Gold Tone: Maple Classic MC-150 Lefty Kit

Submitted by GoldTone on 3/21/2002

Where Purchased: First Quality Musical Supplies

Year Purchased: 2000
Price Paid: a/b $360 ($US)

Sound

I play bluegrass and a little old-time and it suits me fine... has a great tone and when you put enough laquer on the resonator, the tone is great!
I have used it hooked up to a guitar amp via microphone twice and it works well
The sound started out very bright, but as I keep on playing it, the wood ages and tone tone sounds better and is more rich
This banjo has a nice sound; puts in a good amount of

Sound Rating: 7

Setup

I bought it from a kit, so I set it up the way I liked it. The action could be worked on some, butfor the most part it works really well.

Setup Rating: 8

Appearance

This banjo is a very good-looking instrument; not many banjos have a light-colored finish and the maple grain under that finish is beautiful!!!

Appearance Rating: 9

Reliability

The neck came finished, and it is very satisfactory. The resonator's finish I put on my self, and since it comes in contace with my body a lot, it gets glossed and polished and wears through some. I have gotten in the habit of adding a few coats of laquer every once in a while to add the the shine and affect the tone.
The hardware is extrememly reliable; I have no complaint with it except that one of the tuning peg knobs is nickel-plated while all of the other are imitations of mother-of pearl tuning peg knobs

Reliability Rating: 9

Customer Service

Gold Tone was very helpful when we called them up for advice and the like, and with very few exceptions they met up to my expectations

Customer Service: 8

Components

The parts are the same as the banjo: an extremely good deal for the intermediate banjo player.

Components Rating: 7

Overall Comments

I would pay between $400 to $450 for a banjo like this.
If my banjo was stolen, I would hunt that bugger down and never give up.
I love this instrument; it has a few drawbacks, but those are more of my own building mistakes than instrument quality.

Overall Rating: 7