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GOLD TONE BANJO - $600 (New Haven)
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MODEL EBM-5
This banjo is a Goldtone model electric banjo. I bought this from a musician who lightly used the banjo and then sold it. I am a banjo player, and I bought this banjo to replace the older banjo that I had used in a band I performed in. The problem that all banjo players run into is the difficulty of amplifying, especially in a full electric band with guitars and live drums. When I received the new banjo, the neck was in need of work. I had Sweetwater sound dress the neck and frets and had them add several banjo spikes.
The quality of the instrument:
The built quality is average at best. If you look closely there are lot of small faults. The instrument has only a few nicks and I have some pics of the instrument close up.
The modifications:
The first problem I ran into is the instrument does not sound like a traditional banjo. The front pickup and the pickup under the drum head are both junk. I tried to eq the crap out of the instrument to get it to sound remotely like a banjo with little luck. I replaced the front pickup with a Seymore Dunkin and removed the pickup under the head. I tried several other methods of pickups and found the answer. I added a KNA BP-1 banjo bridge pickup and only had to eq lightly to get a reasonable banjo sound. Currently the volume and tone controls only are controlling the neck pickup since the rear pickup under the head was removed. The new banjo bridge pickup plugs directly in a ¼” jack and is not wired in to the existing volume and tone controls. My intention was to wire in the bridge pickup to the volume and tone controls but I was satisfied with plugging the bridge pickup in direct into my pedal board.
With all the work I did over the several years I owned this instrument I only played out in a band setting several times with good results with the new pickup. Unfortunately, I no longer perform in that band. I am moving in the near future, and I have no need to for the electric banjo so I am selling.