This is the poor man's Paul Beard roundneck resonator. I played one at Mr. Beard's booth at the NAMM show in Anaheim in 2008...after I had played the equivalent Paul Beard guitar, handmade at his shop in Maryland—which (at that time) cost $3,500, and there was a waiting list. (Both guitars have increased in price since then.) Mr. Beard told me that the Gold Tone model's body is made in China to his specifications, and then shipped to his shop for installation of his own proprietary cone and spider, and final setup.The genuine Paul Beard guitar was exquisitely balanced in tone, just as I'd have expected. By comparison, the Gold Tone was much more brilliant sounding, and had less bottom end...not as balanced or "warm" sounding as the pricier genuine article. Even so, with the exception of the Paul Beard guitar, no other resonator guitar that I played that day came close to the Gold Tone guitar's tone or responsiveness. So I expected that I would buy a Gold Tone until that magical "someday" when I could afford one of Paul Beard's handmade beauties.I eventually bought a Gold Tone cutaway “used” online, but I wouldn't have known it if the seller hadn't told me; the guitar was in brand new condition when I received it. There were no indications it had ever been played. The workmanship is superb, and it has the same loud, brilliant tone that I remembered from my earlier playing at the NAMM show. In fact, to my ears it’s overbalanced on the top three strings, compared to the bottom three.My guitar came with Jinho tuners, which are pretty much a direct knockoff of Grover “milk bottle” tuners. They’re of good quality and they work well. My guitar has ebony-on-maple bridge inserts; the specs listed on Amazon don’t mention the bridge insert material. The guitar has an adjustable truss rod, but I’ve never had to use it. The instrument was set up with sufficient neck relief and no string buzz when I received it.Alas, the Gold Tone resonator suffers from the same deficiency that afflicts all roundneck resonator guitars that I’ve ever played — namely the inability to adjust intonation. You can have the open strings tuned perfectly, but the intonation goes increasingly sharp as you move up the fretboard toward the bridge, especially on the lower strings. This is an inherent deficiency in ALL resonator guitars, due to the traditional fixed bridge design.Apparently the intonation problem was at least recognized by Dobro®, who developed an offset spider bridge, which is cast with a 1/4” saddle slot offset, behind the cone adjustment screw. The Gold Tone doesn't have the offset spider, but Paul Beard’s ResophonicOutfitters.com sells an offset spider cast from the original Dobro® mold. It still places the bridge in a fixed position, which doesn’t allow for any adjustment of intonation for individual strings, but it’s better than no compensation at all.To be fair, the intonation is less a problem on the Gold Tone than on other resonators I’ve played, but don’t expect perfect intonation. Even the $3,500 Paul Beard guitar didn’t have perfect intonation all the way up the neck. So, given the fact that all resonators have the intonation problem, the Gold Tone cutaway is about as good as it gets, especially at its price point.

The guitar arrived unplayable. The B and E strings rattled so much it sounded like an old blues recording from the '40s. The guitar technician I took it to said the only solutions were to raise the action, or to reset the neck. Not just raising the action a little, but between an 1/8th to a 1/4 of an inch, which would make it unplayable except for slide. And resetting the neck would be $200-$300. For a brand new instrument?The sad thing is that this is a well made guitar; quality components well assembled. It's just an unworkable design. It's going back ASAP!Do not buy one of these!

Great deal, great product, super fast shipping!! A+ all the way.

I have a 2012 Beard Gold Tone cutaway resophonic, in a beautiful mahogany burst finish. I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Beard, who actually delivered this guitar to one of my students, who is trading it to me for a year's guitar lessons (what a deal!!!) Paul personally set this guitar up, after it had been shipped to the Hagerstown, MD company headquarters from the Chinese factory where the basic instrument was assembled. The fit & finish of the Gold Tone is beautiful, flawless, and very solid...the Beard-spun cone & proprietary sound baffle system produces a sweet, warm tone very pleasing for pretty much any style of folk, country, or blues playing.These Gold Tone models are the best-kept secret in the guitar world...top-rate quality for around a grand!!!Mike ArmstrongSnow Hill, MD

This guitar has great sound, flawless construction and finish, and plays great.The cutaway is great for reaching those blue notes on slide around the 16th fret.Loud, but rich and lush sound. It can also be surprisingly gritty for blues when played appropriately. If I could only have one resonator, this would be the one.