Hi Tom,
Wow! I can't thank you and JDMC enough for helping me with my Banjo
purchase. The Goldstar GF 100W came through
in flawless condition. It is absolutely stunning! However, even
more surprising is how great it sounds. Tom, the setup is perfect
and exactly as I requested. The action is so easy and it is a dream
to play. I know I will have many years of playing and enjoying
this instrument. I am also pleased with the recommendations
regarding the upgraded tailpiece and Snuffy Smith Bridge.
I believe this instrument is a great deal for any one who wants to
have a banjo close to that prewar sound. Whether they are a beginner
or professional they will be happy with this banjo. This instrument
is a bargain and I have played many banjos that cost as much as 3 times
the price and they don't have the tone and just the right kind of
snap that this one does.
Truly, working with you was easy and pleasant. I know that JDMC
sells many items and does a big business but I really felt
like I had personal attention despite the fact that I was purchasing
via the Internet. JMDC's reputation is "solid" and now I understand
why!
I hope to be at Banjo Camp North for 2008. I look forward to seeing
Janet there so I can thank her in person for running a fine operation
as well as producing so many fine instruction books. Once again
thanks for picking out a real nice one!
Joseph S
Hi Tom,
The Gold Star GF-200 arrived this afternoon. I looked it over real well, and all I can say, is that it's beautifull ;) .I put my strap on it, tuned it up, and pretty soon my wife said, "Do you know you've been playing for over 4 hours"? Nope, I didn't. What a great sounding banjo. Thanks again for the great set-up, and JDMC's kind attention to detail.
Dick S
Hey Tom,
The new Gf-100 arrived in perfect condition about 3 pm today. Fed Ex did a good job, not even a nick on the box. I love the banjo and haven't put it down since it arrived!
Thanks for the excellent customer service from JDMC and for your personal attention to my purchase,
a happy customer, Don
I received it about an hour ago. WOW! This plays so much easier
than my other banjo! Everything looked good, nothing was broken
during shipment. The bridge was still in the correct position, I just
brought it in, tuned it and played! It sounds good to me. I probably won't
change anything for a while.
Tony
I received the F-85 banjo and the BR-160 yesterday.
The BR-160 looks as if it was modeled after a Collings...my banjo expert
compared it to his over 3K Collings in looks and sound....the Collings sounds
a bit better, but it did cost over 5 times a much, but it surely doesn't sound 5 times
better. He had just bought his daughter a much more expensive Martin and
told me if he had known then what he learned last night he would have gotten
her a BR-160 or 180. He had looked at some lesser expensive guitars from Washburn
and the like and decided there was nothing there...didn't look at Blue Ridge though.
Now here's the really interesting news. That F-85 you set up for me sounds darned
close to his multi-thousand dollar custom banjo and he had recently been looking
at another multi-thousand dollar banjo. He kept picking up his and then the F-85
and just shaking his head...very favorably impressed and the f85 holds it tuning
much better than his banjo did. I think he's changed his mind about that other
banjo ,,, at least the look on his face and accompanying body language seemed
to be saying that. Some serious bluegrass pickers are coming to town on Saturday
for a Scruggs concert and he wants me to bring both of these instruments over
for them to look at ... he's pretty sure there will be some jaw dropping.
You were right. These instruments sound a lot closer to 2-3k instruments than some
folks would like to know about. Now time will tell if they hold that edge or not.
Thanx again....as a beginner on the banjo and dobro so far I can say I don't think
it would be possible to get anything better for the money and learning on something
that sounds good beats the heck outta forcing oneself to practice on junk.
So, just for future reference and because I know someone looking at expensive
mando's, who makes a really good mano for around that 1K price...if any?
