Gold Tone/Beard Set Up

[Russell Baker]

Hi Gang...

I understand that when you buy a Beard/Gold Tone guitar from Beard that the guitar is fully set up before it is shipped.


However If I was to buy a Beard/Gold Tone from say Musicians Friend have the ones at Musicians Friend been set up by Beard also?

Just wondering so when I make the jump to a better Dobro
I'll make the correct decision.

(example is that very often Musicians Friend runs some very good sales!)

Thanks

[Howard Parker]

Roughly 5% of the Goldtones are set up by the Beard shop. Those guitars may be purchased from a Beard Guitar dealer or direct from Beard Guitars.

The 95% are set up by Goldtone using the Beard spider and cone. Goldtone sources things like inserts, nut & strings elsewhere.

If you purchase the Goldtone directly from the Beard shop they will give you a 100% trade in towards a handcrafted guitar if you choose to make the leap.

That's the way it shakes out.

h

-edit- specifically, Beard does NOT set up Musicians Friend or any other "big box" retailer. He sells only to specialty retailers (Gruhn, Janet Davis, Elderly..etc.)

[Russell Baker]

Ok maybe I am saying this wrong.

Beard/Gold Tone lists a guitar at Aprox $800.00
it states is does have a Beard Cone and Spider
AND it is set up by Beard.

Musicians Friend has the same guitar with Beard Cone and Spider listed at about the same price but there is no mention about the Set Up.

That is my question.

Are only the guitars purchased directly from Beard
receive the Beard Set Up?

Or is the Cone and Spider considered the Set Up?

[Russell Baker]

Now I see the Edit.......


I really prefer to Deal with say Elderly
for an instrument like this.


Thanks

[Howard Parker]

Or talk to the Beard shop directly. No one knows the guitar better then the guy that designed it.

Beard Guitars is quite well known for the quality of setups. They use the same components (nut, inserts, strings, con & spider) that they use on a $4,000 (+) guitar. Oh, want to milk the last ounce of tone? Consider the optional "Legend Cone" that all the custom axes use.

Even with all the parts the real brilliance comes from the guy with the knowledge of resonator guitar setups.

Yes, I'm a fan.

[Russell Baker]

I have heard nothing but good things....

I got my cheapo Moran Monroe so I can play it
but I am looking selling one of my Electric Guitars
and getting a Beard/GoldTone.

[Howard Parker]

As Mark Eaton would say (I paraphrase)

"It's a Goldtone "Paul Beard Signature" model(s), not a Beard "Goldtone" model"

Added full disclosure:

I've had a 30 + year relationship with Paul Beard as a customer. I've had an 8 year professional relationship with Beard Guitars as it's "Biz Guy".

Even as I retired from full time a couple of years ago I still represent the company from time to time at festivals and trade shows.

I like to keep abreast of the business

So, you can factor all of that into any future purchasing decisions.

h

[Brian Evans]

I have a "Paul Beard Signature" guitar. I bought it used, so no claims as to who had at it before I did, but it had a beautiful finish and the tone was head and shoulders above any other resophonic guitar I had tried. I bought it at Randy Wood's shop in Savannah, and the set up was horrible. Disgusting, even. I tried to return the guitar, in fact. The nut was cut so badly that the high E string (standard tuning) fretted out completely on the first fret, and the spider was off center so the low E string almost fell off the fretboard past the 12th fret. I knew I could fix it, but the "Beard set up" was long gone from this guitar. The tone and the basic quality of the guitar shone through. Randy Wood's shop, for all that he is considered a top quality luthier and builder, is crap as far as I am concerned, though.

[Joe Burke]

I have a GoldTone "Paul Beard Signiture" that I bought from The 12th Fret in Toronto. They deal directly with Beard and it had the set up. It's a very pretty sounding guitar. I really like it. I don't think there's a nicer dobro style guitar for the money.