• Yeah, but...

  
  As reviewed by Jeff on 1/17/2011

  The guitar is actually pretty well made and sounds pretty good. A bit tinny maybe but that's a travel guitar for you. The scale is full length which is nice, so they had to give up body behind the bridge. The big difference between this and other travel guitars, and acoustic guitars in general, is fret access. You can reach ALL the frets because of the generous cutaway at the point where the neck and body meet. Well, not cutaway really, they joined the body to the neck between frets 15 and 16. But the net effect is: reach every fret easily. Huge bonus. The fretboard has binding all the way around it and they seemed to have used quality tuners because it stays in tune quite well. They even included a truss rod key and clear instructions on how to do the adjustments properly, and the truss rod is easily accessible through the sound hole. No truss rod cover to mess with. The case is well made, compact, well padded. Passes TSA requirements for a carry-on bag. Great so far. On the downside, the strap came without one of the ends being glued properly, as though there were supposed to have been two ingredients for the glue to work and they had only applied one ingredient. I had to glue it together myself. And I don't know if it's the glue they chose to use or what, but the whole thing smells a little like gasoline. Also the guitar is neck heavy, with the entire guitar's center of gravity being around the 11th fret of the neck, and that fact, combined with the fact that the cut for your leg is where it is, makes it kind of hard to find a comfortable position to play in. Put it on your right leg and it feels like your right arm is way out behind you, and your left arm will start to crowd your body as you get to the upper frets. Put it on your left leg and it feels like there's a mile and a half of neck out in front of you. Also it would've been good to have two pegs for the strap. Instead you have to tie the neck end of the strap to the neck behind the nut. Also, you know that feeling when you hit a baseball with the funny side of a bat and it sort of shocks your hand and leaves it numb? You'll get that with this guitar after just a half hour or so of playing. Or maybe I just got a bad luck of the draw with this particular guitar. I can only play it for short periods of time before numbing out and have to put it down for awhile. Normally, I can play for 4 hours straight without any problem whatsoever, but this one is hard to play for long without the shock. Overall, well done. I would've gotten a baby Taylor if they had sold it with a protective case, but they didn't, so I ended up with this Washburn for half the money, and I gotta say I'm pretty much pleasantly surprised overall.

  20 of 20 people found this review helpful.
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• Nice Travel Guitar

  
  As reviewed by steve on 1/14/2011

  I have owned this guitar for a year. I keep it hanging by my tv chair. It is VERY well made. The binding, detail, frets and gears are nice. For the money you cannot go wrong. The scale is a tad shorter than my Martin and Ovation. The case is durable and had a chemical smell for a while. I replaced the strings straight away, adjusted the truss a bit, polished it up and put a humidifier in it periodically. It in no way has a booming sound but is pleasant and easy to play and you can easily bring it anywhere.

  14 of 14 people found this review helpful.
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• good little plaything

  
  As reviewed by b. frank on 2/7/2011

  i've owned mine a few months now and i am quite happy with it. i drive a truck for a living and don't have a lot of room for toys and cannot live without an instrument. i tried a ukelele and a mandolin but always longed for the guitar. i've played martin backpackers and cannot keep them from spinning while playing and they only sound good fingerpicked. i've tried other irregularly shaped guitars and could not find a good balance between bass and treble. this little washburn has a good balance. it does not sound as nice as a full size guitar but i didn't expect it to. it has a shallow body guitar sound that is great for a percussive strumming style and sounds pretty good when fingerpicked. action was high when delivered but it came with an extra bridge which i sanded down to lower the action and changed the strings to a light medium guage. bottom line is that i now can carry my guitar with me, it sounds good, plays great and costs little. the included case is excellent and i use a strap that clips into the sound hole so i never encountered any discomfort playing. i've read several reviews that mention a smell mine never had one but i would simply use deodorizer. as long as you are realistic in your expectations and intelligent enough to handle the simplest problems you will love this little gem.

  12 of 12 people found this review helpful.
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