Washburn J3 Hollow Body Jazz Reviews 4

I've been a guitar player for the past 15 years now. I mostly play jazz ,blues and rockabilly. I used to play live 7 years ago but i stopped because i have two jobs... (figures! :( )

I got this little baby of mine wich i affectionally call ''jazzy'' at work. (i work in a music store) I paid 500$ for it. I always wanted a hollow-body guitar because it's the weapon of choice for jazz and rockabilly (yup! i'm a big fan of joe pass and brian setzer). I work at LA REFERENCE MUSICALE in Terrebonne canada.

The look is just awesome! I'ts an all maple body with a mahogany set neck, cream bindings and HH set up. It also has a big, yet classy ''W'' tail piece. The sound is very round and warm even if played through any amp! The 50's retro look of hollow bodied guitars just seems to catch the attention of any person who lay eyes on one!!! They're like magic boxes! Plus, they have a limited lifetime warranty!

Not much is not to like about it except for the 3 way LP-style switch. The thing is that when you select both p-ups (middle) it sometimes misses and you can't quite hear the actual mix of the two humbuckers. Other than that, it's perfect considering the price.

Very very sturdy. Everything on it is solidly glued or bolted. All of the components seem to be of good quality. Tuners are grovers 18:1 ratio and you don't see any wirering inside the body. I carry jazzy around a lot and nothing has shown a flaw of any kind and the natural finish is also flawless. It's nice to see the wood grain.

For 500 bucks, it's a darn good axe! When you see one, just scratch a riff or two and bet you'll be convinced. Of course if your budget is a bit higher, let's say around 3k's nothing beats a gretsch! (lol) In my opinion, at this price range, there's not much other jazz boxes that come close to it. Basically, it's all about playing and feeling the music! Keep on pickin' everyone!!!

Jazzman407 rated this unit 4 on 2005-11-06.

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