Washburn BT8

I don't know a whole hell of a lot about guitars yet, but this puppy is pretty freakin good. The original H/H pickups were apparently ripped out by the store I got it from, but at least they replaced them with Duncan Designed pickups. It's a very light, easily handled guitar, and has a good fit and feel to it. The strings have a good distance from the frets/fingerboard, and aren't too high or too low (though they are adjustable.) It stays in tune pretty well, though the strings on it right now are rather, shall we say, shitty. The only real problem I had after I got it was with the three way switch. The thing was crap right out of the store, and must be replaced, since I don't enjoy having no sound or a tone I don't want at certain times. Other than that, I haven't found much wrong with it yet, since I've had it for only a month and a half.

Well, being a rather shitty, beginning, ignorant guitar player right now, I'd say that it sounds pretty good. On a clean channel, it doesn't hum, buzz, or any such thing, and has a generally clear, rich sound. I have had others pick it up and tell me that it does sound pretty damn good, so I guess it can't be all that terrible. Again, my only gripe is the 3way switch. The thing is an utter piece of crap, and must be replaced. I can't tell you what this guitar would sound like in its stock form, since when I bought it the store had already done some modifications to it.

I can't say much about factory settings, though the tune-o-matic bridge was a bit offset when I got it. The high string side was set way too low, causing the high E string to rattle, though that was easily fixed by raising it slightly. The guitar is quite smooth, with a very sleek, polished finish. The neck is not jagged at the edges of the frets, and is very well formed and slides easily through the hand. To reiterate for the third damn time, the switch is a piece of trash.

Hey, I've only had it for a month and a half, so I'm not going to say it is the most reliable guitar in the world, yet. The hardware (other than the friggin switch) seems to be pretty high quality, and should last a good long while. It's been quite dependable for a month and a half, though I don't know about its future. As to the finish, that seems to be something you shouldn't have to worry about. There is no pick gaurd, but it doesn't seem to even need one, with the hard, clear finish that it has. I'm somewhat sure it would withstand live playing, though there is no way in hell I would play live yet.

I don't have a warranty with the company, but do have some sort of deal with the place I got it from. They're going to fix my switch, I know this for sure. I am not deluding myself, for I am going to go in there, and say to the guy, "Look, I paid $530 for this, and ye shall fix said guitar, or I shall cram yonder Steinway Piano aloft into thine rectum."

From what I've done with it so far, this is a pretty damn good piece of equipment. I can find few flaws with it, especially in the craftsmanship of the body, neck, etc. I have my worries about the electronics, however. My little problem with the switch may be an indicator of future problems, or it may just be some chaotic occurence, that has nothing to do with the rest of the internals.

This guitar was made in Korea, to keep the price down I suppose. It has 22 frets, which is enough for me, but I'm not a widdle-mad shred freak who likes to crack windows with pitch. : ) I think it's a solid top, with a nice flamed finish. There is one tone control and a volume control. The tone control doesn't alter much, except for if it's all the way to one side, or all the way to the other. Grover machine heads adorn the headstock. Nice.

This guitar quite suits my style, which is bluesyprogaltindierockmetal, don't you know. I'm using it through a solid state marshall practice amp, and it sounds fine. This guitar has fairly noisless switching, and there is only a little buzz from the pickups. With all the bass up, and the neck pickup on, the guitar can make a very satisfying 'whooomph' attack, with a fat sustain. If you're using the bridge pickup, things get very trebley, but still remain fairly clear. I like the sound of this guitar quite a lot

This is what let the guitar down a bit. The action was set a little high, but that's forgivable. The pickups were fine, but the intonation was terrible! The truss rod needed straightening a bit too, because after the action had been lowered, there was a quite a bit of fret buzz when playing on the 12th fret. However, the guitar is finished very nicely. It looks very pretty, and the parts are good. I love the neck too. It's one of the nicest necks I've ever played.

This guitar is 'ard. Nuff said. It's strong and reliable, and strings are damn quick to replace to boot.

I have been playing a mere two years, but I'm fairly advanced for the amount of time I've been playing. This is only my second guitar, but I've played a hell of a lot in the process of choosing it. If it were stolen or lost, yes, I'd buy it again. On this guitar I really love the neck and the raggedness of the sound, it looks nice too. There's not really anything I dislike, except for the setup it came with. I can't really say I'd like to see a tremolo system on this guitar, or anything else for that matter.

