Review: Wilborn Guitars
This guitar review was originally featured in one of the earlier editions of the TNAG Connoisseur in 2021.
Within seconds of first playing a lightly built Wilborn guitar, you’ll have no doubt that it was built by a serious player. And that, Ben Wilborn most certainly is. Every guitar he makes comes with a candid, off-the-cuff YouTube video, where a very affable Ben takes the viewer through the features and backstory of the guitar, stopping to dig in with a G run and some bluesy licks if it’s a dreadnought like his WarHorse, or fingerpicking a more delicate classical-inspired arrangement on a smaller model like the Ibex. There’s no doubt the man lives and breathes all things guitar.
The Nevada-based luthier is a fount of knowledge and an excellent communicator, and a read through his website will leave you feeling not just more educated on his instruments, but on guitars in general. The design choices behind each series and model are clearly explained, and easy to understand even for a layperson. With a strong foundation in traditional Martin-style guitars, Ben also explores innovative concepts like the fan fret multi-scale, offset soundholes, radial bracing, bevels, soundports and more. He has cleverly broken his guitars into two categories – the more traditional “Period Series” and the modern “Comma Series”. But as we’ll see with this WarHorse, even his traditional guitars often stray into cutting edge territory.
The WarHorse Model
With a name like the “WarHorse”, it will come as no surprise that this Wilborn model was inspired by the iconic Martin dreadnought. It has the right dimensions at 16” across the lower bout and 4-7/8” deep. Factory-made guitars typically have a flat spot at the top and bottom that make construction easier, but Ben has done away with that on his guitars, rounding off the extremities to create a curvier, more sinuous look. The upper bout is slightly narrower, and the graceful curve of the waist make this a guitar that sits comfortably in the lap. Ben describes the bracing as “tall and narrow, to maximize lightness, and redistributed slightly to create a very powerful but exceptionally even tonal response all up and down the neck.” You don’t need to take an inspection mirror to the inside to confirm this – the tone speaks for itself.
Fan Fret Design
The use of the multi-scale fan fret design on this WarHorse sets it apart from its fellow Period Series guitars, which are typically built with an even short or standard scale length. But while some luthiers take the multi-scale design to extremes, Ben sticks with Martin standards, with the treble side clocking in at 24.9” and the bass at 25.4”. The result is so natural and easy to adapt to, the player may forget that it’s a fan fret altogether. That is, of course, until you go to grab a barre chord close to the nut, like an F. Your wrist doesn’t end up as wrenched and angled, making it easier to hold and sustain. The human hand, after all, is a bit of a fan fret design itself, with fingers that splay out from a central point. For players who want to take advantage of the generous cutaway, frets from the 14th upward are perpendicular, so it plays and feels like a standard scale guitar in the upper registers.
Playability isn’t the only benefit of fan fret design, though. There’s a reason standard scale dreadnoughts are the go-to for heavy-handed flatpickers, and short scale 000s and 00s are the territory of delicate fingerstylists. The full 25.4” is ideal for the low E and A strings, yielding a fat, growling bass. That same scale length on the high B and E strings yields a taut, sometimes strident treble tone – great for flatpickers who need their solos to pop over fiddle or banjo players, but less ideal for fingerstylists who want a sweeter tone and more balance across the registers. Short scale guitars deliver that sweetness, but when it comes time to dig in heavily or tune down for a drop D or C tuning, those smaller short scale guitars tend to falter, getting muddy and flabby. Enter in the fan fret. As Ben puts it, it’s the best of both worlds.
This Particular WarHorse
It feels fitting that the woods chosen for the WarHorse be a timeless combination. Stiff, master grade Adirondack spruce forms the top, and Brazilian rosewood, which Ben describes as “rather plain” due to being quarter-sawn, the back and sides. But as any tone-focused player or builder will tell you, it’s the plainer, straight-grained pieces that often yield the best sound. The pairing delivers all the power, growl and clarity we’ve come to associate with D-28s. And with a large body cavity and the dense rosewood to help the sound bounce around, this guitar seriously sustains. Taking a break from the radial bracing he does on his Comma Series guitars, this was the first X-braced guitar Ben had built in a while. He borrowed leftover curly sapele from a previous build for the binding and bevel, but otherwise kept the visual appointments minimal.
Tone and Playability
With that dramatic Florentine cutaway and those graceful curves, it’s hard not to compare the WarHorse to a Somogyi or Kraut Mod-D cutaway at first glance, but Ben intended for his iteration of the dreadnought to be a flatpicking guitar. Give a listen to Ben himself ripping a G run on this guitar over on his YouTube channel, and it might surprise you that you’re not looking at a more standard Martin-style D-28. Thanks to the sheer raw power that can be had out of an Adirondack and Brazilian rosewood dreadnought, this is undoubtedly a guitar that will reward a strong attack with a heavy pick. But this guitar pleased the fingerstylists in the store as well as it did the flatpickers. The multi-scale design adds a responsiveness for a lighter touch that dreadnoughts usually lack. The addition of a beveled armrest adds a bit of extra comfort, and a soundport – a feature he adds to all his Period Series guitars – gives the player better ability to monitor their playing.
For the player who prefers the tone of traditional dreadnoughts, but finds themselves continually tempted by the features and playability of more modern guitars, it’s hard to imagine a better combination of both camps. We’re continually impressed by the quality and tone of Ben Wilborn’s guitars, but for that reason, this might well be the new favorite.
The smaller-bodied Arum model in Brazilian rosewood.
