Gold Tone Archives - Bluegrass Today

Bayla Davis, newest Gold Tone endorser

Bayla Davis with her new custom Gold Tone open back banjo

Gold Tone Music Group has announced their newest endorser, and perhaps their youngest, in the person of Bayla Davis, a 17-year-old old time player from western North Carolina. In just a few years time, this talented young lady has turned heads all across the music world for her skillful playing, and her full-on embrace of traditional mountain music.

Last spring she was chosen to be featured on From The Top, a television show and podcast that highlights exceptionally talented teen musicians. For years the show focused on classical artists, but has only recently begun to showcase traditional music players like Davis and Wyatt Ellis.

Bayla says that she is delighted with her new banjo, one that was custom built for her unique stylistic preferences as a clawhammer picker who also plays bluegrass, and by having one made just for her.

“I am really excited to be endorsed by a banjo company! I actually thought only really famous instrumentalists could be endorsed, but I was really excited when some of my friends recently got endorsed, and then I got asked a couple weeks following! It really seems like the music world is beginning to take the younger generation seriously and professionally, and I am really thankful.

I’ve only ever played Gold Tone banjos, but the ones I currently have are only banjos that I have won or never picked out personally. I was invited to Titusville, Florida during my Christmas break from school to check out a custom banjo they had begun to work on for me, and to show me around the factory. I visited Mr. Justin and Mr. Wayne, who I’ve known for years at various festivals, but it was amazing to see them in their working environment, and to meet the luthiers

When I was asked what type of banjo I would be interested in, they were very surprised that I wanted something exactly like a resonator banjo (I play clawhammer, so that isn’t very common); however, I wanted an open back to promote my style and the culture of old time music.

They put together an open back Tubaphone banjo, with three rings, and very low action for a loud and bright sound. They put on an Ome armrest, and they used a gorgeous Gold Tone neck with all the frets and no scoop (usually something only resonators have). I played it for the first time with my siblings in Mr. Justin’s office, and the only thing that was changed was the string gauge sizes: I like to have different weird sizes for the strings specifically so nothing buzzes. I’ve found that clawhammer is a rougher style that can hit the strings in a certain way that promotes annoying pick noise and a ring – and the luthier was able to adjust them in minutes.

I have officially named my new baby banjo “Frankenstein,” because it is a banjo made up of many other parts of different banjos. I feel like average open back banjos are muffled and softer, but because I play more bluegrass and contemporary on clawhammer than I do old time, I wanted to be able to be heard just as loud and clear as other players, but with my own style.”

Well done Gold Tone!

Young Ms. Davis is currently absorbed in applying to music colleges, looking for the best fit for her particular interests.

Hey music schools… time to reach out to this talented artist!

Gold Tone Joe Mullins Bow Tie banjo

Gold Tone has announced a new banjo model, one designed in cooperation with veteran bluegrass performer, bandleader, and broadcaster Joe Mullins.

The OB-2JM offers a few differentiations from the Gold Tone Mastertone Bow Tie banjo already in their line. It keeps the popular inlay pattern that Gibson had used in the 1960s, but substitutes a rolled brass, hoop-style tone ring for lighter weight, something a good many touring pros are switching to for back relief, and gold-plated metal parts.

Otherwise, the specs and dimensions are just what you would expect to find in any professional grade banjo.

Shipping with a case, that is a lot of banjo for just under $2,000, which Gold Tone achieves by having components made overseas and shipped to their facility in Titusville, FL, where they are assembled and set up by their own experienced craftsmen.

Mullins shared a bit about how this new model came to be.

“The Gold Tone team has hosted a luncheon visit for The Radio Ramblers twice in the past year when we’ve worked shows in Florida, and they have been a participating sponsor of our award-winning Industrial Strength Bluegrass Festivals.

When we visited Gold Tone earlier this year, I was into my second year of playing an old 1949 or so Gibson RB 150 I have really enjoyed. It’s the banjo on our album Let Time Ride, and our Christmas album. Our guitar player, Adam McIntosh, and mandolin man, Chris Davis, have both enjoyed a Gold Tone instrument or two, and done a few Gold Tone promotional videos.

