This is still much better than an Epiphone mandolin.

Ah give it a miss..

Man, Gibson is like a prostitute of its own name and legacy these days… it’s pretty sad.

i don't have an opinion about either banjo BUT you are one hell of a player.

The fact that Epiphone avoids any description of the tone ring in this banjo tells me all I need to know. Any search about the tone ring in these new Epiphones is surrounded in mystery. Their own website doesn't even list what it is. A quality tone ring should be a top selling point. Walk away from this banjo and don't look back. Glad you did this video and informed potential buyers who might have unknowingly threw money away on these new models.

I really appreciate your post here. I'm an intermediate player. Started with a Deering Goodtime but have moved up to a Gold Tone OB3, not quite a 3k instrument but for what I do, it serves me just fine. I used your video as a comparison and can see your points and where Gold Tone got it right. Thank you.

Sad Gibson would have went ahead with such a terribly built banjo. And if they were going to release this garbage at least have the decency to leave Earls name off it and price it much much lower.

Very nicely done.

Hey buddy here are a few comments researched off the hangout. Ill still call this new banjo " Banjo Bait " junk made for the sole purpose of tripping people into spending their money. "Trademark search USPTO shows Gold Tone as the owner of the Mastertone trademark. Also the Potter Violin Co. owns it. Gibson is not mentioned." "Gold Tone knocked off the Price patent tailpiece. They got caught and were forced to "license" it. That patent has expired and one may procure these from any Chinese vendor for barely any money. At one time they were on Aliexpress for just a few bucks shipped."

Instrument companies like to come off that there are multiple factories going on when in actuality there is one plant building many brand names. Japan did this when iida in the 70s built multitides of brand names under one roof. Fender, alvarez, aria, morris, GTR, iida all built by Teruo iidas leadership. It saves money and is what companies are made of. Saving money.

I like that you are willing to honestly expose basic banjo quality and the things that can be issues because cheap companies are terrible for trapping buyers into coerced sales. Its fraud actually.

I highly doubt that is a Gibson. Its a chinese built gold tone. "Banjo Bait " Watch out for companies who build " banjo bait ". They make one or two high quality banjos the ones that sellers play in the videos and the rest that customers buy have lower quality banjos and tone rings that weigh only 2 lbs. They do this to trap buyers into money. Gold Tone knockoff by the same chinese company. Tailpiece is goldtone no one makes those except them. Most likely Scott Zimmermans propagation of his own marketing. Possibly brass plating. You would have to break it down completely weigh the tone ring if its close to 2 lbs the tone ring is junk. You can also do a metal spectrum analysis to see if its really brass or zinc aluminum. (This is an edit because I see that you did do a magnet test and it is a steel ring which Gold Tone does make these.) An aluminum zinc ring would not hit w a magnet. The base power of any banjo will be a 3lb tone ring. The rim can even be off some but a good tone ring will over power it. Most rims will even breathe, move around, expand. A banjo neck needs to move around some it helps the neck vibrate.

Thanks for the very interesting review Steve, My super recording king RK36 is a top quality build with great tone and volume, do yourselves a favour and consider one instead of these instead

The Vega line of Earl Scruggs models also were barely playable and had major issues. Scruggs knew about them in the early 60's.

Is the set-up on the banjo the same as when it came out of the box? Did you alter the set-up from the factory? I am sure there are many that are disappointed in the poor quality of this banjo after so much anticipation of the release of this banjo.

Hello Steve! Thanks for this post about this thing that apparently can't be called a banjo. I have often wondered how the part will be finished. Now I know it. Hands off! I seriously wonder how someone from Earl's family comes to allow such a thing. A disgrace. Thank you for this article! Hopefully it will prevent many people from making a costly mistake. Greets and 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

That’s the worst setup Iv ever seen on any new banjo.

I played one of these Epip's and I wouldn't give $500 for it! Very good information thanks for posting this!

