OB-175 Banjo

The Gold Tone OB-175 Banjo represents a breakthrough in price for this quality of banjo. Gold Tone teamed up with a very small woodworking factory in Korea and for a year taught them techniques to establish a model superior to any Chinese product in this price range.

This is Gold Tone's first ever Bell Bronze Pre-War Alloy Tone Ring Banjo. For over a year they experimented with bronze alloys trying to find the perfect tone. The pre-war tone ring (the holy grail of bluegrass tone) was actually at least three different bronze alloy formulas, depending on the year of manufacture. Gold Tone discovered these 3 alloys, had tone rings made from each one, and chose the bronze alloy content with the most penetrating tone.

Their GTR Tone Ring shape has a rounded top edge, which compared to the typical sharp angle on the common flat top ring adds more contact area for vibration transfer. This allows the head to be tuned tighter if desired. The original and the Gold Tone ring look and sound amazingly similar.

The OB-175 has perfect fitting parts. This small factory is capable of the perfect tone ring fit, the perfect neck to pot fit, and a perfectly straight neck. Before delivery, Gold Tone do all the final assembly and adjustments in Florida. They check every adjustment to make sure the set-up is optimum for tone and playability.

Plus this comes standard with their Lifetime Warrenty, which is also transferable. Not even domestic builders can offer that.