Gold Tone Paul Beard PBR-D Story

[BudHa]

I wanted to share my experience with a Beard PBR-D round neck I bought used. I have been looking at Beard round neck guitars and ran across a 2007 PBR-D on the internet for a very good price. I decided to take a chance and bought it without seeing anything but pictures. When it arrived it looked very lightly used but the setup was really bad. My Gretch Boxcar resonator sounded much better than the PBR-D. So I took it apart and cleaned up the cone and gave it a good setup. The improvement was dramatic. Then I decided, after speaking to the folks at Beard Guitars, to replace the old 2007 cone with a Beard Legend cone. Holy cow! It sounds amazing. I guess my point is I am confirming all those who say how important a good setup and cone condition is on a resonator guitar. And how great the Gold Tone Beard model resonator guitars are.

[Kerbie]

Good story! Those are sweet. I've played several and thought they were lots of fun.

[hat]

some of the Beard Gold Tones are set up at the Beard shop. Some are not. The ones that are should have a sticker under one of the sound holes from Beard. The quality of the Beard Goldtones is very good. did you just replace the cone, or the spider also?

[junkyard]

I have a squareneck Gold Tone Beard resonator that I've been learning to play for the past few years. I was very impressed with the quality of the build. I bought mine through Beard, so it came with their setup. It's been a great instrument to learn on.

[BudHa]

Originally Posted by hat

some of the Beard Gold Tones are set up at the Beard shop. Some are not. The ones that are should have a sticker under one of the sound holes from Beard. The quality of the Beard Goldtones is very good. did you just replace the cone, or the spider also?

Mine did not have the sticker indicating setup by Beard. In doing my research, I believe Beard puts one of his Legend cones in the new Gold Tone guitars he sets up. I believe the Beard guitars setup at the Gold Tone factory have the Beard BC-1 cone. That may be the difference folks hear between the ones setup by Beard vs the ones setup by Gold Tone. The people who setup the Beard guitars at Gold Tone were trained by Beard on how to setup the Beard guitars.

I think my Beard guitar probably lived under a bed or in a closet for years before I bought it. It showed very little sign of playing wear. There was zero neck relief and the inside of the case had a musty smell when I got the guitar. I did not make any adjustments to the saddle height. The action was good after the neck relief settled in with adjustment. There was some sort of dried liquid residue on areas of the cone and the cone was very dusty. But all is fine now. The guitar has stabilized to the environment in my home.

I did not replace the spider. The spider is a Beard #14. The spider sits flat and appears to be in good condition. I may replace the spider with a Beard #14 adjustable spiders in the future.