I ordered this guitar on a bit of a whim. I'm a longtime guitarist whose fingers are getting a bit stiffer with age. I've messed around with slide guitar in the past but thought I'd give it another go, as it's a way of shifting some of the workload from fingers to the wrist and forearm of the left hand. I have a very nice National Style O resonator (nickel-plated brass body, biscuit bridge) but it weighs a ton and its pretty cold on bare legs if I'm playing in shorts. I thought it would be nice to have a wood-bodied guitar to develop my skills with rather than using the tank (the National) while re-learning.I should mention that I've also had some very nice conventional guitars over the years, including a few from Collings, a Martin Authentic, and a few from individual builders. So I think I can make a fair evaluation, based on considerable experience with a wide range of instruments and over an extended number of years (like decades). I've had great, mediocre, and bad instruments spanning a wide price range.Well, I won't say that this guitar is on a par with guitars costing four to five times as much, but it's not terribly far behind them, either.Fit and finish are very good. In fact, it's better than some instruments that cost considerably more. Now, in fairness, an instrument like this can use a much thicker finish than would be ideal for a traditional acoustic guitar. That heavy finish can be leveled and buffed to a very nice shine and it fills all the wood pores. All this leave a mirror surface. A nice instrument is likely to have a thinner finish that sinks into the wood pore as bit and isn't as dazzlingly smooth. Still, it's nice that the builders took the time and trouble to complete the finishing process as nicely as they have.Playability is also very good, either as a slide or a standard guitar. I retuned to open G, swapped the first string out for a .016, and found it eminently playable for slide. My slide playing is waaay rusty, so it's going to take a while to develop any profeciency but it won't be the instrument that limits me or slows me down. With no adjustment to the action, it's no problem using either the slide or fretting to get the necessary notes. I anticipate that intonation will be a bit off on the 1st string, considering it's a .016 tuned to D and tha the bridge doesn't have any compensation, but it hasn't posed a problem so far and I hsaven't actually checked to see how true the fretted ontes are. I certainly haven't noticed any issues but I haven't fretted much either, as I'm focusing on slide control at this stage.The tone is fantastic! Having a wooden body and a spider bridge system, it sounds quite different from my National but every bit as good, I think. The laminate construction really isn't a disadvantage in a resonator guitar, as the cone is the primary sound source, and the Beard cone system has great tone and volume. The body functions a bit like a ported speaker enclosure, providing reflectance more than resonance for the sound emanating from the cone. Honestly, for anyone who isn't a far, far better slide player than I am, this guitar just might be the sweet spot, delivering great tone and volume for considerably less than a comparable wood-bodied National. Don't get me wrong -- I love Nationals. I'm keeping the metal-bodied one I have. But I think I'll be hanging onto this Gold Tone Paul Beard for a good long while, as well.I hate buying instruments that end up feeling like a compromise. So far, I don't feel that way at all about this resonator guitar and honestly don't think I will. Time will tell, of course. But I think this will do all I need it to do and much more as I re-explore the wonderful world of slide blues.

This guitar is a great value for the money. It arrived perfectly set up, just tune it and go. I was a surprised at the overall quality -- it sounds great and the finish is like a much more expensive guitar. The mahogany gives it depth and warmth but you can also drive it hard. It's *loud*. The resonator gives you all the dirty sound you want without the tone getting muddy. Easy five stars.

This is an excellent resonator for the money. Great components and a very good tone. This has been my Spanish tuning bottleneck guitar for about a year now. You will probably need to set it up. I re-seated the cone and adjusted the spider to get the sound I wanted.

best sounding resonator under a grand. playable neck, whole guitar feels well made, a solid quality. might be better resonators, but definitely not at this price

Exactly as the item was described.

I received this great sounding resonator by my wife for christmas! It was set up so well that I was able to enjoy it's great sounding spider resonator out of the carton. Besides the sound the finish is flawless! You can't beat it for the money. Great job Goldtone and Paul Beard.

I have wanted a Dobro since I was 17. I am glad I purchased this resonator. It is well made and absolutely gorgeous. I researched and compared many resonators. The cheaper ‘wood’ resonators are laminates, not solid wood. The comparable resonators were much more money. I can have the guitar set up to be more twangy if I want, but I love the warmth the wood adds to the sound of the resonator. More than that, steel guitars are very heavy. Even in this one you can feel the heft. Everyone who sees it just says, “wow”. I totally agree. Stunning. You will have to take it in to have it set up. Make sure you tell them what you want to play on it so they set it up accordingly. I am very happy with my purchase and would recommend it and buy it again if something happened to this one.

