Washburn Boogie Street M-20 Instigator

Washburn instigater from Boogiestreet, an Awesome axe. It has a pretty slim nuck in both dimensions, decent sized frets, string thru bdy with a Tone Pros bridge, Buzz feiten tuning system, ebony board, mother of pearl and abalone inlays, volume and tone knob........the pickups are duncan 59 in the neck and a Scott Ian el diablo bridge......i believe it has 24 frets and a set neck. The finish is transparent blue over a quilt maple top, the shape of the body is absolutely bizarre and I LOVE that since almost no one I know owns it. I rated this a 9 because there isnt access to each and every fret and the guitar case weighs as much as a tabk, but the case is hardly an issue. The guitar is extremely light weight and is very small but dont let that discourage, it holds up VERY VERY well..........oh and theres only 50 around, I own No.49

How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?

it suits metal and funk and blues very well for me, hell it suits Downtunings great as well. I enjoy using this guitar for alot of styles ranging from grind to death metal to alternative and blues. The Diablo cleans up VERY well for its power and it provides all the crunch and harmonic you need.

What amps and effects are you using it with?

I use no effects, just a Vox 30 watt

Is it noisy? On what settings?

The guitar us noisy only when you play it haha, if you leave the guitar and amp on it doesnt give much feedback if any

Rich/Full sound? Bright sound?

This guitar sustains great, its somewhat bright but it packs alot of warmth and chunk as well. Its a very well balanced guitar, the Diablo is high output for metal but not TOO high output for certain cleans and it goes very well with the 59. The guitars mahogany which gives it the chunk and warmth however the maple top and ebony fingerboard really give it some extra life, brightness and clarity. This guitar can do alot if you get passed the fact that its shaped like a metal guitar.

What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety?

as stated before, a wide variety. I play metal, I play some grindcore, down tunings, standard tunings, Blues, Funk, alternative, oldschool rock you name it. This guitar does it all well if you know what youre doing.

Likes and dislikes?

I like just about everything about the guitar however the scott ian pickup sounds much better for rythms than leads though it still works fine for leads. Because I mainly lay leads, thats my only gripe but its a very very small gripe since the pickup still sounds great anyway.

This guitar is FAST, very low action, but its just right. I can find any flaws really with the action. It has a slim neck that isnt too slim so it can handle leads and rythms well and well it has an Ebony board.The neck and all can handle the brightness of the pickups, Boogiesteet and Washburn did a great job here. Only problem is that it has a set neck so you cant reach all the frets, if it were neck through it would be perfect.

This guitar can take a beating, ive bumped it etc...etc.. still no dings. The strap buttons arent locking however my strap has yet to fall off. Im positive this axe can handle live playing, but can the audience handle the sexiness of the blue quilt under stage lighting? lol........This guitar is Very Very reliable in every which way, only thing is it has the Feiten tuning system, which takes a tiny bit of getting used to since it seems like it only holds tune if your guitar is tuned correctly but the systems GREAT. I could probably gig this one without a backup though im not sure if its smart to do that with any guitar as accidents happen (broken strings etc)

Generally cant say how boogiestreet is since i never really spoke to them or had any issues however it came in great condition and they threw in a T-shirt and two pictures both signed by Eric Mckenna and Nick Cantanese, some picks, a small cord, an allen wrench, a certificate of authenticity, a business card etc which was awesome.

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

Ive been playing 4 years, and I own an SG and some acoustics haha........The Instigator slays any other import ive played and also my USA SG special

Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar?

Nahh, the guitars effing great

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

I'd def buy this again but since theres only 50 available its possible these guys would be gone, in that case id save for a USA dean

What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?

I love 99% of everything, only gripe is the bridge pickup handles rythms better than leads but that doesnt bug me much, I can still do the crazy leads on it. Favorite feature? hard to choose, either the sustain, size of it or the ebony board.
Did you compare it to other guitars? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?

Anything you wish it had?

I think its fine the way it is unless you REALLY need the pickup to produce SEARING leads. The leads are still good anyway though they can be a tad bit hotter. I only would prefer that it were neckthru but hey different stokes different folks right? some might even prefer bolt ons.

Anything else you'd like to share?

The guitar us simply awesome, and its rare to find a guitar of this shape and of this caliber since its an import guitar. The guitar is very unique and takes on a personality of its own because of that. This shape hasnt been in use by washburn since I believe the 80's so get yours soon since they wont be so easy to get ahold of once theyre gone again.

