New Goldtone Banjos

PhilUSAFRet

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Gold tone has come out with a new 5 string banjo with a composite body for $199. I suggested a short scale tenor banjo and they said they'd start working on a prototype. Lots of banjo ukers may jump on these, especially if they are 17 fret models.
 
Gold tone has come out with a new 5 string banjo with a composite body for $199. I suggested a short scale tenor banjo and they said they'd start working on a prototype. Lots of banjo ukers may jump on these, especially if they are 17 fret models.

Something 4-string, in the 19-20" scale range would have me dive right in, however the typical 1.25" nut will likely be painful for me...since my intent has lots of chording involved as opposed to the typical noodling melody lines of a fifths-tuned instrument, sort of a chord-melody style if I ever get there first on ukulele...oh but to dream...

BTW Phil - thanks for the info :)

P.S.: what do you think of tuning/stringing a 5-string banjo re-entrant CGDAE with the 5th-peg being the re-entrant C (like a C3 or C4) and the rest being linear (from G2)?

A C2 or C1 requires such a fat string with lots of tension to intonate properly, so maybe it's worth it to jump an octave...or two..
 
Don't know much about banjo tuning Booli. I'd contact Goldtone about making the nut wider if he wants to market it to ukers.
 
Gold tone has come out with a new 5 string banjo with a composite body for $199. I suggested a short scale tenor banjo and they said they'd start working on a prototype. Lots of banjo ukers may jump on these, especially if they are 17 fret models.

Link? Sounds like a good deal
 
Should be quite a bit lighter than traditional ones. I emailed Goldtone and suggested a 1 3/8" nut if they want to market to ukers.
 
Lots of banjo ukers may jump on these, especially if they are 17 fret models.

I think one of the bigger advantages of a banjouke over a banjo (of any scale) is that people can keep using the tuning they're used to. If I don't recall incorrectly, it was mentioned somewhere that this was also one of the reasons for various other hybrid instruments (but I may have misunderstood that part). From various forum discussions I got the impression that a lot of folks are very reluctant to deviate from the tuning they are accustomed to. I was in that boat once, too, but eventually a desire for better tone weakened my resistance.
 
I think one of the bigger advantages of a banjouke over a banjo (of any scale) is that people can keep using the tuning they're used to. If I don't recall incorrectly, it was mentioned somewhere that this was also one of the reasons for various other hybrid instruments (but I may have misunderstood that part). From various forum discussions I got the impression that a lot of folks are very reluctant to deviate from the tuning they are accustomed to. I was in that boat once, too, but eventually a desire for better tone weakened my resistance.

That's true about folk being reluctant to retune. I've gone the other way. Am so used to fifths that the ukes get tuned that way, too.

Am seriously looking at that banjo, but "alternative tuning" would probably occur.
 
I've been looking , maybe in the wrong places but , but I can't find it anywhere for $ 199.00
 
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I have a GT mini 5 string, a GT Irish Tenor (17" neck) and a GT BUT banjolele. I really like them all. They're all well made and beautiful.

I watched the posted video and the GT sounded good--good price too. :eek:ld:
 
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Oh man I've always resisted but this might push me over to actually trying one. Good deal. No dealers like HMS/ MIM(?)
 
Does anyone know what the scale length is? Can it be strung with flurocarbon or nylon strings?
 
They said they were going to start working on a prototype, so no answer on that except from Goldtone. Nice folks there. I suggested a 1 3/8" nut for it to entice ukers.
 
Oh man I've always resisted but this might push me over to actually trying one. Good deal. No dealers like HMS/ MIM(?)

Seems easier to find vendors that do banjo setups than ukulele setups, I've learned. Plus, they are easier to setup by the player thanks to truss rods, coordinator rods and the movable bridge. The Deering banjolele was my gateway drug to banjos, regrettably (or happily). Went with a Deering Eagle II after briefly trying a Goodtime II and enjoying it very much (recalling my UAS journey, I figured I'd skip the upgrade path so that I only have one resonator "banjer" and down the road one open back one with a scooped neck).
 
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