Gold Tone, 5-String Banjo (EB-5)

Unamplified, sounds like a very quiet, but very legitimate, banjo. All the crack of my Mastertone, but at a fifth the volume. Very household noise-level friendly! Arrives with high action and a very heavy string gauge; but minor tweaking will make this a go-to instrument. Tunes much easier than a conventional banjo, and stays in tune much longer. So much fun to play. Great value for the dollar. If you're looking for a second, smaller banjo to compliment your flagship resonator, you should include this in your try-out list. I picked it up as a curiosity at the music store and was stunned by how much more I liked it than the open-backs. Dark-horse big-time winner for Gold Tone!

The pickup is in the wrong place. When you play it without amplifying it has a banjo sound but because the pickup is in front of the drum instead of under it when you play it with an amplifier it sounds like a guitar and loses its banjo sound. Still a cool guitar.

The item came with a broke Humbucker pic-up, I wanted to exchange it for one that is not broken

Just got this and I have to say it looks and sounds fantasti. It doesn't have much resonance when not plugged in but I like that so I can practice in relative silence. When 0lugged in it really comes to life. I've ran it through my Fishman acoustic amp and a PA system. I got compliment on the look and sound. So I'd have to say 8m happy all around with this product.

I'm thinking of purchasing one of these, but the fretboard is dotted at the 9th fret (like a guitar) instead of at the 10th (like a banjo). I wonder why? They didn't do this on the higher-end EBM-5.

Gold Tone EB-5Well made. The setup was perfect out of the box. The body is darker than shown in the online pictures. I like that. Beautiful. The neck feels really good and it’s comfortable to play. Perhaps, because it’s thinner than I am used to, I have been using a strap to ensure the neck stays up and in place. Electrically it works great, but will depend on your equipment and expectations. Because I expected to use it primarily unplugged, I was concerned with how banjo-ie it would sound. An 8 inch head is going to sound different and will have less projection than a standard size banjo head. This has a really nice banjo sound and is fun to play. It’s a bit quieter, depending how hard you pick it, so its perfect for around the house. I think it has more of a resonator like sound than an open back banjo. One thought was, because it is quieter, I could use it on vacation. Jury is still out on that. This can defiantly be quieter and should work. But it’s also easy to get playing a bit faster and picking a bit harder, so it may be just as intrusive to loved ones around me trying to sleep or watch TV.Bottom line, the more I play it, the better I like it.

Bought one of these about 4-years ago. Pleased with the tone and overall quality. Most notably, compared to my $2,500 electric, the intonation of the Goldtone is way better up and down the neck. Also, the volume balance, string to string, is way better and I found the Goldtone just easier to play.I play and perform almost every day.