View Full Version : Gold Tone Rigel 'copies'...?
steve V. johnson
Jul-19-2004, 11:16pm
I just saw the G110 copy on the Elderly site...
Are they cheese, are they 'good/cheap,' what?
Thanks, just curious...
stv
John Flynn
Jul-20-2004, 6:03am
I am a Rigel A+ Deluxe owner and I played one of the Gold Tone "Rigels" at a store once. I thought it was a good mando for the money. The fit and finish was very good, the sound was good and the playability was decent. It does not have the great Rigel radiused fretboard. You get what you pay for, but I have to say it was one of the better $500 mandos I have ever played. I would still prefer to spend a couple hundred more and get an A Natural.
jmkatcher
Jul-20-2004, 12:02pm
I'd be surprised if it were anything like a real G-110 in anything other than shape.
John Flynn
Jul-20-2004, 12:34pm
I'd be surprised if it were anything like a real G-110 in anything other than shape.
Agreed. It doesn't hold a candle to a G-110, in tone, playability or fit and finish. I only meant to imply that if he is buying in the $500 price range and he likes that shape, it is not a bad mando.
mad dawg
Jul-20-2004, 2:02pm
Has anyone compared the Gold Tone Rigel copy with the Gold Tone F5 copy? To get the cool Rigel shape for $500, do you lose sound or playability compared to Gold Tone's F-style at the same price?
Anyone play any of the other Gold Tones? And if so what did you think?
Opinions about cost/value?
solerydr
Jul-21-2004, 8:34pm
This might not seem to be in the same subject but .....A Paul Reed Smith is a nice gtr but no matter how much it costs, its still just another Les Paul copy. If you buy the Gold Tone, it will always just be a copy of what you really want. For $500 there are some really cool budjet minded mandos out there that have a degree of uniqeness.
solerydr
Jul-21-2004, 8:36pm
Budget.......I meant Budget!
jmkatcher
Jul-21-2004, 8:40pm
I don't know why it is, but mandolins seem more cost sensitive in terms of quality than say guitars. My wife has a Takamine F360S that didn't cost much, but it actually sounds better than her late 60s Martin D18. In terms of mandolins, it seems like Eastman is really trying for this kind of quality, but so many of the other imports seem so cheesy.
Mando Medic
Jul-22-2004, 6:42am
I have a used Gold Tone G-110 copy in my shop for sale and I can't compare it to a Rigel. Sure it looks like a Rigel but it does not compare to one in tone. It sounds OK and for a beginner it would probably do the job, but the fingerboard is not radiused and it just does not have the richness that Rigel's have. But hey, for $400! Kenc
Stephen Perry
Jul-26-2004, 6:29am
I played the Gold Tone mandos. I got a bunch of their banjos, but I didn't find anything really (other than the Rigel shape) to distinguish the Gold Tone from the other beginner mandolins with decent market penetration (e.g., Morgan Monroe, Michael Kelly, Kentucky). I suspect one does better getting things from a company's core line, rather than a red-haired stepchild. Would be like me building a few guitars as well as violins.