It was exciting to find this Gold Star in such fine original condition to start with, and as it turns out it's one heck of a player. First, the pluses:The GF-85 is a mahogany model with neck and resonator mahogany which gives it a warm sound, The rim is of hard rock maple as were the original mastertones. The inlay pattern is a "bowtie" used on all of the GF-85 models which is a copy of the Gibson RB-3 banjos. As a player, the neck means everything to me, and this old boy has a super-duper neck! The positive neck relief (slight bend forward) is just right, and the well known awesome slim Gold Star profile, is what some call a "fast neck" is what I find to be virtually the same shape as a Gibson.. The fretboard is in excellent shape and the frets are not visibly worn at all. I think the previous owner just never played it! Overall in excellent condition and it produces a very crisp yet warm sound. It plays easily and clearly with good power, it is smooth and free of any buzzing of any sort on any and all frets, at all playing intensity levels. I have not found any cracks or separations on the resonator or the neck or rim. I don't like saying a banjo has a prewar sound, it's subjective, and technically only a prewar banjo can actually have a prewar sound, but let's just say this banjo records well, it has excellent volume and tone. It plays well softly, too with good holow, bell-like round tones when picked near the neck. In my opinion you could take it into any studio for any professional job or stage performance with excellent results. The head is tuned to a G# that brought out the best tone. Surprisingly the fretboard has never had a fifth string spike in it, but I will install them free if you like. They are typically installed at the 7, 9 and 10 positions. It's never had a sliding fifth string capo on it either, so no holes have ever been drilled into the neck, binding or fretboard. You'll often see the telltale holes, or an original sliding capo still on these banjos as the Shubb sliding fifth string capos were very popular then.The resonator has only the slightest fine "scratches" that every instrument gets.. fine thin marks, hard to classify as scratches really. They would likely be polished out in no time to a mirror finish. The finish has not been polished but you can see in the photos it still has great shine.This banjo also has no buckle rash (this is the term used to describe deep scratches left by a player's exposed belt buckle the back has scraped against). And the neck set is correct for the 5/8 bridge. The tuners were not in great shape, they just did not work well. They seemed to have a lot of free play and the knobs did not fit the shafts well. This was unusual but They have been replaced with a brand new set of GOTOH planetary tuners. GOTOH is known for being among the best tuners in the world and they work smooth as glass. These tuners are very expensive. This is one reason I cannot be flexible in my pricing. If your wish is to purchase a pair of Keith D-tuners we have those as well and can install them with no additional installation fee.The case is in average used condition. It's not perfect, it may or may not be original, I'm not sure. It works fine, if you want to upgrade the case to a new one I reccomend the Superior CD-1530 which is what all the new upper level Gold Star banjos come with, and the new Sullivan banjos are also equipped with this case. There are some other fine case choices if you'd like a less expensive new case but the case included still protects and works fine although not terribly pretty any more.Flaws, aging and defects:Firstly I'll mention the nickel plating is tarnished to a very normal 30- year level. Virtually all banjos I see of this age look like this so it's in typical condition; many players actually prefer a battle-worn patina like this (a little tarnish on their banjos instead of a mirror finish). The look comes with age. There's nothing really beyond that, but it looks great- and it definitely does not look new. I have not seen any plating that is worn through. Again, this banjo appears to have had very little hands-on time.There are two small chips in the lacquer finish on the back of the neck. I decided to leave them alone. It does not look like the wood is damaged, just the finish is dinged. They do not affect playability one bit and they are not