Bought this as a gift for my husband. It is in a great key for our purposes, and the tone is very pleasant. We may need to file or bend one tongue the slightest bit to clear up some muddiness. We are leaving it for now as it is only noticeable with a very soft touch. We don_ have any prior experience with tongue drums specifically, but this particular set up, 11 notes in D major, 10inch diameter, pleasant sound and look, AND at just under a hundred dollars, is an extremely satisfactory deal. The gold is a nice finish- kind of a metallic mustard. Overall, we are very pleased with it and would buy this again!