2017 Gold Tone GBG+ Baritone Guitar

I'll be honest when I say that I'm not usually into Gold Tone products. They're well-built and they sound nice but they're usually not in the same ballpark of what they're trying to emulate. That's fine, but I'd rather they just didn't emulate so much.

This guitar, though, is actually very good. It has warmth, clarity, focus, and a reverb-like lingering sustain that a lot of acoustics just don't do. Its 29" scale length is longer than many competing baritone acoustics (who claim somewhere between 26-28" works for baritone) and so you can use gauges closer to "normal" guitar strings to get to the low B-to-B pitches. What this means is that it still handles like a guitar rather than a bass/guitar hybrid, as many baritone guitars need something like a 70w on the bottom to sound good and stay in tune. This one sounds giant with a 62w on there and handles tension-wise like a guitar with 12s on it.

It was brought in for consignment because its owner can't make the reach for the neck (he's not a tall guy), but I'm doing just fine at 5' 10" or so. It has a mini-jumbo-style 16" body width and a tighter waist so it actually fits my body better than the average dreadnought, for which I'm thankful. The neck is modern -- slim and fast with a shallower radius -- and the build quality is high.

It dried-out a little and so there are a couple hairline dryness cracks in the end of the fretboard but they're not obvious and, clearly, not structural. The original glue job on the bridge also didn't hold-up so I reglued that and while I was at it I replaced the ho-hum original undersaddle pickup with a K&K Twin Spot which sounds awesome. K&Ks are the only pickups I will stump for. I've been using them since 2005 with customers always satisfied they swapped to them.

Repairs included: bridge reglue, new pickup install, very light fret level/dress, setup.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: ply mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: ebony

Fretboard: ebony

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 62w, 46w, 36w, 26w, 17, 13 for BEADF#B tuning

Neck shape: slim C

Board radius: ~14"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 29 1/8"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 16"

Body depth: 4 3/8"

Weight: 4 lb 15 oz

Condition notes: it's relatively clean with only minor usewear and playwear in evidence. Really -- it looks "shopworn" more than anything. The end of the fretboard has some tiny hairline cracks in it but they're a non-issue save cosmetically. It's all-original with the exception of the new K&K pickup installed.

It comes with: its original Gold Tone brown hard case in good shape.