Adam suggested sitting down with them about a JM model. The Gold Tone bow tie banjos recently introduced are really nice, and it was suggested we develop one with just a brass hoop, not a heavy tone ring, like my old banjo. It’s not only lighter, but there’s a very nice, dry tone that suits me.

When we started the conversation, and a gold plated bow tie model was mentioned, I was all in. So cool to have vintage style, lightweight, gold hardware, and some really cool features like the rosewood truss rod cover, top of the line tailpiece and bridge, and a signature armrest. Plus, it’s got professional quality tone out of the box.

We introduced the JM model at our festival a few weeks ago. They begin shipping in February and I’m excited about seeing them in the hands of players. I’m grateful for the opportunity and great service team with Gold Tone. Check them out today!”

Orders are being accepted now from Gold Tone dealers worldwide, both online and brick and mortar.

Full details can be found online.

Congratulations Joe Mullins and Gold Tone. It’s a beaut!

Gold Tone introduces Bow Tie OB-2 Mastertone banjo

Gold Tone Music Group in Florida has introduced a new version of their top line OB-250 banjo, a replica of the classic RB-250s from the early 1960s, which they call the OB-2 Bow Tie. It is part of their Mastertone series of instruments with parts made overseas, and assembly and set up handled in the Goldstone shop in Titusville, FL.

The company is family owned, founded by Wayne and Robyn Rogers in 1993, who run the business themselves with a dedicated staff. They have in recent years acquired the Mastertone brand name, which had been up for grabs when Gibson stopped building banjos in 2010. While Gold Tone makes a variety of stringed instruments, all designed for the budget-minded player, the Mastertone name is only used on their very finest, professional grade products.

This new OB-2 looks to be a very faithful reproduction of those classic Bow Tie banjos from Gibson. The iconic fretboard inlays, the flyswatter headstock with the mustache top, and the Mastertone-style pot assembly are all made to spec, yet the overseas parts manufacture allows Gold Tone to offer this new model at only $1995 with case.

The mahogany neck and resonator have the same golden sunburst as the originals, and they have even made a 19-hole tone ring to match the type used in the ’60s.

Gold Tone produced this short video to demonstrate the look and sound of the OB-2 Bow Tie in action.

The OB-2 Bow Tie is available now from the dozens of Gold Tone dealers in the US and Canada, or directly from the company online.

You can find out more about this, and all their other banjos, guitars, reso-guitars, and mandolins, at the company web site.

Béla Fleck Bluegrass Heart Gold Tone banjo on its way

For years banjo players have drooled over Béla Fleck’s 1937 RB-75 conversion banjo, the one that he has played since 1982. It’s a beautiful instrument, and helped cement his sound into every banjo picker’s brain through his landmark 1988 release, Drive. We also saw it in his hands through the New Grass Revival period of his career, and in most any setting where he was playing acoustically.

And now Gold Tone is poised to release a replica signature model banjo for Béla, which they are calling the Mastertone Bluegrass Heart in reference to Fleck’s latest album. Gold Tone now controls the Mastertone trademark. The banjo is based on the Gold Tone OB-3 Twanger model, which was introduced as a copy of J.D. Crowe’s iconic and original RB-3, know affectionately as Banger, with its no hole tone ring. Many modifications have been made in creating this new banjo, all with Béla’s direct input.

We reached out to Marc Horowitz, who sold Béla the RB-75 years ago, and who had also served as his banjo teacher back in the ’70s. Marc is probably the best known banjo player in New York City and has been for some time. He has also worked in the industry as a manufacturer’s representative for a number of instrument builders, including Gibson, Alvarez, and Gold Tone.

Marc described how the prewar classic ended up with Fleck in the first place.

“I recall when I was working at Mandolin Brothers in 1982, and Béla told me to keep an eye out for a pre war for him. This one came in as a tenor with a cut rim, suggesting that it was originally meant for an arch top ring, but was later cut for a flathead.

I called Béla and told him it would probably bring $7,000 in the store, but that he could have it for $4,000. He asked about getting a custom neck made with a wider, radiused fingerboard.