I ordered this guitar on a bit of a whim. I'm a longtime guitarist whose fingers are getting a bit stiffer with age. I've messed around with slide guitar in the past but thought I'd give it another go, as it's a way of shifting some of the workload from fingers to the wrist and forearm of the left hand. I have a very nice National Style O resonator (nickel-plated brass body, biscuit bridge) but it weighs a ton and its pretty cold on bare legs if I'm playing in shorts. I thought it would be nice to have a wood-bodied guitar to develop my skills with rather than using the tank (the National) while re-learning.I should mention that I've also had some very nice conventional guitars over the years, including a few from Collings, a Martin Authentic, and a few from individual builders. So I think I can make a fair evaluation, based on considerable experience with a wide range of instruments and over an extended number of years (like decades). I've had great, mediocre, and bad instruments spanning a wide price range.Well, I won't say that this guitar is on a par with guitars costing four to five times as much, but it's not terribly far behind them, either.Fit and finish are very good. In fact, it's better than some instruments that cost considerably more. Now, in fairness, an instrument like this can use a much thicker finish than would be ideal for a traditional acoustic guitar. That heavy finish can be leveled and buffed to a very nice shine and it fills all the wood pores. All this leave a mirror surface. A nice instrument is likely to have a thinner finish that sinks into the wood pore as bit and isn't as dazzlingly smooth. Still, it's nice that the builders took the time and trouble to complete the finishing process as nicely as they have.Playability is also very good, either as a slide or a standard guitar. I retuned to open G, swapped the first string out for a .016, and found it eminently playable for slide. My slide playing is waaay rusty, so it's going to take a while to develop any profeciency but it won't be the instrument that limits me or slows me down. With no adjustment to the action, it's no problem using either the slide or fretting to get the necessary notes. I anticipate that intonation will be a bit off on the 1st string, considering it's a .016 tuned to D and tha the bridge doesn't have any compensation, but it hasn't posed a problem so far and I hsaven't actually checked to see how true the fretted ontes are. I certainly haven't noticed any issues but I haven't fretted much either, as I'm focusing on slide control at this stage.The tone is fantastic! Having a wooden body and a spider bridge system, it sounds quite different from my National but every bit as good, I think. The laminate construction really isn't a disadvantage in a resonator guitar, as the cone is the primary sound source, and the Beard cone system has great tone and volume. The body functions a bit like a ported speaker enclosure, providing reflectance more than resonance for the sound emanating from the cone. Honestly, for anyone who isn't a far, far better slide player than I am, this guitar just might be the sweet spot, delivering great tone and volume for considerably less than a comparable wood-bodied National. Don't get me wrong -- I love Nationals. I'm keeping the metal-bodied one I have. But I think I'll be hanging onto this Gold Tone Paul Beard for a good long while, as well.I hate buying instruments that end up feeling like a compromise. So far, I don't feel that way at all about this resonator guitar and honestly don't think I will. Time will tell, of course. But I think this will do all I need it to do and much more as I re-explore the wonderful world of slide blues.

This guitar is a great value for the money. It arrived perfectly set up, just tune it and go. I was a surprised at the overall quality -- it sounds great and the finish is like a much more expensive guitar. The mahogany gives it depth and warmth but you can also drive it hard. It's *loud*. The resonator gives you all the dirty sound you want without the tone getting muddy. Easy five stars.

This is an excellent resonator for the money. Great components and a very good tone. This has been my Spanish tuning bottleneck guitar for about a year now. You will probably need to set it up. I re-seated the cone and adjusted the spider to get the sound I wanted.

best sounding resonator under a grand. playable neck, whole guitar feels well made, a solid quality. might be better resonators, but definitely not at this price

Exactly as the item was described.

I received this great sounding resonator by my wife for christmas! It was set up so well that I was able to enjoy it's great sounding spider resonator out of the carton. Besides the sound the finish is flawless! You can't beat it for the money. Great job Goldtone and Paul Beard.

I have wanted a Dobro since I was 17. I am glad I purchased this resonator. It is well made and absolutely gorgeous. I researched and compared many resonators. The cheaper ‘wood’ resonators are laminates, not solid wood. The comparable resonators were much more money. I can have the guitar set up to be more twangy if I want, but I love the warmth the wood adds to the sound of the resonator. More than that, steel guitars are very heavy. Even in this one you can feel the heft. Everyone who sees it just says, “wow”. I totally agree. Stunning. You will have to take it in to have it set up. Make sure you tell them what you want to play on it so they set it up accordingly. I am very happy with my purchase and would recommend it and buy it again if something happened to this one.