Gold Tone GT-750

US made acoustic Banjo body with a guitar neck called a Banjitar. The banjitar has 21 frets which is plenty for the applications this intrument will be used. There are 2 models of Banjitar --the GT-500 and the GT-750, both feature a built- in passive pickup with no volume nor tone controls. The pickup is more for convenience and can be slid from the neck position to the bridge postion.
The 25 1/2 scale neck is very comfortable and feels similiar to a small, shaven down Gibson neck.
I was a bit dissapointed to see the Banjitar arrive at my my door from Florida as a natural finish blonde colored maple instrument , but my mind was quickly changed when I saw the back of the intrument--which features the most beautifully defined Flame maple pattern I have ever seen on any intrument!
The tuners on either instrument can be ordered as 3 a side or 6 a side
I only rate the features on this an 7 because it is a very simple, straight forward instrument not beacause of any shortcomings.

I first owned the GT-500 and sent it back to the factory to get the higher line GT-750. To be honest I think the GT-500 sounded a little more clear and had more sustain than the GT-750 acoustically, but I also think that it all depends on which instrument you get. Both intsruments sound convincingly like a real banjo and I could resist playing that Kermit the Frog song that everyone instantly recognizes--the one about the rainbows.
The pickup is nicely EQ'd. I do have to cut the 500-600hz range slightly when doing a final mix for a song , but that is only to get that miked on the neck sound that blends well in the mix.

The Banjitar is basically already setup from the factory and there is not much else to do. The truss rod could have been a little tighter for my taste. The neck seems to be very, very strong considering it is on the small side. I changed the gauge the instrument came with from seemed to be 11's to a lighter 9-42 and the neck barely straightened out. I guess they didn't tighten the truss rod too much considering the instrument was mailed to me. The bridge is a piece of carved wood with an added piece of Rosewood where the strings lie. Even though I changed string gauge, I didn't have to file nor shimee the bridge.

The Banjitar is a whopping 10 lbs. and seems very durable. Because of its weight I wouldn't want to drop this instrument for fear that it would crack the resonator in turn cracking the body, in turn breaking the banjo skin, killin the sound it is supposed to make. My fear is not from the durability of the parts , but is is just that heavy!
The banjo skin is held down by 24 drum type lugs just like a real banjo

The place that makes these was very friendly even though I sent back the first instrument in exchange for the second( GT-500 for the GT-750). On top of that, I swaped items for items several times 'til I was happy and they were friendly throughout the whole ordeal.

I have been playing professionally for 12 years with last 5 being for a major artist under Capitol/EMI. I own a variety of guitars from stock vintage to modern EMG loaded, to acoustic instruments. As I said before, this GT-750 Banjitar has a Flame-maple pattern that is the best I have seen out there, yet.
I needed to get a banjo sound and I didn't have to learn banjo to do it.