I'm guessing these come from the same place that makes the Ibanez B200. This is known for bad heel cuts and tone rings that are not centred due to a bad rim cut - the same is true for other similar banjos rebadged from the same factory like Gewa. Those hooks look very similar to those as well. The place that made the better Morgan Monroe banjos (Morgan Monroe is out of business) and many similar banjos for the European market closed down and they were much better.

I'm a guitar picker, but own a cheap banjo gifted to me by my brother in law (RIP Morgan) years ago. It probably cost about $500 and is well put together for the money (I did have to shave the bridge). I laughed so hard at the neck joint on that Epi, SPACERS/WASHERS !! Who ever designed or engineered that neck joint and angle doesn't know how the strings oscillate along the length of the neck. No matter what stringed instrument it is, that thing will never play proper ! Sláinte

I ordered one from Epiphone. My experience was similar. The heel cut was terribly botched. There was no way to make it work without grafting wood onto the heel and completely recutting and fitting the neck to the rim. There were cheap steel washers on the hooks. It was a true piece of trash.

Wow, this is worse than I expected. What a shame. The $1200 price tag on this is an outrage. Cheap, hollow tone, cut corner after cut corner. When you mentioned the e bottle cap banjos, I knew we were heading down a bad road as those can be virtually unplayable. Great review, very thorough. Thank you for putting this out there!

I had one of these on order for quite some time from Sweetwater, but I had heard bad things about them and cancelled my order a month ago. They contacted me a week ago offering one and I declined. I’m now very glad I did. Thank you!

Very good honest review, dreadful pot to neck connection. Even at the price you'll find banjos with a better fix and fit! Unfortunately punters will buy it for the name, in no way should our beloved Earls name be put to that imposter banjo!

This doesn’t hold a candle to my RK-75 Elite which is more in the price range The Scruggs would not be in the same room as my prewar Gibson style 3! I’m sure Earl is in fact rolling in his grave😢 Thanks for a very honest evaluation.

Wow! Great tone and playing. Also, crazy "psychedelic bubbles " mute under the head

Any chances you could point me and others to a tab of your version or a version you learned from. Beautiful music.

Man, that's good! I really enjoyed that!

Slide banjo

Very useful information, cheers!

great lesson, i am just learning this tune. the intro lesson "taters" was new to me, will have to try that lol unsure what you were doing with your rt hand, will have to re-watch to get it down correctly. keep the great videos coming.

Love this style!!

I'm considering doing a raffle ticket

That sounds so frickin good! What kind kind of head and strings did you use on this?

Very Excellent. thanks

Sounds great Steven! Haven’t heard this one before, can you tell a little about where it’s from?

Learnt this beautiful tune fast thanks to your detailed breakdown. Your subtle feel will take a lifetime

Do you still have & use the Tone Traveler?

DAYYUM

Do you use pull off on the 4th string at the same time as a thumb pluck on the 6th string? (~0:17) Something like f(3) pull off to d(0)/with pluck D (0/6)

Beautiful! I love your technique, sounds very clean. It's obvious you've spent time mastering it. One thing I'd request: Any chance you could upload this again with a bit less snapping of the lowest (thickest) string? A little of that is good contrast, but you're doing it *a lot* and it's a bit unevenly distributed, too.

Nice work ole friend!!

Thanks so much for this. You broke it down very nicely and made it really easy to follow. Now I just need to practice!

Hands down best player/teacher out there. Thank-you just got my GTac12

What do you use for a guitar case?

So, did the good doctor fix the sound of your guitar?

Damn, dude, this sounds so good! The notes are so clear.

Where are the follow up videos?

seems most people like the sound. can I respectfully disagrre The sound is surely different but I personally prefer the sounds of standard guitar shapes . I find them rounder (no surprise) ,gentler, morecaressing . The sound of the box is harsh with sharp edges ( again no surprise ) for me Just my opinion

Is there any lesson in YT which in details and slowly the work of right hands in clawhammer guitar?! Thanks.