For sale is a Goldtone EBM electric banjo. I bought this to use mostly as a practice instrument because when it it unplugged, it is quieter than an acoustic banjo. I also thought I might join a country band and wanted to use it in that but I didn't end up doing that so mostly this has just been played unplugged and not actually very much at that. There is some wear on the head from my pinky as shown in the photos and there are a few buckle scratches on the back,nothing major at all. As has been noted elsewhere, the gold plating on the metal parts is cheap and will not last long at all but for now looks pretty good. I am not aware of any problems at all with this instrument. The banjo weighs somewhere around 7-8 pounds. It comes with an electric guitar style rectangular case.
I put some sound files and photos on my BHO page, one of them is with the banjo unplugged, one with it plugged in, and one showing the different sounds you can get by switching pickups. I didn't mess with the sound files at all, they're just how my amp was set at the moment so this is how the banjo actually sounds.
(forgive the photos, the pollen is horrid here right now, i'll clean it off before i send it i promise!)
unplugged:
http://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/bho-player2.asp?musicid=13123
plugged in:
http://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/bho-player2.asp?musicid=13124
showing the different sounds by changing pickups:
http://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/bho-player2.asp?musicid=13125
The good-
-this banjo looks very cool and chances are there aren't too many folks out there playing them so it is always a conversation starter
-this banjo is relatively quiet and so is good for practicing where a lot of banjo noise might not be welcome. It is not silent by any means, just a lot quieter than an acoustic banjo. I have even taken it to practice sometimes when it's just the guitar player and I trying to work things out because it's not overpowering.
-with an amp this banjo can sound like virtually anything, all electric effects work on it with NO feedback issues, you can run it through an EQ, volume pedal, tuner, digital delay- whatever you want and it can sound great, yet if you want it to sound like a banjo it actually does (listen to the sound file)
- this is not a heavy banjo
-the EBM has both single coil and humbucker pickups and a three position switch which means you can actually have it sound three different ways.
The Bad-
-it's an electric banjo so if you want to play it as that you need an amp. I have an amp so it wasn't an issue for me but it might be for you.
- there is a badly installed fifth string spike at the 7th fret. it was done badly and is not reliable, so if you want one there, it will need to be reinstalled.
Feel free to ask me any questions or for more photos or sound files.
