Gold Tone TG-18

just got one of these so I didn't have to play my solid wood tenor outside, as we adapt to Covid.
These are big tenor guitars. mine came in an OO or OOO size case and filled it up.
Laminate back and sides with a solid top, it is loud...easily recognized as a tenor with the treble strings, the most dominate.

The fit and finish is typical Gold Tone, very well done with no flaws...low action and a truss rod which may or may not be functioning(I only tried relaxing it) but it plays well with no buzz or rattle after a new, slightly taller bone saddle was added.
I was expecting a Blueridge-like BR40/60t guitar...it is it's big brother.

Hi John, there are plenty of old threads on this forum all about the Gold Tone as it was a popular choice before the Blueridge became so well known.
If you want to find them, try using Google adding ‘Mandolin Cafe’ to the search I find that works really well.

thanks...I really like it now...played it outside with a group today alongside a friend with a Pono BN-30D who liked the Gold Tone so much, we traded. not my idea but I couldn't turn it down. now I need to find another one.

I have a TG-18 that I used to play Irish music and like it a lot. The reviews seemed to have been mixed so I was surprised when I tried it. It's been quite a few years since I got to try a Blueridge but I'd certainly like to compare them.

Gold Tone is at my friends house. He really likes it. The Pono is hanging on my wall and I'm happy with the trade...the weird thing about the TG-18 was...there is a fret board dot on the 10th fret, where I like it but the side dot is on the 9th. Is this common on these?
I just drilled the 9th fret dot out and filled the hole with a black(almost invisible) 3/32 dot and added a white one at the 10th.

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Originally Posted by john bange

Gold Tone is at my friends house. He really likes it. The Pono is hanging on my wall and I'm happy with the trade...the weird thing about the TG-18 was...there is a fret board dot on the 10th fret, where I like it but the side dot is on the 9th. Is this common on these?
I just drilled the 9th fret dot out and filled the hole with a black(almost invisible) 3/32 dot and added a white one at the 10th.

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Tenors have a history of being tuned in 4th (9th fret) and 5th (10th fret) so they come either way. A lot of guitar players prefer Chicago tuning DGBE tenors as it's the top strings on a guitar so it is familiar.

Slightly off-topic, I know, so sorry for that!

I keep reading the arguments about the relation between tuning and fretboard marking traditions, and still don’t get it: why should that matter how far the next string‘s note is apart? It’s a major sixth (nine frets) and a minor seventh (ten frets), respectively, on each string, no matter if the instrument‘s tuning is in fourths or in fifths.
But what makes me doubt this explanation even more: ALL my ukuleles are tuned in fourths (and built for that) and ALL have the fretmarker on the tenths rather than the ninths fret.
I can only conclude that it has to do with different instrument-building traditions rather than the tuning of the instruments.

Or is there something I have neglected so far? Explanations are most welcome!

Sorry for highjacking this thread!

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Originally Posted by Frolicks

Slightly off-topic, I know, so sorry for that!

I keep reading the arguments about the relation between tuning and fretboard marking traditions, and still don’t get it: why should that matter how far the next string‘s note is apart? It’s a major sixth (nine frets) and a minor seventh (ten frets), respectively, on each string, no matter if the instrument‘s tuning is in fourths or in fifths.
But what makes me doubt this explanation even more: ALL my ukuleles are tuned in fourths (and built for that) and ALL have the fretmarker on the tenths rather than the ninths fret.
I can only conclude that it has to do with different instrument-building traditions rather than the tuning of the instruments.

Or is there something I have neglected so far? Explanations are most welcome!

Sorry for highjacking this thread!

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I dunno the scientific explanation, but I learned to play guitar in 4ths with the fret marker at the 9th, then learned mandolin in 5ths with a fret marker at the 10th and find whenever I play mando tunes on an instrument without a 10th fret marker it doesn't work. I'm going to land on the 10th but the familiar marker isn't there so it throws me off. I can work around it, but it's very annoying.

Like everything, if all instruments had fret markers in the same spots then that's what we learn and that's what's normal. As long as there's a mish-mash there's confusion. Some say it adds a bit of spice to life.

Bill McCall pointed out in a different thread regarding the tenth fret of a mandolin:

Lowest note is G.
Fifth fret on next string-G.
10th fret on next string is G.
15th fret on next string is G.

For a tenor guitar this would be where the C notes are.

And in that thread I noticed:

Yes the fifth fret is the octave of the open string below, and the 10th fret is the octave of the fifth fret on the string below. 15th fret etc. Very useful information.

JeffD, that makes perfect sense. I tried it also on my Uke and it works very similarly. The G chords all fit in the pattern of open, 5th fret (with the G on the 3rd string 7th fret) and then 10th fret. Easy to locate those chords now on the fretboard. Quite a revelation, I'd say.. Thank you for that info.

are we overthinking this? I just thought it odd that there was a dot at both, the 9th and 10th

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Originally Posted by john bange

are we overthinking this? I just thought it odd that there was a dot at both, the 9th and 10th

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Just chiming in belatedly as a TG-18 owner to confirm that is indeed odd. My TG-18 has both the fretboard inlay dot and the side-of-neck dot at the 10th fret. No markings at all at the 9th.