Gold Tone Cripple Creek CC-100R submitted 9/25/2003 Submitter Catdog Where Purchased Country Strings Music Year Purchased 2003 Price Paid 329.00 ($US) Sound I'm just a beginner, but it sounds nice & bright to me. Lacks the rich full sound I have heard on more expensive banjos, but after all this is a beginners banjo. Sound Rating 8 Setup Setup was great. Action is nice & low for a beginner like me. Banjo came with planetary tuners included which I think is excellent for the price I paid. A gig bag was also included. Setup Rating 10 Appearance Banjo looks great. Nothing fancy. It is light maple with matte finish. Appearance Rating 9 Reliability Everything on the banjo seems to be pretty sturdy. Gold Tone makes a fine banjo with good quality parts. Reliability Rating 9 Customer Service Ricky, the owner of Country Strings Music,was great. He gave me very helpful advice on what to purchase in order to get started. He didn't try to sell me a bunch of stuff I didn't need. Customer Service 10 Components For a beginner banjo all the parts seem good quality.The planetary tuners are really a plus. Components Rating 9 Overall Comments For the price I paid I don't think I could have got a better banjo. If this banjo was stolen I would move up to the Gold Tone BG-250F. That is assuming I get good at playing. Overall Rating 10