, H/H, 3-way selector switch, single volume, single tone. Flame maple top is beautiful. Body is mahogany and i think the bolt-on neck is maple, gotta do my research.

This guitar really suits about any musical style. The wood in the body is awesome. The 600 series washburn pickups, however, are not quite the best. The neck has lots of bass but sounds a bit middy for my taste (in the honky, woofy way). The bridge has nice treble but distortion doesn't get much body. With replacement pickups this baby could be a ten easy, easy, easy: which is why i'm going to replace the pickups. Play it through Line6 flextoneII XL (too many settings but mostly vox, marshall, fender, mesa on occasion) a Crowther audio Hot cake, a Sustain Punch Creamy Dreamer, and soon a sparkle drive with some other effects like my original Whammy and whatever (too many).

Finish on this guitar is see-thru red. It is damn beautiful (red is my favorite color after all)! The finish i am told is a laminate and feels really tough (ie resistant to scrathces, etc.). The neck is excellent. It is thin and reminds me of the fender necks a bit. High frets which is very good and the beefy modern tune-o-matic bridge and stop-tail setup is excellent: very powerful for the sound. I don't like the idea of a 10 for a guitar, but I can't help it: it's just that good.

I haven't tried to trash it for obvious reasons. I have a feeling it's pretty sturdy so on a hunch i'd give it a ten, but having not gigged with it yet i really can't substantiate.

Never dealt with them but the guitar is discontinued.

Overall rating is a 9. Almost perfect and with replacement pickups maybe perfect. Gonna try to get a British blues/rock paf style. Thinking about Duncan's Custom Model bridge (better distortion from ceramic and i could go for some) and Seth lover for neck (clean it up a bit). Oughtta be interesting. I play rock and punk rock myself. A lot of blues and jazz too, and with my Synth friends I like doing techno-ish industrial-ish (barely) rock. For all the above what you need is the right amp and the right pedals (if any). The guitar is awesome though. Bought it from a place going out of business. The guy wanted to sell it to me for list (nearly $800) but my friend negotiated him down to 425, hehehe. Well cya.

I'm not sure exactly where the BT8 was made, but I have heard it was in Korea. It's a beautiful laminate flametop with a heritage cherry sunburst-like color. It's got a 3-way selector with 2 humbuckers which apparently were created in a Duncan-Washburn collaboration. It has a tune-o-matic bridge with a stop tailpiece. It has grover machine heads. 22 frets. One volume and tone control. The body is supposedly a mahogany. The overall guitar looks as if it is a hybridof a PRS and Les Paul.

The sounds is decent. IT fits well into all styles. I like the fat tone for some jazz and the lighter ton for rock. I use a Marshall AVT150H half stack and a numebr of effects including delay, phaser,wah,talk box,octave. It fits well with all the effects. The sounds is overall pretty good. Even though the pickups are a duncan hybrid, I still have a little disliking to them. There is sometimes uneccesary noise, for instance when I turn the volume knob, it makes a weird rubbing noise, which is a turn off. I think in the future the electronics might go out. Its a medium quality guitar. It has many features, but not as high quality to keep price down.

The action, fit and finish are all okay. I'mnot too fond of the pickups. I'm not a mastermind at this part of the guitar so I dont have much to say.

I think the guitar will alst a while, but the quality might slowly go down the crapper. The only gripe I really have are the pickups. The are sorta middle-of-the-road, but this is all understandable because of the price range. It's decent for a beginner. The finish is very good and wil llast long. I can depend on this guitar when I need it, but I plan on buying a new Gibson very soon, but the guitar has been a good friend and in times of need, when cash was low, it was there for me.

N/A

It's a decent, middle'o'the'road guitar for beginners. Wish it had better pickups, because the more I use it, the more it gets worse. EVerything else is really good. I like the body alot. Its a solid guitar. I lovethe price. Its alotta guitar for a little money. I recommend it.

This is a HH set up guitar with a gorgeous flamed laminated top. It is comparable to even the best PRS tops and durable. GROVER TUNERS!! It has 22 frets, three way select, and a tune o matic style bridge. Ive read in many place that the pickups are duncan designed but im not sure. They say "Washburn 600 and 610 in the bridge position. Only lack in features is the single tone control

I play a lot of different styles with this guitar and it handles them all excellently. The main reason I bought it is because of its versatility. The pickups sound real damn fat and the body has EXTREMELY good resonance. You can get a good bright sound too but its strong suit is fatness

This guitar has a very thin neck and plays fast. The fretboard has almost no radius. Every thing was set up fine when I got he guitar and in fact I readjusted it when i put on new strings and i cant make it feel as good as it did when i bought it. The bridge is great and makes changing strings fast and easy. It stays it tune well also

Everything is real solid. I dont even own a case for it

NA

This is a good beginners guitar and can take you well into your playing career. It sounds great and stays in tune. Nough said!