Washburn: B-14

Submitted by PickYerBluesAway on 2/26/2006

Where Purchased: Shop Music Plus (eBay Store)

Year Purchased: 2006
Price Paid: 399.00 ($US)

Sound

I purchased the B-14 for an instrument to start learning the three-fingered (Scruggs) style of Bluegrass. I have played guitar for over 40 years and did not want to start on an instrument that would be so tonally poor that it would discourage practice, neither did I want to invest in a $1000 + instrument if I discovered Banjo was not for me.

The B-14 has great tone, very bright (I expect from the bell brass tone ring) with no buzzing or any other sonic bugaboos while playing up the neck.

As one would expect, fingering close to the bridge give a very bright sound, as fingering closer to the neck gives a very rich sound that I have used with some success playing some "jazzy" type chording. Again this is not a vintage Gibson, but side by side for the money, I'll play this against anything.

Sound Rating: 10

Setup

The B-14 was well setup from Shop Music Plus, geometricaly the bridge was placed in the traditional equidistant plane of 12th fret to bridge, tailpiece to bridge, with it canted slightly towards the neck on the 5th string side. Aside from re-tuning the low D string it stayed in tune all the way on its trip from Florida to Upstate New York. For the price of the banjo with a stock bridge, tailpiece and strings the action is about as good as it gets, again no buzzes playing all the way up the neck.

Setup Rating: 10

Appearance

I know the old original Washburn Company from Chicago is no longer, but I noticed that Washburn Guitars (the name now owned by U.S. Music Corp) have gotten a lot of good press and user reviews for instruments under the $500 range, and apparently thier banjos also fall into this catagory.

The B-14 is rather "Plain-Jane" in that it does not have fancy inlays, gold trim (Which I really would have liked, but could not afford!). But the wood, trim, pegs, fitting and general craftsmanship are truly first-rate with no flaws noted, a perfectly straight neck, and everything fitting the way it should be.

The peg assembly is mechanically solid and cosmetically well done, the chrome is thickly plated and polishes up beautifully.

Appearance Rating: 10

Reliability

I have played the fire out of this thing and have had no wear problems as of yet. Shop Music Plus included in the kit the necessary small tools to tighten the head and other routine maintenence.

The tuners are of the planetary type, very solid, the drone string has a geared guitar type tuner, this far no tension adjustments to the tuners have been necessary, it holds a tune far better than any guitar I have ever owned.

From my guitar experience I would always have a backup instrument available during a performance, but I doubt I would ever have to resort to using it if the B-14 were used as my primary stage instrument.

Reliability Rating: 10

Customer Service

I e-mailed Shop Music Plus (eBay - ggleaves) MANY times before purchase, he was very friendly, open and I feel quite honest. He could have sold me a B-16 or a B-17 but based on what I told him I needed and what I expected for my money he recommended the B-14. Since that time I have purchased several other items (for me this is the highest testimony) from this seller and was treated in the same courteous and professional fashion.

Customer Service: 10

Components

The standout conponents would absolutely be the fit and finish. I would have upgraded the tailpiece as in the type on the B-16, but again, the price difference of these two instruments is significant. The stock strings were good but I replaced them with Gibson's Earl Scruggs medium gauge (Signature Gauge) which is just a personal preference. (Good enough for Earl, sure as heck good enough for me!) As the original bridge (which is just fine) wears I'll replace it with a Snuffy Smith 5/8ths.

I was surprised that the BC-82 hard case was included, a great case, but I wish it had the old-time Washburn logo on it rather than the new "modern" one.

Components Rating: 10

Overall Comments

I would recommend this banjo to anyone looking for a banjo in the $400.00 price range, played side by side with banjos several times the price the difference was often negligable and sometimes the B-14 really sounded better, at the very least far brighter. Yes, it made offshore, but compared to other banjos I have played, from the bottom to the top, this sounds, looks and plays great. I would take it anywhere and play with anyone.

In terms of playability the B-14 was great out of the box, the action is fast and it is an extremely easy instrument to play, tonally, as I pointed out, for $399.00 plus 30 bucks shipping, and the hard shell case included it is supurb. I love it, if it was stolen I would replace it with another B-14 (Unless of course the insurance company wants to replace it with a B-17!)

Overall Rating: 10