WR150 Review

More than just an entry level shredder, this double cutaway, H/S/S pickup configuration, offers a wide palette of tones that can inspire rock, punk, jazz, blues, country, alternative, and all the niches in between.

Features:	9
Sound:	9.5
Action:	8.5
Reliability:	9.5
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.3
Users rating:	7.8
Comments:	4

overall: 9.2

Featured review by: Ziggy_Stardust, on february 06, 2006

Purchased from: Auckland Rockshop

Features: This guitar was designed and made in Chicago, I'm pretty sure its hand made, due to the large shiny plate on the back saying "Handcrafted Since 1883." It has a nice metallic kind of finish and chrome hardware. Comes with a whammy bar and 5-way pickup selector. The pickups are 1 humbucker and 2 single coils and there is a volume dial and a tone dial. The tuners are grover 18/1's. 24 frets. // 9

Sound: This guitar has a lot of tone, it sounds really good with mild distortion, and you can get a nice almost acoustic sound out of it too. It suits my Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Neil Young and such, quite well. I use it with a Boss ME-50, and a custom DS-1 and a Marshall MG50DFX amp. This lets me get almost anything out of it. I have noticed that it does make a bit of fuzz on some of the pickup settings, but I have a noise suppressor. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: I haven't changed anything on this since I got it. The action is perfect, you have to really hit it to get any buzz, and if you do, then its your fault anyway. The whammy bar does sometimes detune the guitar. Which is annoying, but apart from that and the pickup thing I mentioned before, it's great. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This guitar seems solid enough, but I haven't thrown it anywhere yet, but I've had it for 2 years and it's still in its original condition, the strap buttons are fine, but my strap isn't, it's not too heavy though. // 10

Impression: This is quite an easy guitar to play for beginners, it has very accesible higer frets, but they are sort of thin. I've been doing music for 7 years, but only 2 years of guitar, I play lead guitar in a band, and this guitar is always great. If it were stolen, god forbid, then I would buy a cheap Epiphone with the savings that I don't have! In general it's a really good guitar for its price. // 10

overall: 9.4

Reviewed by: cal1, on august 04, 2009

Price paid: $ 350

Features: The WR150 ordinarily comes in a beginner pack, but it's more than a beginner guitar. The WR150 I believe was made in 2000. It has 22 frets and a somewhat-thin neck thats good for fast playing. The screw plate on the back of the guitar states that it's handmade. It has a Stratocaster-ish body and a decent finish. There are two single coil pickups and a humbucker in the bridge position, along with a 5-way selector switch. There is a tone knob and a volume knob, which seem to fall off pretty easily. The WR150 comes with Grover tuners, and the beginner pack has a "Bad Dog" amp, a strap, a few picks, a whammy bar, a gig bag, and a cable. // 9

Sound: The guitar plays well with every genre/amp I tried it with. It's great for rock/metal styles, and played well with my Roland Cube 15, Boss Super Overdrive pedal, and my Ibanez Digital Flanger. Some of the pickup settings have a bit of buzz, but I'm guessing its the factory single-coil pickups. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar's action is almost perfect, and the pickups were good. Everything was in perfect working order, and had no flaws I could see. The guitar has a thru-body bridge, which is a little tough to work with. The amp, gig bag, picks, and cord also came in good condition. // 9

Reliability & Durability: The guitar itself is very durable, but I couldn't say the same for the finish, which accumulates dents and scratches pretty fast. I broke the nut about five years ago, but it was an easy fix. The hardware will last forever, but the knobs annoyingly fall off (this, too, is an easy fix). The strap buttons are indestructible, and the strap it came with is fine after 8 years of fairly light usage. The gig bag disintegrated after a while, and I lost the cable so there's not much I can say about that. The amp held up pretty well for the few years I used it. // 9

Impression: This guitar is good for The Music I play, and I would buy it again if it were lost or stolen. It's even better than my higher-end Ibanez for certain styles. Although it's great for beginners, it's a good match for any level player. The only things I dislike are the pickup buzz and the knobs falling off. // 10

Comments

[Mekho]

i own a WR150
its damn awesome

[Philospheros]

I have Washburn WR 150 and it has this plate on the back as well, but I must say - these guitars are made somewhere in Asia.
I had it for four years now, but I began liking it's sound only when I installed Dimarzio Distortion3 humbucker - it has achieved a damn solid sustain, because the one offered by factory pickups was very unsatisfying.
Besides I love this guitar - solid, wonderful neck, even better than the famous Ibanez's Wizard 2 - in my opinion

[guitar_kid_alex]

this is the kind of guitar that i have but i think its just my amp that gives it sucky distortion

[doomey22a]

I have this guitar, and i love it. I brought it off a mate who brought it off a mate two years ago and its still going fine. The Fulcrum style bridge is a bit of a pain in the ass, it detunes easily. But thats probably my fault and not the guitars. I'm thinking of getting a floyd rose put in instead . It be a sick guitar 9/10