Is $290 fair for a used Gold Tone banjolele? (open back maple model)

Freeda

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
18,071
Reaction score
3
Location
Southwest Michigan
Thoughts? 430ish new. Only thing that would need adjusting is replacing the friction tuners with geared...

The temptation is just awful.
 
Just curious, what's wrong with the friction tuners? They are likely to be of good quality.
 
Don't know yet! :) It was mentioned in the listing as a potential drawback.

But is the price good? Not much time left on the listing..........


Well, I bid with 13 min to go. If it's meant to be, it will be for me. :)
 
Last edited:
Sorry I couldn't help with the price, I don't follow those.

Did you get it? If you did, I be the tuners are fine, just someone who comes from guitar and isn't used to friction tuners.....
 
$430 is for the "delux" that has a resonator and geared tuners.
IMO $290 is not a good deal. I'd buy a new Gold Tone BUS or BUC that already has geared tuners for not much more.
 
$430 is for the "delux" that has a resonator and geared tuners.
IMO $290 is not a good deal. I'd buy a new Gold Tone BUS or BUC that already has geared tuners for not much more.

This is the style of it: http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/GTBJU.htm
The one with the resonator was 110ish more at Elderly.

Thank you both for your replies!

I did get it. I did some looking and I am comfortable with the price. Even if I paid a little too muh hopefully the seller needed the dough and it helped out some.

Next up, Mim needs to return my PM so I can give her money too!
 
None of the goldtone banjo ukes have friction tuners,according to their webpage. They all have guitar style geared tuners. They work great btw.
The one in the Elderly ad shows guitar tuners until the 2nd to last pic which shows friction tuners...strange.

EDIT....
check out this review, apparently the older ones did have friction tuners.
http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Tone-BANJOLELE-DELUXE-Banjolele/dp/B001M9D9VU
You could always change out the tuners if you don't like them. That being said I own a Gold Tone banjo uke (BUC) and 5 string banjo (CC-OT) Love 'em both. gold Tone makes good stuff IMO.

also I agree with ryan, probably someone who isn't used to friction tuners. They are different but once you get used to using them you'll be fine.
 
Last edited:
My GT Bajolele deluxe has friction tuners. I want to replace them with nicer friction tuners or pegheds.
 
The listing said (not that I believe all listings) that it has friction tuners due to it being an older model. I paid promptly so I am hoping to see it in a week-ish.
 
Slightly off topic but....
Do they make pegheads for 5 string banjo? Mine has guitar tuners and I sure would like to change them. Don't need the 5th string tuner.
 
Sorry I couldn't help with the price, I don't follow those.

Did you get it? If you did, I be the tuners are fine, just someone who comes from guitar and isn't used to friction tuners.....

I've read several accounts of those particular tuners on the older Gold Tones being pretty low-quality with lots of slipping.
I like the looks of the ones Mainland sells seperately, and have read good reviews of them. That being said, I've been trying to buy a uke for 2 weeks from Mainland and they have not returned my emails or phone calls :(
 
Slightly off topic but....
Do they make pegheads for 5 string banjo? Mine has guitar tuners and I sure would like to change them. Don't need the 5th string tuner.

Many years back (At least 28) I had the guitar style tuners on my 5-string changed out for what I then knew only as "Planetary Pegs."

They are the Stewmac 5-Star planetary tuners - including the 5th string.

All have worked great, but I've noticed one is slipping a bit. Since I haven't played much in the past 10 years or so, I hadn't noticed. I have to call StewMac to see what I need to do to fix it.

But they are very nice tuners, and share the 4:1 ratio with PegHed.


-Kurt​
 
Top Bottom