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The banjo reviews database is here to help educate people before they purchase an instrument. Of course, this is not meant to be a substitute for playing the instrument yourself!

7209 reviews in the archive.

Gold Tone: OB3 Twanger

Submitted by GeeBeeThreefinger on 6/19/2023

Where Purchased: Ceres Banjo Works

Year Purchased: 2023
Price Paid: 1900 ($US)

Sound

I play some 3-finger and bluegrass, but I’m really enjoying melodic style. I went for this mahogany Twanger with a radiused fretboard with the intent to modify a little to compliment that. Details below in set-up.

Sound Rating: 10

Setup

The set-up from Ceres was great: drum set perfectly at 90, which I appreciated. The Twanger came new with GT hardware (obviously). I switched out the tuners for Rickard with brass knobs, and changed the tailpiece to a Prucha clamshell to add mass to the banjo. That worked great. Added a Nechville heavy bridge after trying several others. Also replaced the armrest with a Nechville woodie, just personal preference over nickel rests. Changed the strings to lights, came with mediums.

The banjo has an incredibly full and sweet sound.

Setup Rating: 9

Appearance

The Twanger looks nice, nothing too fancy. Simple cream binding and concentric ring purfling on the resonator. I like the lacquer finish. The thin profile neck is easy to get around on. As mentioned above, I changed much of the hardware. But the pot, resonator and neck are good quality.

Appearance Rating: 9

Reliability

I will definitely be using this banjo for jamming. I am not at the level of performing, yet.

*Edit* the 5th geared Gotoh tuner started to get a little wonky and slippy, so had to fix that.

Reliability Rating: 8

Customer Service

Ceres was very communicative, and sent the banjo promptly. Well protected and in perfect shape on arrival.

Customer Service: 10

Components

While the radius neck is nice, the gradient seems very slight. I don’t have a way to measure, but it feels like 14” to 16” compound (if it IS compound). I prefer a more pronounced radius: 7” to 12”. I mean, if you’re gonna hop on a radiused neck, go full or go flat! But that said, it is a very comfortable neck to play on. There is no information on the Gold Tone site, and an email to them did not yield an answer.

*Edit* After playing the Twanger for a couple of weeks, I decided to upgrade to the GT Bela neck. The deeper compound radius is something I would like to add to this banjo. Will update after I get the banjo back from GT.

Components Rating: 7

Overall Comments

Overall, with the changes I made to it, the Twanger radiused neck is a great banjo. *Will update after receiving new compound Bela neck* The tone and timbre are excellent. This is a fine mahogany 'jo. I'd read other reviews that the Twanger is great value for the price, and I agree wholeheartedly. My modifications notwithstanding, it is a fine banjo. The Twanger has been elevated to a special level with my modifications. I have a couple of Stellings (Staghorn and Red Fox), a couple of Deerings (GDL and Eagle II), and this unit is not out of place among them. That truly surprises me! I was sceptical of Gold Tone's quality, but this is a great base for putting your stamp on to get what you want out of a banjo. Recommend highly!

Overall Rating: 9