thank you all so much for your suggestions and guidance. I've spoken to Doug at buttonbox and think I'm just about to make the leap.
I live in Toronto, Canada. I play guitar, fairly involved arrangements of tunes, with a style of accompaniment that is individually tailored to the song I am playing. play many styles (folk, blues, jazz, country, bluegrass) and as a consequence I'm looking for an instrument that is versatile--sounds like the duet for me. any thoughts? I also go to sessions on an irregular basis, bring my Irish-made Lowden, to learn tunes and rhythm playing. looking forward to surprising the gang that expects a blues tune at the end of the night with a sweet air by carolan.

and Guest, Jim--nice to hear from you. glad you've heard some of my music. I do miss hearing folk music on the former CJRT (now Jazz-FM) where Cate was a DJ, but I'm glad to have been a guest on her show (probably when I released the disc you have...long ago) before they left the diversity of classical, jazz, and folk behind to become a JAZZ only station. go figure...