Only 50 made
Mahogany body with Quilted Maple top in deep blue translucent finish
Mahogony set-neck
Ebony fret board
24 frets
Mother of pearl/Abalone inlays with Mother of Pearl Devil on 1st fret
String through Tone Pro bridge
Grover 6 in-line tuners
USA Seymour Duncan El Diablo bridge pickup
Seymour Duncan '59 pickup in the neck pickup
one volume, one tone, three-way selector
Comes with Hard Shell Case

It is all there! This is a re-release of the 80's Washburn HM-20V put out by Boogie Street Guitars. They work with washburn to produce limited runs of custom guitars. The body shape is an explorer/ML hybrid. DEFINATLY agressive. The headstock is similar to an ESP pointed headstock with a quilted maple top painted to match the body. The inlay work is increadible! The inlays are rectangular blocks cut on the diagonal, half mother of pearl, half abalone with the 12th and 24th frets solid abalone. the inlay on the first fret is the Boogie Street Guitars logo, the Boogieman (the inaly looks like a devil with a pitchfork wearing a top hat). The ebony fingerboard is a nice thing to have, ill take that over rosewood any day. The finish is BEAUTIFUL! it is a DEEP blue on a heavily quilted maple top with full black binding and black hardware. The reason I gave this an 8 is because of the one volume control. It isnt really a big deal, but i roll back the neck volume and use my selector switch as a "killswitch". i just have to get used to rolling back my volume between songs. also bumped off points because it is not available with a floyed rose trem. my only other complaint in freatures is that the case is lined in a lepord print patern. it is a great locking hardshell, fitted case, but the leapord print inside isnt my thing haha. but these are things i can live with!

this thing is METAL. My band plays a mix of Hardcore metal/thrash metal/death metal and this guitar suits it perfectly. the El Diablo is a HOT pickup, hotter than my schecter's EMG's that has alot of high end and plenty of low end. When i first played this in the band setting, it beefed up alot of our songs, which made it sound that much more brutal without losing the crispness of the tone. this is a USA Duncan so you know its sick. the '59 turns out some sweet clean tones for when you need to clean it up or throw in that interlude. the body is the same size as the priginal HM-20V, but a bit thicker so it adds more tone. I'm running it through a Line-6 spyder II on the metal setting (which replicates the Mesa Boogie Tripple rectifier) and it sounds BRUTAL! as far as versitility, the '59 off sets the El Diable well as far as range goes in tones.

It came to me in set up GREAT. the action was low enough for me to cook all day, but high enough that there is no buzz. the pickups were about 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch away from the strings, which is right where they are supposed to be (well where i like them. i get as close as possible without getting buzz.) the guitar contained no flaws in the finish or anywhere else! see customer support for a few more details in this...

this guitar is SOLID! it is light, but doesnt feel like it will break. this thing will defiantly last and i have confidence that it can take a hit. i play some hard metal and am ALWAYS thrashign around, jumping around, heabanging and losing it when we play and it can take it all. even a knock by the headstock of a bassist who isnt paying attention! i would ALWAYS have a backup guitar no matter what situation im in, but i dont think i will need one!

ok, here is where it gets interesting... ill start by saying it comes with a Washburn lifetime warranty. now on to the interesting part!

when i first reieved my FIRST M-20 (number 48 of 50) there was a crack in the finish and the action was not set at all, it needed fret work and i was unimpressed. well i emailed the owner directly that night at around 10:30 PM. when i woke up the next morning i had an email from him at 6:30 AM. He said that the situation was unnacceptable for him. he put a call tag on the guitar i had and selected and inspected another M-20 PERSONALLY aswell as having it set up PERFECTLY and had it shipped that day with a call tag on the one i currently had. I recieved my new guitar 3 days later (number 47 of 50). i have been in contact with the OWNER of Boogie Street Custom Guitars directly and Eric McKenna is by far the BEST person to deal with in any customer service situation. i have NEVER recieved service this good. if i could give them anyting higher than a 10 i would.

I have been playing for about 8 years. i own a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser, a B.C Rich NJ Warlock (floyed rose) with duncan invaders, a platinum B.C Rich Warlock with EMG's, a Marshal GFX50 112 amp as a praactice amp, i run a Line-6 Spyder II as my playing amp. i have owned numerous other BC Riches, Electra Westone phoenix, some washburn super strat. i purchased my Schecter C-1 OVER a les paul, and this has REPLACED my C-1 as my main guitar!