I finally scratched an itch I've had for years. Growing up I played guitar but as life, career and family got busy I put it down years ago. Now that I am retired I decided to finally scratch an itch I've had for years and learn to play the banjo. After researching and searching I chose the Washburn Package from Sweetwater. I am pleased with the quality of the banjo and am working on the fundamentals.
Brenton Evans, my Sales Engineer; has reached out numerous times to follow up on my purpose and satisfaction. I'm pretty low maintenance but I appreciate his attentiveness.
Overall I've had a positive experience with Sweetwater and recommend them highly.

A great banjo plays great fast shipping and good price thanks

What a sound this banjo has! I absolutely love the sound the feel and the look. Came with picks and a nice gig bag. Once the bridge was in it tuned right up to open G and I've been playing it since. Thanks to my man Logan Miller from Sweetwater for answering all my questions and helping me out. Cheers!

I bought this banjo pack back in June of this year and it came in broken. I contacted Sweetwater immediately and was told I'd have to wait for more to come in. They finally got more in last week (November, 5 months later) and the exchange representative got in touch with me for shipping info. He contacted me a couple days later to say the replacement banjo was also broken, so now I'm waiting for either another shipment or spending more money to get a different one. That's 2 out of 2 broken brand new banjos. I wouldn't recommend buying this thing. Nothing but a $ headache.

I purchased this banjo about a year ago and I waited until now to review it in order to really see what this banjo is all about. I was concerned about it coming thru the mail but I received it promptly and it was packaged in a safe shipping manner..The bridge was not attached and being a newbie wasn't sure what to do but thank goodness there are several nice videos on You tube to get you thru the bridge setup..banjo has excellent tone and I'm very pleased with the sound. Strap and package of other non usable items are really not worth anything but at the time who knew…Real be pleased with the way Sweetwater's customer service treated me with this order..

Love it. I am a begginer and just gotta put the hours of practice in. Sounds great looks great. Jake was a great help superb customer service and follow up.

I bought the banjo pack because of the all inclusive accessories and, being my first banjo, thought that this would be the way to get started. I was wrong. The strap is a guitar strap and is way too long. The finger picks should be metal but are plastic. The instruction book is so small and has no instructions for set up. Thanks to You Tube and my experience playing guitar, I had the bridge set and intonation set in short order. The case is nice for keeping the dust off of the banjo. And I don't know anyone that uses a pitch pipe for tuning. I used my chromatic tuner for that. The banjo is pretty well built. Being from Washburn I would expect nothing else.
I purchased a new strap.picks and beginners book from a well known internet company. If I would have known about the CHEAP contents in the pack deal, I would have ordered a little better banjo, knowing that I would have to purchase the the beginner items extra.
All said, I am giving the banjo 4 stars and as for the rest, a big ol' 0.
I don't blame Sweetwater for this package but, Washburn should be ashamed. Thanks to my rep Ryan Murry for getting my order in, in the knick of time.

For the Sweetwater price (but definitely NOT the list price), this banjo was OK. I will have to get the frets dressed, they all are very sharp on both of the sides above fret 7. OUCH!! I'll also have to get a better gig bag. The included one is flimsy and has no pouch for the picks, tuner, etc. What I was impressed with most was the personal hands on support from customer service. Kent Sallaz did well, indeed. After a bit of TLC, and a decent case, this banjo will work out just fine. It looks great.

I am a uke and guitar player. I have been interested in adding the banjo to my list. This is a great instrument right out of the box. I needed to tighten the head and resonator-easy to do. I also took the resonator off-easy to do. This was because the sound is super bright and very unforgiving when you hit the high G. Also it is lighter weight without it. Once you do this, stuff a rag behind the strings in the open back. It has a much more traditional sound. this way. A great buy though.

But the next really big decision you need to make as a beginner-Scruggs style picking or claw hammer. I am going with law hammer for now.

Nicely made Washburn B8 banjo. Easy to set up the bridge. Tuned up Nicely, took a couple days to acclimate and settle. Nice tone, well made and well crafted instrument. Smooth frets. I bought different accessories from Sweetwater to up grade the strap and picks, plus a Gator hard case. Fast delivery and as always Well packaged. Great pricing and selection, plus the Best tech and sales support. Thank You very much!!

I am a first time owner of a banjo and i highly recommend this banjo it is light has a beautiful wood tone and the customer service was great

The Washburn B8 Banjo I purchased is amazing. It"s a quality item, but I was more impressed with the customer service I received. The people at Sweetwater care about their customers. I will be getting all of my supplies from Sweetwater!

Looks great, very nice projection. After the strings settled down, it stays in tune nicely.

Very nice starter banjo. Beautiful finish and great action - very easy to fret and play. It also has a nice, though slightly tinny tone. Also, the book was not included in the package. Minor detail. Instructions should be included on how and where to mount the bridge. For the money this would be hard to beat. I bought this for my daughter who recently got an interest in playing a musical instrument again and is a bit enthralled with bluegrass. She is ecstatic and is playing it every day. I would recommend this for ANY beginner. Great value!