Gold Tone “Bluegrass Heart”
Béla Fleck Signature Banjo
I am excited about the new Béla Fleck Model from Gold Tone that today’s top 5-string banjo player, Béla Fleck and Wayne Rogers from Gold Tone have designed. Now anyone can take advantage of Béla’s expertise in tone and set up, which is extensive. Wayne explained to me all the detailed input and passion Béla was involved with in designing this banjo, right down to finest details of tailpiece, bridge, armrest, and other subtle tone characteristics. The playability factor is also tantamount with easy to play radius fingerboard, 7/8 bridge and other features Béla specified for tone and versatility.
I recently attended a concert of Béla’s present tour featuring songs from his My Bluegrass Heart double CD. The concert was high energy power-packed bluegrass with tireless innovations in songwriting, tempos, time signature, key changes, and plenty of straight-ahead punch. As often the case with artists endorsing instruments, the endorsed instrument is often left at home and not used, but this was not the case at all here. During Béla’s concert, he had several of the new Gold Tone OB- Béla’s on stage within arm’s reach. Each one was set up for a different musical purpose. One was set up with cam D tuners for his song “Strider,” another with a black suede head for a certain tone, another in a special tuning. All of this streamlined his show and kept things moving, allowing Béla to show his extensive versatility with less need of any reset or tuning. As a banjo player, I can testify that switching banjos mid-stream is not easy because of playability differences in banjos and the banjo’s inherent challenge with tuning. All of that is a testament to the OB- Béla banjo being built with the exact specs and characteristics that match Béla’s Gibson Mastertone as well as the overall stability and tone of the new OB- Béla.
Watching his show it really sunk into me personally how hard Béla has worked on every aspect of his musicianship. His performances, his song writing, his drive to create, keep growing musically while consistently pushing the boundaries of his instrument. While he is extremely gifted, no one has handed his success to him. He has practiced diligently, created volumes of his own music with impeccable banjo technique, toured extensively and raised the bar so high, is there anyone who can touch it? To me this shows the characteristics of this man. From what I have observed about his overall involvement with this new banjo, I can see that he has put that same drive and attention to excellence into this project as well.
Béla’s first project with Gold Tone was the ML-1 “Missing Link” Banjo. The ML-1 is tuned to open C tuning an octave lower. It uses wound strings and is so much fun to create and play music on that it threatens to replace anyone’s normal banjo. I’ve made several demo videos playing the ML-1 and I use it in my shows often. We carry those as well at my business—banjoteacher.com. It is the same low tuning the John Hartford used often on his early recordings. It has a very forgiving pleasing tone that’s great to start the day with. Béla played his ML-1 in the Bluegrass Heart show on several songs making for a nice timbre change. The ML-1 project helped develop the trust and working relationship that Béla and Wayne Rogers used to create the OB-Béla.
In late 2020 Gold Tone sent one of their newest banjos, the no hole tone ring OB-3 to their friend Marc Horowitz (pro banjoist, musical instrument industry veteran, banjo tinkerer and Béla’s second banjo teacher) for him to check out. He was very taken with it and (after applying his setup mods and tweaks) began playing it live with his band.
In the early 1980’s Marc helped Béla find his “Number 1” instrument, a 1937 Style 75 Mastertone pot that Marc (while working at Mandolin Bros. Ltd) had obtained for him. At that time, Marc asked the top luthier John Monteleone to build a neck to Béla’s specifications. This neck was to be heftier than a traditional banjo neck; a bit wider and thicker, with a radiused fretboard. Béla thought that the radius and the extra room on the fretboard would facilitate the single-string techniques he was developing, and that the additional mass would deepen the banjo’s tone and produce a voice more in line with his playing style.
Over the next months, Béla, Marc and Wayne worked together to produce something that Béla had wanted for years: a banjo close enough in sound and feel to serve as a performance-grade backup for his “Number 1.” Initially this was to be a one-off instrument, but as the design progressed and the prototypes produced results that got closer and closer to a banjo that could serve as a worthy stand-in for his main banjo, the possibility of a Signature Model was raised and discussed.
The Gold Tone “Bluegrass Heart” Béla Fleck Signature Banjo is now a reality. Now YOU can play a professional-grade banjo that will provide the closest thing yet to the feel and the tone of Béla’s pre-war Gibson Mastertone.
There are several options to consider when getting one of these. Some of the options included are the Prucha Presto tailpiece or special cast Presto style, Rickard Cyclone 10:1 tuning machines (with custom, red, black or natural anodized brass buttons for added peghead mass), custom made bridge and Rickard wood armrest. The OB-Béla also comes standard with a white Fiberglass Flight Case with backpack straps for easy carrying.
Béla’s standard set up for instance tunes the head to F, lower action, 7/8 specially made bridge, and other specs which is the standard way they come. Mark Horowitz has experimented with setting them up with a more standard bluegrass set up which provided more of the classic bluegrass mahogany crack and punch some players may want. The no-hole tone ring and the neck profile of this mahogany neck gives you a lot of room for tone subtleties. We carry the banjos at my business Banjoteacher.com and you can call me with set up requests when ordering.
All in all this is an A+ project with the ongoing supervision and high interest in putting out the best product for today’s banjo players.
