#ot800

Couple of days ago I discovered that the main UK distributor of Gold Tone Banjos was right here in Norwich! Have been looking to buy a new banjo for a while now so I headed down there and met Simon at Banjos Direct and tried a few out. I'm specifically in the market for a long neck banjo, and never having never laid my grubby mits on one before before I was quite excited.

I tried out a beautiful Bob Carlin signature BC-350 normal length fingerboard but with a 12" pot. Heavy as a land rover but fantastic bling and a really lovely bright sound. But that was a distraction, albeit a very pleasant one: what I really wanted to do was to compare the two decent banjos in the Gold Tone range which come in long neck flavours, the White Ladye 250  and the OT800, the main differences being a tubaphone tone ring (rather than a white layde) and a bracket band on the OT. 

It wasn't a completely fair comparison as Simon didn't have a long neck OT so I was comparing a normal length with a long neck white ladye. However, I assume that the white ladye with a capo at the 3rd fret would be pretty comparable with its normal length equivalent. The White Ladye was lovely, particularly at full length - the depth of sound from those lower notes on the long neck are amazing! It was surprisingly light and sounded woody and rich. I was pretty amazed by it.

But it wasn't a patch on the OT. As well as feeling a bit sturdier than the White Ladye it felt tighter and more responsive somehow, and whilst it still had the richness and depth that the White Ladye had, it had so much more. It was wonderfully bright sounding, with so much attack, all the plunk and twang you could wish for and bags of sustain. It was so powerful played hard that all the other instruments in the shop were resonating as I played. Long story short: I loved it, so I ordered a long neck one! Hopefully will be here within the month.