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I just bought a gently used Washburn B-9, which even came with the original cardboard box the previous owner received it in. I thought I had read that the B-9's as well as the rest of the Americana series instruments were made in America, but my initial inspection of the instrument doesn't reveal a mark of any kind as to where it was made. The cardboard box says "Made in China" much to my horror. I really hope they only mean the box... Does anybody have any insight on this?
New member BTW. I didn't see an introduce yourself thread. I am just starting to learn to play using a "Banjo-Mandoline - Pat'd 1898" hybrid instrument that my wife's grandmother left us. It plays nicely, but sounds more like a guitar than a banjo.
The box don't lie.
Welcome Dave!
So far as I know, the modern Washburn company has never made banjos in the US. Their banjos have been made in Korea, China, and probably other Asian countries. Some of the early ones may have been made in Japan.
They did make a few of their "upper line" guitars in the US starting in 1992, and continued into the early 2000's, but US production was quite limited, and ceased by 2012 at the latest. Their US production did not include banjos.
The original Chicago-based Washburn company did make banjos in the US 100 years ago, but that company went defunct by the beginning of WWII. The current Washburn company shares nothing in common with the old Chicago company except for the name, although their ad copy suggests otherwise. The modern Washburn company was established in the 1970's and has since changed ownership 2 or 3 times.
Washburn's ad and catalog description are often misleading, full of omissions, and sometimes border on being false advertising.
Thanks for the information and welcome. That's immensely disappointing though. You're right, their literature is downright misleading. I read on their website that all of the banjos save a few budget models were American made. And they prominently display that they have been making banjos since the late 1800's. Any sane person would understand that to mean continuously. What a bunch of skunks! Well, we all gotta start somewhere, I guess. There's no way I can afford the $500-$700 asking price on a new one, and I'm guessing those will still be imported...
Edited by - MrOldschool on 03/20/2023 18:36:09
What you’ve got is what we call a bottle cap banjo. Many of us started on one. They are fine to start learning on. Read some about setting it up. You can probably do most of it yourself. If the action isn’t too high, if you don’t get any buzzing, and if your intonation is fine you can make a lot of progress on it. If you stick with it maybe you can upgrade later. But for now enjoy the journey!
Thanks. I don't know what the "bottle cap" part refers to, but it does seem pretty decent for $200 flat. The action seems low enough to my eye, and really, in my novice opinion, I thought it looked like a fairly nice instrument. As I hopefully will get exposed to better instruments, I am sure the differences will become apparent.
quote:
Originally posted by MrOldschoolThanks. I don't know what the "bottle cap" part refers to, but it does seem pretty decent for $200 flat. The action seems low enough to my eye, and really, in my novice opinion, I thought it looked like a fairly nice instrument. As I hopefully will get exposed to better instruments, I am sure the differences will become apparent.
If you have the one pictured below then the "bottle cap" name comes from the way the scalloped rim makes it look like an old soda bottle cap.
Gotcha! Yep, that would be it. It does have the armrest/guard piece, but definetely looks scalloped like that.
I'm still trying to get the hang of how this forum works, but here's an attempt to show my B-9.
Welcome.
Sorry for your disappointment that your banjo was made in China and not the USA. I'm surprised that Washburn would outright lie on their website and say the banjos are made in America when they're not. If it's just that they were calling them "Americana Series" that in itself does not say "Made in America."
As to crediting themselves with the full history and tradition of Washburn, they're not the first company to do that after merely acquiring a name and trademark. They won't be the last.
By the way, as is common with Chinese-made banjos, the tailpiece on yours is strung incorrectly. The strings should come up over the back, lie on the top, dip down into the opening and emerge from underneath the forward end. You will get better tone and have much more range of adjustment when the tailpiece is strung correctly.
Good luck and have fun.
quote:
Originally posted by Old Hickory
Welcome.
Sorry for your disappointment that your banjo was made in China and not the USA. I'm surprised that Washburn would outright lie on their website and say the banjos are made in America when they're not. If it's just that they were calling them "Americana Series" that in itself does not say "Made in America."
As to crediting themselves with the full history and tradition of Washburn, they're not the first company to do that after merely acquiring a name and trademark. They won't be the last.
By the way, as is common with Chinese-made banjos, the tailpiece on yours is strung incorrectly. The strings should come up over the back, lie on the top, dip down into the opening and emerge from underneath the forward end. You will get better tone and have much more range of adjustment when the tailpiece is strung correctly.
Good luck and have fun.
Thanks for the tip about stringing it correctly. I'll
try to correct that first thing. I'll also try to find the page that I was looking at. It was a Q&A that I thought was on their site, but maybe I misread where it was. The question was literally "are Washburn banjos made in America?"
Okay, I found the place where I was reading that they made them in America, and it wasn't their website:
countryinstruments.com/where-a...%20Banjos
I also see that their wording could be said to not be explicit, and whoever wrote it could wiggle out of being called an outright liar, but this article is misleading. I was comparing this B-9 to an older Kent that I could have had for $130, but I was fooled into thinking this would be a better quality instrument by articles such as this. Rather disheartening...
quote:
Originally posted by MrOldschool
I also see that their wording could be said to not be explicit, and whoever wrote it could wiggle out of being called an outright liar, but this article is misleading.