Richard G
Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Dear Janet,
My Gold Star GF-100 HF (i.e., Hearts and Flowers) arrived just a few days
after I spoke with Tim. He was very helpful, and helped me get a few
upgrades (Price Tailpiece, railroad spikes, a 5/8" Desert Rose Vintage Elite
"Z" bridge in Crowe spacing, GHS "almost medium" strings). Inlay work on the
ebony fingerboard and on the ebony overlaid peghead was very nice, with good
contrast, and no gaps. I was a little disturbed to notice that under the
clear finish on the peghead, there were seven or eight little pale spots
that looked liked somebody had splashed little specks of bleach on the dark
stain of the ebony overlay piece, which were irregular in shape and about
1/16 to 1/8 " across. I almost didn't notice them at first, since the
overall appearance of the peghead was so beautiful, like a well-used but
well-cared-for "G-word" banjo. (maybe they'll start start to call this the
"Distressed" Series, and charge twice a much for it.) The mahogany neck and
fingerboard had a lighter tone the the mahogany on my GF-85. The spikes,
frets, and hardware were almost perfect, thought I could see some machining
marks under the nickle plating of the tension ring at the very bottom of the
fingerboard. I noticed that you and Jim set up the Price tailpiece so it sat
about 1/16 " over the tension hoop, with the tailpiece just above horizontal
relative to the plane of the head. The intonation seemed very good, so I
didn't mess with it. I actually failed to notice that the banjo was tuned a
half tone or whole tone low, and was amazed by the dramatic growl of the
D-string when tuned to C or C sharp (I may have to experiment with the lower
tuning, since it sounded very cool, tone-wise, and that growlly sound was
lost after I brought it up to standard tuning). The head on the GF-100 was
tuned to about a G sharp. This banjo sounded good right out of the box. It
almost sounded as good, right out of the box, as my GF-85 sounds after a
year of hard playing, and the GF-85 has gone through a stage of "opening
up". There is a tonal difference between the GF-100 and the GF-85, though,
which may be from your set-up versus the set-up on the GF-85, or maybe due
to the ebony fingerboard on the GF-100 versus the rosewood fingerboard on
the GF-85 (which also sports a 5/8" Vintage Elite "Z" bridge with Crowe
spacing and a Price Tailpiece). The GF-85 has a very deep, pre-war, early
Earl Scruggs kind of tone, which we've worked towards obtaining for the last
year, through about 8 different bridges and set-up tweaks, tuning the head
to about B flat, and resting the tailpiece on the tension hoop. The GF-100
has a brighter sound, and seems to pop and ring a little more. After two
weeks, the GF-100 has picked up some volume and projection, and seems to
have developed a "sweet spot" of sorts, where I can pick it just right,
without using very much effort, and it absolutely roars with volume and rich
tone.
Anyway, I'm happy with the new GF-100. Very happy.
Thanks, again.
Jay V
Janet,
Received my Gold Star GF100 on Friday. It arrived in perfect condition.
I tuned it and it sounds better than I could have hoped! Great setup job
and the sound is rich and has great tone everywhere on the neck. I am
extremely pleased with this banjo.
Thank you very much for your help. Everyone at JDMC that I talked to or
corresponded with, were professional and sounded truly interested in
helping me. It was also very nice
getting the opportunity to talk to you personally, after spending so
much time working through the DVD under your guidance :-) Thanks again
to you, Michael Beasly, Tom Anderson, and Luke. A great experience from
start to finish!
Sincerely,
Robert Schley,
Lincolnton, NC
The GF-85 was beautifully packed and arrived in great shape. I’ll be writing an extensive review of the instrument that I hope will be of some value to your potential customers and I will send it to you after I finish making notes, etc. At this point I’ll just say that I whole-heartedly agree with your assessment that this banjo should be selling for between two and three times its current price. It plays and sounds much better than the price would indicate – but then, the same was true of the Gold Star flathead banjos sold in the 1980s. If anything, this banjo may be an even better buy than the older ones were given the escalation in the banjo prices of other manufacturers over the past few years.
Sincerely, Paul Bock
Paul Bock - Update
Recently, GF-85 #040137 accompanied me to the first jam session I've
attended in over 15 years. It not only turned out to be a super
practice period for me and a huge amount of fun, it also gave me a
chance to "ring out" the GF-85 under conditions of playing with 9 other
instruments (6 guitars, 2 fiddles and a bass) and enduring lots of key
changes. The Gold Star performed nearly flawlessly. I say "nearly"
because I had to touch up the 3rd string tuning a tad when capoing and
uncapoing but that's something I've had to do for years, old turkey to
me. Other than that the banjo was just superb. It had a great sound
when backing up and supplied all the punch I could want when taking a
break - in fact, I had to hold off a little during backup because there
was more than enough volume anywhere on the neck I cared to play. Jim's
HO spikes on the neck are great and it turned out that the one at the C
position (which I had said I didn't need) was handy for some country
tunes we did in F. I should mention that I was using the Snuffy Smith
III bridge and have replaced the tuning pegs with 5-Star on 1, 4 & 5 and
Keith tuners on 2 & 3. All in all, I came away very satisfied with
the banjo's performance - so much so, that my mind was totally on the
music and there weren't any nagging or annoying little problems that
required my attention. And in my opinion, any banjo that lets the banjo
player focus on the music and not the instrument is very much "pro"
quality. My thanks to Saga and JDMC for a great product and great service.
Sincerely,
Paul Bock
