Gold Tone: Bob Carlin BC-350

Submitted by MossPiglet on 2/16/2007

Where Purchased: Zepp Music

Year Purchased: 2006
Price Paid: 700 or so historic exchange rates / currency converter

Sound

Sounds great ... 12 inch pot gives sublime tone for clawhammer and gets loud too, you can be heard in jams or stringband. Its loud and plunky with nice overtones, its got a rich bass, sounds so nice in double C with that low C (for stagework I usually keep it in this tuning, and have another banjo for my G stuff) , yet its still got a treble cut to it also, thanks to the simple rolled brass tonering .... it really has quite a full spectrum sound. I always get complements on its tone ... I also have a heavy artificial nail kept up by the local nail salon, which really helps the clawhammer tone on any banjo.

Sound Rating: 9

Setup

Only thing I changed was to a heavy moon bridge ... I tried moon medium also, but just love the deep sound on the low strings with the heavy. I did order it with the matching resonator, however the resonator is a junk tray in my studio now ... I never use it. It sounds fuller and more resonant without it. I use ghs medium gauge phosphor bronze string sets, the phos bronze helps the bass sound rich.

It has one of the widest necks for a banjo that Ive seen, which has advantages and disadvantages ... Ive come to love it that way tho, lots of room to articulate complex melodic stuff ... however it can be long reaches sometimes too. The frets are very small, which also has good and bad points ... you have to have good technique to get bar chords to ring clean, however you can do real nice slide stuff so it almost sounds like a fretless. These are some unusual features, no doubt specified by Bob Carlin ... they really give the banjo a unique character.

I find no problem with the stock armrest that other reviewers have had problems with ... I just raised mine a hair to keep my arm up off that ringin Ren head.

Setup Rating: 8

Appearance

It has a simple understated look, perfect as I dont need or want flashy stuff. The neck is huge so it looks a bit funny there sometimes, but its a 12 inch pot too, so I guess its balanced. Some people have complained about the heavy gloss finish ... I dont have a problem with that esp since I live in minnesota and thicker finishes standup better to our huge weather and humidity changes .

Appearance Rating: 7

Reliability

Ive had it about a year and no problems ... and Ive played it alot cause I really dig the tone.

Reliability Rating: 9

Customer Service

Havent dealt direct with goldtone ... ordering from Zepp was aok of course. Emailed Bob Carlin himself with a few questions before I bought it and he replied right away.

Customer Service: 8

Components

Its not perfect ... a small file mark on the neck ... a dark spot in the maple on the neck. Im sure at this price that some of the components are not the greatest, however Ive had no problems and it gave me a great clawhammer tone and playability at a price I can afford. I appreciate that they are making affordable banjos that are really designed to get the best out of what you can have at a reasonable pricepoint.

Components Rating: 7

Overall Comments

Theres some other banjos I dream of owning but cant afford, so I really like this carlin model ... its got some unique features that give it character and its got sweet tone. I recommend it ... Ive played other brands close in price, ... Reiter, Ramseys ... I came away very glad I purchased the bc-350. None of them ring like this big 12 incher.

Overall Rating: 9