I picked up this package to learn how to play guitar.

First let me start with why this guitar is 4 stars instead of 5. The picture you see in this listing (and most other Washburn Idol images) is that the front cut out on the guitar (that makes it looks SOO sweet and comfortable) does NOT exist. It’s not just with the model i received, but i saw it sitting in a Music shop and it, too, showed the cutout on the box, but did not exist on the guitar. So if you’re looking to buy this because of that sweet Mod, you’ll be disappointed.

Now, the rest of the Guitar is great! I Really love the finish that it has — beautiful. The next and fretboard are wonderfully smooth and it has great action. The thru-body string design makes changing the strings nice n easy, and no scratches to the guitar anywhere. The bridge also has ULTIMATE tuning capabilities with the ability to Tune and change the action on each string at the bridge.

The headstock is nice also, and the turning screws are comfortable and all, but one or two of the screws dont work GREAT, and so tuning those strings is a bit more challenging than the others. But it’s not a serious flaw — just a bit annoying. It holds a tune rather well, though i still need to tune it a bit every other time pick it up or so.

The pickups are pretty decent. The guitar comes with 2 dual humbucking pickups that are controlled by a three-position switch. This lets you switch between the top, bottom and both pickups for some changes in your sound. Both sets of pickups are also individually controlled by the 4 knobs… one for volume and one for tone for each pickup set. I probably wont be changing them out any time soon.

I would highly reccomend changing the Strings after you get it and play with it a bit. The intonation of the strings that came with it was just a bit off, and while they worked great learning the basics and just toying around with the guitar, the resonant frequency caused them to ring on other notes when not played. I bought some Elixir NanoWeb Electric Guitar strings and they are PERFECT.

The AMP that comes with the guitar is what you might expect for a cheap package; however it puts out surprisingly well for such a small amp. And i do mean this thing is SMALL. Cranked up to it’s max you probably wont be bothering your neighbors much, but you’ll be hearing it quite fine, so if you’re just learning, it’s perfect.

All in all i’d give it 4.5 stars if i could, but we’ll go with 4 for honesty and integrity. A buddy of min in a band loves the guitar as well, and is impressed with it’s tone and action. Recommended Buy!

P.S. NOTE that this does NOT have a Tremelo setup, so NO WHAMMY BAR for you folks looking =)
Rating: 4 / 5