I’m good friends with John Monteleone, who used to do repairs at Mandolin Brothers, but had moved on to building fine arch top guitars. So I called and asked if he might be willing to make a neck for Bela. John didn’t really want anything to do with banjos back then, but he said, for Bela… sure.

John and Béla feel that the distinctive tone of this banjo has a lot to do with that heavier neck, resulting from his request for a wider spec. At first Béla thought it was too heavy, but he decided to get used to it rather than try another neck.”

One day when Wayne Rogers of Gold Tone was talking to Horowitz on the phone – the company also makes a Marc Horowitz model banjo – he suggested to Rogers that a new model relating to Béla’s Bluegrass Heart tour might be a good idea. Fleck already had a strong relationship with Gold Tone, and has used a couple of their banjos on tour and in the studio, primarily in his work with his wife, Abigail Washburn. In particular, he plays their Missing Link baritone banjo and their cello banjo.

“I asked Wayne if a replica of Bela’s original banjo would be of interest. Of course it was, and I told Wayne I would ask him.

So I called him to gauge his interest in having a replica made, and he was immediately intrigued, saying that he has wanted something like that for a long time. It was to be based on the pot for the OB3 Twanger. So using that as the basis we started going back and forth on specs, and we prototyped three or four times. The factory in China that builds the Gold Tone banjos is now dedicated solely to making their instruments, with a new owner committed to removing the negative stigma about the quality of Chinese made instruments. She is an attorney over there who is very detail oriented.

We changed and improved a lot of details from the OB-3 as Béla played the prototypes – different resonator brackets, head, and tailpiece among them. Béla wanted to use the Keith tuners like he has on his 75, but the cost was too high for production. He said from the start that he wanted to make sure that this could be affordable for everyone. So I suggested the Rickard tuners, which are as smooth as glass with a 10-1 ratio because they don’t use conventional tooth gears. He approved the Rickard tuners and we were set to go.

Bela tried out each of the prototypes, and we went over every detail. He ended up wanting a thinner neck, fingerboard to back, so we changed that to suit his preference.”

Now the first four pieces are expected to arrive in Florida next week, with a full run of 70 pieces coming in January. One will go to Marc as a keeper, and Rogers plans to send one to Gabe Hischfeld in Boston to try out, and to a few other online banjo influencers.

Bela is playing the prototype now out on the Bluegrass Heart tour, which you can see in this video of the tune Strider, with Michael Cleveland, Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Bryan Sutton, and Mark Schatz.

Gold Tone is taking orders now for these first two consignments of Bluegrass Heart, Béla Fleck signature models. The selling price is $3699 with a custom-designed, high impact case, and can be ordered either right or left handed

You can see all the specifications for this banjo online, which generally follow what you would expect in a prewar replica.

One deviation is something Béla specifically requested. Instead of the script brand logo at the top of the headstock as is common in nearly all banjos, it has a heart inlay made of what looks to be red tortoise shell.

Horowitz said that he is a believer in Gold Tone, and the quality instruments they produce. He plays a Twanger himself in professional circles, and says that many fellow pickers are astounded by how it sounds at such a low price.

“We’ve all worked very hard to make sure that people get away from believing that just because something is made in China, it has to be low quality. It doesn’t matter where it’s made, it matters how it’s made.”

Visit Gold Tone online to see the Bluegrass Heart and all their other models.

Gold Tone now offering Mastertone brand instruments

After spending a decade defunct, the “Mastertone” banjo is back, and it’s no longer a Gibson. Wayne Rogers of Gold Tone Music Group has trademarked “Mastertone,” and released a new line of offshore made instruments bearing the name.

This first came to many fans’ attention a few days ago after an online discussion sprung up that was prompted by printed materials from Gold Tone that featured the insignia “Mastertone ™”

In 1925 Gibson released a new line of banjos they labeled as Mastertones. For the next 85 years, Gibson’s American-made Mastertones set the mark for nearly every other 5 string banjo to be measured. Today many of these instruments are still regarded as the best of the best, a pinnacle of instrument design, and would likely still be in production if not for the 2010 Nashville flood that led to Gibson’s closing of the banjo division. Virtually every banjo master has played and recorded with a Gibson Mastertone: Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, Ralph Stanley, JD Crowe, Sonny Osborne, Bill Emerson, Raymond Fairchild, and so on. The rest of the list would be exhaustive to write and read!

