This review is from: Washburn HB Series HB15TSK Electric GuitarLike I said in the title, this is a great guitar! And I mean that. A lot of people will slag on this guitar just because it's a Washburn. While I don't like Washburn guitars that much, I a huge fan of this particular model. It has the look I wanted, plus the sound is thick and warm. It really does sound a lot like those 1920s-1930s "floating pickup" guitars that it is modelled after. The thick neck feels real good in your hands. There are three different versiosn of this guitar. There's another HB-15 that has the volume and tone knobs on the body itself, and then there's an HB-15 with a single cutaway. Personally, I REALLY wanted the knobs on the pickguard, so that's what I bought. The tabacco burst is cool looking. I sanded my guitar's neck and body. The neck's so smooth and the guitar looks older, as if it may actually be from the 1930s. The only other alteration I made was moving the strap peg to the neck. Most guitar snobs I know (and we all know a couple) are surprised to hear that this jazz-box is a Washburn. A comporable guitar will run you $600! The only downsides I've had with my HB-15 is a little buzzing around the fifth fret. I had the fret filed by a luthier (about $10) and haven't had any more buzz since. Oh, it does pay to keep the bridge around the same area, because it can set the intonation off. Washburn's HB-15 is a GREAT guitar for looks, sound, playability, and affordability....
This review is from: Washburn HB Series HB15TSK Electric GuitarThis guitar is wonderful. It's acoustic sound is suprisingly good, and plugged in it's a dream. The neck, the action, and setup were spot on out of the box. It's great looking, too. For a couple hundred bucks and some change, this guitar is an utter bargin! Of course, this guitar is not for everyone. It would probably feed-back in a typical rock band, and it's old-school looks are not exactly fasionable. But for jazz, blues, folk and other forms of music that don't make your ears bleed, this guitar is great. And for the music I play, this guitar is perfect. It's is a keeper....
This review is from: Washburn HB Series HB15TSK Electric GuitarWhen I retooled, I set out to find the 'right' guitar for what I am playing now - 1930's thru 1960's Honky-Tonk, Hillbilly Boogie, early Western Swing and pure form rockabilly. Several years ago I had a Washburn cutaway very similar to this style and had enjoyed it, but found it to be an unnecessary guitar at the time. With that in mind, when I started my search this time that was where I began, and quickly fell into this little beauty! Right out of the box it had the tone and 'vibe' I was looking for. It has that vintage sound rarely found in today's guitars, even without being plugged in. I gave it a run along the neck and was very satisfied, though a little tweaking was in order for my individual playing style. Then I plugged it into my 1938 Supro amp and was very pleased to hear that the mini humbucker - which has an either you like it or you don't reputation - did just what I wanted. It produced a nice warm vintage sound while with just a twist of the knob was able to really honk. (All to often the tone knob doesn't do enough on a budget guitar for a pickup to really 'live'.) Through a modern amp with more balls and tone capability it raps through a whole range of tones and capabilities with ease.The 'touch' of the guitar is also enough vintage to satisfy those of us who learned on the old, cheap classics while being light enough to be a delight to play. A good, strong feeling neck with decent size fret wires feels good. The setup out of the box was fine after just a skootch of tweaking. The floating bridge is something I needed to get used to again and may be a little weak - time will tell. That is what I will watch most. Like all arch tops, until the strings settle in you will have tuning issues. I personally may try a different bridge with metal string saddles somewhere down the road, but am unsure what this would do to the tone, so we will see. Just keep your graphite handy when you string it up with your favorites. The depth of the body is less than the one I had before and fits my frame perfectly. I'm a smaller guy - if you are a big fella, you may want to stay away from this guitar as you'll overwhelm it. Strangely enough for a Washburn, 'robust' is not the word that springs to mind with this guitar either, as most Washburns I've experienced are built like tanks. However solid this guitar is. It's got a vintage feel to it, though not in a cheap or delicate way, more in that 'dependable' way.Looks wise, it has it all going on. Remember: even the vintage guitars were bright and shiny when they were new, as is this one. If you want that 'vintage' look, meaning a guitar that looks 60 or 70 years old - then go out and get one of those old dogs, baby sit it and deal with the problems. If you want a 'vintage' look, meaning a g...
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
»»»Visit Store NOW...
Best price click here