A Long-time Beginner's Initial Review of the Gold Tone F-10 Mando
As the title suggests, this is a review of the Gold Tone F-10. I've been practicing off and on for a few years using a The Loar LM-310F, but ever since I discovered ten string mandolins, I've been intrigued by them. Unfortunately, up until recently they were all way out of my price range. At the start of this year, Gold Tone announced this model, going for 799$ including the case. I am a week away from graduating with a bachelor's in Biology, and so I decided to get the F-10 in celebration.
Pictures of the Case
The case that comes with this mandolin is pretty nice. All three zippers zip smoothly, the strap to hold the lid up folds neatly as it closes, and the construction seems generally sturdy. The material of the case is durable fabric with a plasticy backing that is somewhat water resistant, and the whole case is held together with philips head screws so it should be repair/replaceable. Case length is 85cm/33in, width is 38cm/14.5in, depth with empty pocket is 15cm/6in.
There is a velcro strap that goes over the zipper, which I tested to see how it did when the zipper was unzipped. It generally holds the case shut even when upside down, but enough vigorous shaking pops it open --- it would probably save your mandolin from an accidental fall walking from one room to the next, but wouldn't be trustworthy for a longer journey. I personally prefer clasps, but the zipper is probably more secure.
There is at least an inch of hard foam protecting the mandolin in every direction. The case is definitely not form-fitted, and the mandolin sits a bit askew within it. Overall, I think this is an excellent case, which would be able to withstand moderate abuse as checked baggage on a flight if necessary. Given current prices of non-shelled hard cases, this is at least a 100$ value, more if you consider the cost of a custom case that would be necessary to fit this mandolin.
One last note before I get to the mandolin: As far as other accessories, this came with a respectable amp cable, two Allen wrenches, and two identical detachable straps. Neither is designed to attach to the mandolin, and so they are meant to help carry the case, attaching to several D-rings on it. I don't know why there are two, and almost wonder if that was a packaging mistake, but they seem to be of good enough quality. If someone gets their F-10 with no case strap, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Pictures of the Mandolin
The mandolin itself is breathtakingly beautiful, but I think that all mandolins are breathtakingly beautiful, so I will have to take back my breath and describe it. It generally seems to be of similar finish quality to my The Loar, with some black blemishes on the neck, some sloppy paint around the endpin, largely unfinished inside the curves of the scroll, and uneven binding on one of the points. The fancy trapeze tailpiece takes ball-end strings and looks a bit weird in the pictures on their website, but brings the strings back to a slot for each pair. It seems the C and E strings touch the edge of the tailpiece as they come out, which could be the source of some slight buzzing I fixed with a shoelace. The tuners turn easily but have a larger effect per turn than I am used to. In every dimension this instrument is noticeably bigger than a normal mandolin, though a standard mandolin armrest was still able to fit. Total length is 74cm/29in, width is 29cm/11.5in, scale length for the D string is 38cm/15in, width between outer strings at first fret is 3.5cm/1 3/8in, width between outer strings at 12th fret is 4.7cm/1 7/8in.
Other than the minor defects already mentioned, the F-10 is well finished, and there were no issues. The string height is reasonable (though there is not much give in the bridge, so I may have to break out the sandpaper if I want to lower it), and the slightly radiused fretboard and zero-fret nut were not noticeable while playing. It is not quite as natural for me to play yet as my old mandolin, and I will have to update you in a few weeks as to whether familiarity fixes that.
It came out of the box with proper intonation, and after tuning played well. I used some shoelace behind the bridge and above the nut to prevent a hint of buzzing I noticed. It has way more sustain than I am used to - it feels almost guitar-like! As I said in the title of my post, I am still a long-time beginner, but hopefully you can hear the difference in tone between it and my The Loar LM-310f in the examples below:
Kesh Jig in G 10-String
Kesh Jig in G 8-String
Kesh Jig in F 10-String
Country Roads 10-string (attempting to use 5-note chords)
Country Roads 8-string
I hope that this post is useful to someone considering buying this unusual mandolin. In a few weeks once I'm more comfortable with it I may post some more recordings of more complex tunes. Let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or general thoughts!
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