2- Duncan Design Humbucking Pickups. 1-Tone, 1-Vol. Grover machines, tune-o-matic style bridge, stop tail piece. The tuners are 3 per side. There isn't much body behind the tailpiece. I assume this was to scale down the cost of the guitar. The one I have is a transparent red flamed maple top w/alder body.

I had been playing a Hondo Formula-I with Carvin C22 pickups on it. I had my AxSys 212 preset with about 6 sounds I use regularly. To be frank, these pickups stink. No drive, bad tone. I was really surprised. I immediately removed the garbage that was in it an put the Carvin's in it. Made a huge difference. I must also mention that this guitar sounds dead. Poor sustain. I'm having it looked into by my guitar tech.

I have'nt seen many guitars come from the factory set up properly. I had to rework the nut and adjust the truss rod. I will probably have the frets fine-tuned also. But I expected this. No biggie. With regard to the finish etc. as with the review earlier, it is virtually flawless. Nice shine, smooth neck, nice looking headstock. The only noticable flaws I saw were where the neck is glued in. I can't pinpoint exactly what it is, but it looks like inconsistancies in the neck and body wood at this joint. Nothing terrible. Just noticable.

I havent gigged with it yet but its seems quite durable and reliable.

Havent dealt with them yet.

I have been playing for about 20 years with many breaks in between. I also have a Hondo Formula-I and a Line-6 AxSys 212. I suppose I wish I would of paid more attention to the lack of sustain and possibly drug my heavy amp to the store to check it out. Its light and has all the features of a classic. If it were stolen I would buy another one but I would be more selective and get one that had better overall tone and sustain. I don't think there is much that can be done about the pickups.

I think that this guitar is korean. It has 22 frets. It has a solid flamed maple top. There is 1 master volume and 1 master tone control. The guitar has 2 duncan designed humbuckers. Washburn says the body is mahogany but it looks like alder to me (whatever it is, it sounds very good). The BT8 has a transparent finish with a wonderful flamed maple top. The top is very good. It is better than any flamed top on a Gibson, and it is comparable to some of the best PRS tops. The body is similar to a strat body, but to me it looks quite similar to a peavey wolfgang. The bridge is a tune-o-matic with a stopbar. It has grover tuners. The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. The neck feels like a Les Paul neck, it is bigger and fatter than a normal strat neck. I would have given this a 10 if there were 2 volume and 2 tone knobs or just 2 volume knobs.

This guitar suits almost any style of music. I use it mostly for instrumental guitar like Steve Vai, but i have used it for a lot of classic rock, heavy metal, punk, and neo classical like Yngwie Malmsteen. It also sounds very nice clean. I use the guitar mostly with a Crate vintage club, a Line 6 flextone, and a Mesa Boogie Mark 4. The guitar has a very full sound. It even sounds good, and quite loud for an electric, even before you plug it in (Once when i was recording, I miked this guitar without plugging it in and on the tape it passed for an acoustic). I love this guitar because with the tone knob turned up, it is sounds very bright, but with the tone down, it is very dark. This is a great sounding guitar.

This category is hard for me to judge because I like my action very low. I got the guitar factory direct and it came set up with the action a little bit lower than a Les Paul. Although that would be considered low by most people, I didn't like that. I took a little bit of time to set the action and got it to just under 2 millimeters. Although this is to low for most people I don't get string buzz because I have a very light touch. The pickups were adjusted properly for where the action was, but I had to adjust them because I had changed the action. As I said before, the top on this guitar is quite amazing. It looks great and is bookmatched very well. To my surprise, when I opened the package the guitar came in, I could not find any flaws in it!

This guitar does withstand live playing. The hardware will definitely last a while. The finish has not worn except for a little on the back of the neck. The strap buttons were nice but I put straplocks on them justy in case. I always have a backup guitar for gigs but I have never had to use it. The guitar is very reliable. This guitar does have very hot pickups and the first time I used the guitar at a very loud volume, I had to lower the pickups because the signal distorted to easily.

The guitar has a lifetime warranty. I have never had a problem with the guitar but the sales rep I talked to was very nice, and spent a lot of time with me.

I have played for 5 years. I also have a Fender standard strat and an Ibanez RG. I prefer to play this guitar over both of the others. I love the neck on this guitar. I guess it feels closest to an Ernie Ball Axis neck. If this guitar had a floyd rose, an arched top, and 2 volume knobs, it would be my dream guitar.