The banjo is a well-built instrument. The resonator and pot are solid and tight, with good tension on the drum head. The neck and fretboard are comfortable; the frets are level, very clean along the neck, and well-polished. The tail piece and arm rest are solid, and performing their functions as expected. The bridge is securely affixed, stable, and keeping the strings in place.
It was somewhat more difficult to fully evaluate the tuning machines; they are basic, no-frills, economy tuners. The banjo shipped with fairly standard tenor banjo strings, but far too light for Irish tuning on a 17-fret banjo. I found it difficult to achieve a G2-D3-A3-E4 tuning, and almost impossible to keep it in tune. The strings and tuners did a better job of achieving and retaining a C3-D3-G4-A4 tuning. With a set of strings closer to .040, .030, .020w, .010 the supplied tuning machines should be satisfactory.
Overall, this a very nicely made musical instrument that would be perfect for the student or multi-instrumentalist who wants to be able to tote along a selection of instruments to fill in where needed at pub sessions. This banjo is easily the equal of any other economy banjo that is actually built to be used as a real musical instrument, but at much better cost to consumer; plus, the techs at Thomann did a great job of making sure the banjo was in good working order and setup well. The banjo could still be offered at great price if it were shipped with basic/economy Grover tenor banjo tuning machines, and that would improve it to a five-star offering.
