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Old 04-29-2019, 10:59 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Location: Chugiak, Alaska
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Steve on Staten Island wrote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa View Post
You might find this of (dis)interest:

https://goldtonemusicgroup.com/goldt...struments/f-12

Everything old is new again...
I think you need to rush right out and buy one, Steve. After all, I know you're an archtop fan!

Here's a photo of the culprit:



Gold Tone F-12: 12-string F-style Mando-Guitar

And here's the ad copy on that page:

"These six- and twelve-string mando-guitars are built on a larger artist- (or F-style) mandola body. The F-6/F-12 mandolin guitar's larger air chamber offers extended low-end response and the new, wider slim-line neck and longer scale provide added room for fretting those first-position chords. The fretboard is radiused for comfort and the ebony bridge contains a built-in pickup for easy plugged-in picking."


That ad copy contradicts the spec sheet, which describes the adjustable bridge as being made out of walnut instead of the ebony bridge mentioned in that last paragraph. But my guess on that is that the ad copy was written after the decision had been made to put the instruments into production, but before they had the production prototypes in hand where they could play and evaluate them.

All three of what Gold Tone calls "mando-guitars" currently have walnut bridges, so perhaps they found that they got a better (or at least mellower) tone from the instruments when they used walnut instead of ebony for the bridges.

It's likely that those bridges have to be CNC machined at the Gold Tone plant specifically for these instruments, (because no vendor is likely to make 12 string guitar-mandolin bridges just for the heck of it,) and it's also likely that they found it was significantly less expensive to machine these bridges out of walnut rather than ebony.

It's an interesting new take on the concept, Steve. Gold Tone in general is a wildly creative company, coming out with all sorts of variations on these folk instruments, and executing them very well. I'm certain that the cost-lowering effect for making prototypes and manufacturing that CNC has brought to the marketplace is the only thing that makes this wide array of niche instruments even possible, much less profitable.

I still have zero interest in getting one of these, but thanks for the link. One thing I will say, though, is that it was a clever move on Gold Tone's part to put the 12 string neck on a mandola body rather than a mandolin, because it seems as though it gives the instrument a somewhat better chance to resonate.

Similarly, the best-sounding guitar-banjo that Gold Tone makes, in my opinion, is this open back model with a 12 inch rim:



Gold Tone BT-2000: 6-String Banjo Guitar

The open back and one inch wider rim give it some warmth and musicality that their standard 11 inch rim versions don't quite achieve,

https://goldtonemusicgroup.com/goldt...uments/bt-2000

I love my Deering B6 guitar-banjo, and prefer it to any of the Gold Tone guitar-banjos I've played, but if it was ever destroyed by, say....crazed anti-banjo activists, I would probably replace it with one of these BT-2000's. The Deering Boston successor model to the B6 is well over two grand now, and as much as I play and enjoy my B6, 26 hundred bucks is a bit high for a niche instrument.

Anyway, thanks again.


Wade Hampton Miller
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