Gold Tone AC-1 Banjo With Bag

Very good little banjo. Would be a good banjo for a beginner . good tone and volume . fast delivery. The packaging leaves a lot to be desired. I'm surprised it wasn't damaged in shipment. Would recommend the banjo. 5 stars. I did add an armrest. Will leave the tuners as is.

Although I own several other stringed instruments this is my first banjo. It sounds fantastic, appears to be well made. The action and intonation are spot on. I would definitely recommend this Gold Tone.

This is a sweet little Banjo. Lightweight has a real good, plunky sound. I’m really enjoying it so far. It needed quite a bit of setting back up. It was packed horribly zero padding in the box. The internal box that the instrument was in was wide open. The instrument was flying around loose a giant box with zero padding. Still, a great addition to my Banjo family.

I'm very happy with the banjo, although I am no expert banjo player this one does the job nicely and sounds great. It arrived well packaged and was set up ready to play. Now I'm just driving the family nuts practising picking styles!

I’d been playing my home-made banjo increasingly, but it’s shortcomings were beginning to be more and more apparent.Limited budget...I saw a couple of write-ups on this Gold Tone offering and decided to give it a try. I’d had a similarly-priced Epiphone some years back and it arrived badly in need of a setup. Head not tightened, bridge not placed, etc...Gold Tone advertises that each of these overseas-produced instruments is properly set up at thier center prior to shipment. I found this to be true. Head tensioned, action set, bridge placed.... All I had to do was tune up and play.This banjo features a one-piece composite rim... No “tone ring”. As a result, the instrument is very light. So light, in fact, that you’ll need a strap right away just to keep the neck up. No worries about shoulder pain, however.All the hardware seems fine...Tuners work smoothly, frets are well-finished, etc. Very comfortable to play.If you want, a composite resonator and an armrest are both available from Gold Tone.So, how’s it sound? Very good,, IMO. Quite loud for an open back, and seems to handle either Scruggs-style picking with fingerpicks and trailing/clawhammer just fine.Only downside is the “bag”... which does hold the banjo but offers about as much protection as a gunny sack. Protects from dust and scratches, but that’s all. Trying to keep that under-200-dollar price point, I imagine.