Over time, the moniker Mastertone became synonymous with Gibson. There was never a need to trademark the name Mastertone – that’s just what Gibson banjos were. That’s exactly how Rogers ended up owning the name. Simply put, Gibson hadn’t made them for quite a long time, and the name wasn’t copyrighted, at least with reference to banjos. Rogers sought the copyright, and after working with a violin company who also used the name Mastertone, he received the first official trademark of the name on fretted instruments.

Now, Gold Tone has released a complete line of Mastertone instruments that include banjos, mandolins, and both acoustic and resophonic guitars. The instruments are available at reasonable prices, with banjos ranging in the $1500-2500 range.

We hope to learn more about the new line of Mastertones in the coming weeks, and will share more information as it becomes available.

Gold Tone introduces Marc Horowitz model banjo

Florida’s Gold Tone Music Group has introduced a new banjo model for old time banjo players, their OT-MH, a Marc Horowitz signature model.

Marc is one of the most prolific performers and instructors in the northeastern US, a man who has excelled at both bluegrass and old time playing styles since the late 1950s. He designed this new banjo along with Wayne Rogers of Gold Tone and Tom Nechville of Nechville Musical Products over two years of experimenting with different components, and the result is the OT-MH.

It appears that Horowitz started this process mostly for himself. He serves as a representative for both Nechville and Gold Tone in the northeast, has a close relationship with both companies, and a familiarity with both lines. They each serve a slightly different segment of the banjo market, but Horowitz saw the value in perhaps pairing a composite graphite neck from Gold Tone with a Nechville Atlas pot to give him an old time instrument that would be light weight, yet stable in varying weather conditions, and could be quickly and easily adjusted for different playing situations.

When he first got one together, and discovered the ideal set up combination, he found that it was even better than he had imagined. As Marc describes it…

“After a year and a half of playing this banjo around at festivals, house parties and gigs, the reactions I got from players that tried it were uniformly favorable. Last October, I was playing music with two other banjoists at a party in a casual situation when one of them, Dr. Ian Alexander of Australia, asked to try my banjo. He played a few phrases and then said, ‘I want one of these, but only if it’s exactly like this one; can you do it?’ I said, ‘Sure, probably, why not?’

Then he handed the banjo over to the other player, my friend Hilarie Burhans. She played it at some length, then declared, ‘I’m not a gearhead. I’ve been playing the same banjo for fifteen years and didn’t ever want anything else, until now.’ I now had two orders for a banjo that technically didn’t exist. When I got home, I told this story to Tom Nechville and Wayne Rogers (president of Gold Tone) and each said the same thing: ‘Why not a Marc Horowitz Signature model?'”

And as they say, the rest is history. Tom and Wayne decided to offer this banjo in limited quantities as part of the Gold Tone line.

The OT-MH model is made to a 25.5” scale with 18 frets and the upper position scooped, and the fingerboard of a single piece with the neck. The rim is made of blocked wood construction, with a cocobolo wood tone ring.

Marc says it’s the perfect combination of old and new.

“The pairing of the Nechville Atlas pot (built by Nechville and modeled after an Ashborn design of the late 1800s) with its all-wood, block-style rim with integral wood flange, mated to Gold Tone’s graphite composite neck (with traditional peghead and scoop) with its uniform density and immunity to changes in humidity and temperature, results in a tone palette that’s warm and round, yet focused and powerful. It lacks the distracting overtones that muddy the notes in many open back banjos and when I play it, I always get comments like, ‘I was three campsites away, but I had to come over here to see what was making that sound.'”

Gold Tone offers the OT-MH through its network of US dealers for $3495.00 with a gig bag, though dealers set their own prices and may offer discounts. A street price of $2600 seems to be the norm.

The supply is limited primarily by the availability of the graphite necks, but orders can be placed at any dealer as long as you are willing to wait a few months for delivery.

A full list of specifications can be found on the Gold Tone web site.