Gold Tone Banjoleles

Down Up Dick

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 1, 2014
Messages
4,392
Reaction score
546
Location
Southern California
Anybody own a Gold Tone Banjolele? Whadaya think? Good? The flat "resonator" on the back--is it just a board? Can one just leave it off and use the Uke open backed? What the heck is the pot made of? Is it wood? It looks like some man-made substance. Is yours DGBE? That's what I want, I think.
 
Anybody own a Gold Tone Banjolele? Whadaya think? Good? The flat "resonator" on the back--is it just a board? Can one just leave it off and use the Uke open backed? What the heck is the pot made of? Is it wood? It looks like some man-made substance. Is yours DGBE? That's what I want, I think.

if you want DGBE go for the gold tone baritone banjolele i don't own one but i've heard enough good things
about them and sound samples seems best if your looking to use the baritone uke tuning. In fact i want one my self.
 
Anybody own a Gold Tone Banjolele?

Yup

Whadaya think? Good?

Yup

The flat "resonator" on the back--is it just a board? Can one just leave it off and use the Uke open backed?

Mine is open back.

What the heck is the pot made of? Is it wood?

Yup.

It looks like some man-made substance. Is yours DGBE? That's what I want, I think.

GCEA soprano
 
Last edited:
I have the tenor version with dGBE strings (high 'd'). It will not take a low D without modifying the tailpiece and nut. It still has the closed back but I understand it can be removed.
 
The Gold Tone and the Eddy Finn are so closely similar, they are probably made in the same factory. Why carry a baritone length when one can get the same sound out of a more conveniently sized tenor or concert? I will put a set of dGBE strings on my concert to see how the feel and sound. Widening the 4th slots will not be brain surgery. A set of automotive feeler gauges makes a set of files very quickly and easily. You only need one. If you want to know how to do it, I can tell you. The flat REFLECTOR on the back allows the sound to project rather than be swallowed up in one's clothing as with an open backed banjoukulele. I put one on my little soprano open-back.
 
I have a Goldtone baritone banjo uke and it's a very nice instrument. Mine is tuned high-D.

Good fit and finish, but I would have preferred a 10" pot for this scale instead of the 8" they use for all their banjo ukes.

I immediately removed the back of mine and put a bit of sponge under the skin to mute it a bit for playing around the house because it's a LOUD instrument. I have experimented with different types of material as a resonator plate, too. You can get a bit more of a banjo-like ring with metal.

You can buy a chrome armrest from GT, too. I haven't got it, but would really like one.
 
While a lot of folks use the term "banjolele" as a generic term to refer to a skin head uke instrument, Banjolele is actually a specific Gold Tone model. The Banjolele is a higher end instrument than the BUS, BUC, BUT, or BUB models. It also is an open back, non resonator type. Just a point of clarification...

I love mine, concert length, tuned gCEA, LOUD!
 
I have the tenor. I tune it gCEA, though Gold Tone recommends dGBE. I love the way it sounds, and get many compliments, usually from surprised guitar players. This past weekend, Grammy award winning songwriter Julie Gold (she wrote "From a Distance") pronounced it "cute". I've played the baritone version, but like most baritone ukes, I found the tension too low for my tastes. The tenor tuned gCEA gives a very snappy banjo-like sound when fingerpicked. I normally play mine without the wooden back plate, because I have a pickup crudely installed on it, and with the pack plate, it feeds back like nobody's business. I used to have the soprano-sized Gold Tone Banjolele Deluxe with the full resonator (the old version, with friction tuners) and I didn't care for it as much. But then, I've always been a tenor guy. I'm not a Formby-style player. I generally use it to play folk/Americana-style music.

- FiL
 
When you use the Brand name Goldtone with the term "banjolele" you are talking about a specific model as opposed to just using the word banjolele.
The Goldtone Banjoleles are soprano scale with brass tone ring with or without traditional resonator.
The Goldtone banjo uke series, is a less expensive series with soprano through baritone models (BUS,BUC,BUT,BUB) and a removeable wood plate resonator. IMO the less expensive series is the better instrument Soundwise. I don't think a banjo uke needs a brass tone ring.
 
I've been playing a Gold Tone BU-C for a few years now, and I like it a lot. I find it to be an excellent "compromise" instrument; it doesn't have quite the sharp bite of a Formby-style instrument, but it doesn't go too far over in the "plunky" side of the equation.

I have found newer resonator banjo ukes (Gold Tone, Lanikai) to be too brash. I owned the Lanikai for a while and it was so loud, it was unpleasant. When I stuffed some foam in there to control the volume, I lost too much tone. I actually ended up sending it back, something I pretty much never do.

For Formby-style, I'm lucky enough to have a couple of really nice vintage resonator banjo-ukes (a Ludwig Wendell Hall and a Stromberg-Voisenet) which deliver that tone in spades. I used to have a Slingerland MayBelle, which had wonderful tone, but the very narrow neck always threw me. But the MayBelles are still very affordable, so if you can deal with the narrow neck, they're a cool ride.
 
When you use the Brand name Goldtone with the term "banjolele" you are talking about a specific model as opposed to just using the word banjolele.
The Goldtone Banjoleles are soprano scale with brass tone ring with or without traditional resonator.
The Goldtone banjo uke series, is a less expensive series with soprano through baritone models (BUS,BUC,BUT,BUB) and a removeable wood plate resonator. IMO the less expensive series is the better instrument Soundwise. I don't think a banjo uke needs a brass tone ring.

I decided today i want a tenor banjo which i will play in standard CGDA I really like how it sounds on a banjo.
Sad part is i can't source a cheap one. I used to play my friends back in the day it was a 'gibson' old timey one
loved it's ancient sound.
 
For the money, you can get a banjo uke handmade from Waverly Street Ukes (though you're limited by Dave's output). Great value for the money.
http://www.wsukes.com/
 
Top Bottom