The article does claim that most Washburn banjos are made in the USA when really no Wahburn banjos are made in the USA.
It looks like the articles are written by a bad chatbot.
I hate technology...
Wow.
My congratulations to the author of that article-- it contains more false information than I have ever seen in any other article about musical instruments.
My only questions are did he simply not bother to do any research and found it easier to just make up his own "facts," or was he knowingly and intentionally lying. I also wonder whether he received some pay for the article from Washburn or their affiliates.
Do not believe anything in article at all, except that banjos have indeed been built with the Washburn brand.
Edited by - rcc56 on 03/21/2023 12:06:41
If it was indeed written by a chatbot, it reminds me of something they were just talking about in the news where an AI hired a human to tell it what squares to click on a Captcha test. They were testing it, so they made it reason out loud. It actually reasoned that it shouldn't tell the human that it was an AI trying to circumvent the Captcha, so it lied to the human and told him that it was a human who was visually impaired. I really think this experiment has gone on quite long enough, already!
The "article" is an Amazon affiliate fluff "blog", likely (as mentioned) created by a bot or using a generic template while grabbing text off of other sites. Designed to try and drive people to buy products from Amazon through clicking links (in order to get a commission on the sale).
It is nothing.
The article states that Washburn banjos are made in the USA and then even sites a US location, then gives the specs (sort of) of the banjo the OP bought. That strongly implies THAT banjo was made in the USA. The reader may or may not scroll down to read the rest of the article but even so, deliberately misinformation in my opinion as the implications of 'made in USA' followed by 'B9' is enough for someone to reasonably conclude the B9 was made in the USA.
Not a fat lot any one can do about it though
quote:
Originally posted by JSB88The article states that Washburn banjos are made in the USA and then even sites a US location, then gives the specs (sort of) of the banjo the OP bought. That strongly implies THAT banjo was made in the USA. The reader may or may not scroll down to read the rest of the article but even so, deliberately misinformation in my opinion as the implications of 'made in USA' followed by 'B9' is enough for someone to reasonably conclude the B9 was made in the USA.
Not a fat lot any one can do about it though
The "article" looks to be the product of "affiliate marketing". There are many "internet gurus" that sale the promise of earning $1000s a week by buying their "system" which is the old "get rich quick" education scam.
People will generate "review blogs" or various "product information" sites after they take one of these courses thinking that people will go to the site, click on the link and buy the product through that link. This, they have been told by their guru, will make them thousands of dollars with no effort.
Again, the "info" on the "article" is nothing but an attempt by the creator to get you to click through and buy the item linked.
At least by buying lightly used, I didn't pay retail. Shipping included, I only paid $200 flat. Still I would have rather spent that on a decent, bare-bones, domestic instrument in playable condition. I wasn't looking for fancy, just solid quality. I would rather have used and worn but still decent condition than new and fancy anyway. But in all things, I try my hardest to avoid "Made in China" wherever I can.
quote:
Originally posted by MrOldschoolStill I would have rather spent that on a decent, bare-bones, domestic instrument in playable condition.
You won't find that. The only cheap USA made option is a Deering Goodtime and unless they are in a poor state they sell used for more than $200.
Fair enough. We make do with what we can... I would be more amenable to an imported one from just about any other country, though.
I feel your pain ... not fun to be disappointed. On the other hand, for $200 it's pretty hard to find any instrument that's playable, sounds good and is fun. 10 years ago knowing absolutely nothing about banjo's I paid $450 Canadian for a lightly used Fender FB-58 in a hard carrying case ... It's been great fun ... warts and all.
I hope you enjoy the Washburn .... I get what you mean, though.
There are different grades of Bottlecaps. The specs vary to get the right budget and price point. There is slag and void and other debris.
I have THE Madiera (GUILD), a Washburn and the Iida (Salvation Army $129.99. Less potential.)
I don't play these on stage unless I have to, They don't vintage or get better, but they can be set up to let you learn.
All of mine have used planetaries. Other upgrades like a good bridge can really help a little.
The New Plastic Rovers get a better neck for the budget.
There is a users' group here on the hangout.
Lots of people play banjo notes with these. Let's call them resident aliens, the banjos, not the fingers.
I can understand being steamed about being deceived. But you aren't gonna find a good condition 5 string beginner banjo nowadays that's NOT made in China, for $200. You didn't get hurt financially. You can easily resell your banjo for $200 when you feel ready to advance to an intermediate instrument. Just don't inflict your sad story on potential buyers. Just tell them it's a typical Chinese/Asian beginner banjo.
That tailpiece, by the way, is a MUCH better design than 99% of the crap tailpieces on beginner level Asian banjos. Just string it up correctly as mentioned above.
Put the deception behind you, and learn to play it and love the banjo!
If you bought lightly used, I assume second hand, no actual financial benefit went to China. Not sure if that helps at all.
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