This is a marvelous instrument. Fun, fun, fun. It is very light. I tinkered with my Ampeg & the bass's treble until I got a very nice thump & sustain. I play in a bluegrass band & everyone played it including the dobro player. It does everything it should. I need a a little baby powder, but not the other guys. I noticed when I spilled some powder on my khakis that I could get enough off my pants leg. It is loud enough to practice w/o plugging in. Tuning is no problem; just pinch a sting & take the weight off. One major problem (listen up Gold Tone). The fret lines wrap around the finger board & have little dots at the ends. The dots on the finger board are in the right place, between the fret lines.. This is really confusing when I look at my fingers - which I do a lot. I would like to try one with frets. The tuner is not top end, but works well enough. The strings are magical. One can see wave forms in them. This thing is fun, fun fun.

Update - the bass pictured on Amazon has the dots placed correctly. The dots' placement on the bass sent to me are different & confusing. It's still fun, but I will contact the vendor or Gold Tone. Must drop it a star. Here's a pic.

I love this little bass, so you may wonder why I only gave it 4 stars. Mostly because of the strings. The "thundergut" strings that came with it were just unbearable, for me. I finally bought some "silverback" strings, and what a difference! I no longer feel like I am trying to get a decent sound while my fingers are stuck to gooey strings that feel like bubblegum. (I have read reviews by other folks who like the thunderguts, so apparently one's body chemistry matters... mine clearly does not like those strings!). Other negatives... the strings were difficult to change, since you have to reach into the sound hole and grope around for the holes in the bridge where the new strings go through. I have pretty large hands, so this was a challenge! An access hatch would have been nice. But I gather the strings last a long long time, so hopefully this will not be a big problem. Also, the case is less than ideal. The short zipper does not allow you to open the case all the way, and although there are d-rings for two backpack straps, the case comes with only one. Since I would like to be able to carry this, backpack style, on my bike, this is a big negative. The positive... a really really big positive! This is a real bass, with nice bass-y sound, in a tiny, lightweight package. Combine it with a Blackstar Fly3 battery-powered amp (the one with an extra speaker) plus your cable, tuner, and some spare batteries for the amp, and you can still go to jam sessions or music camps carrying no more than 10 pounds. Amazing! Plus, it is plenty loud enough to practice at home without any amp at all. Great little instrument.

I bought this on faith and good reviews, and I'm happy to say this bass is exactly what I was hoping for: compact, light, easy to play, and just loud enough in acoustic mode that I can pick it up a play right away without the need to plug it in. Love the polymer strings and the fretless board (for me, the strings and shorter scale did take some getting used to at first, but it didn't take too long to adjust and I continue to be amazed at how fun and easy it is to play...and a bonus: NO STRING BUZZ!). Sounds great plugged or unplugged -- it really is surprising just how full and rich it sounds considering its size. Gold Tone hit a home run with this one.

Great fun instrument. Fret less is the way to go with this one for sure. Pickup has too much finger noise but that can be eliminated with amp settings -- would be nice if GoldTone tweaked the pickup to address this better.

Love the sound, compact and light. Strings little sticky, but manageable.