Just thought I'd follow up on this thread. I found a review or two about a fishman banjo pick-up. I like fishman stuff, so I went to the fishamn site and read up on their banjo pick-up. I liked what I heard, so decided to give it a try - and I have to say I've been using for about month now, and I love it! It worked much better then I would have expected.

The premise is simple; they place a small square of steel on the back of the banjo head with tape. It is placed just north of the bridge, and centered within the strings. Beneath it is placed a sound coil wrapped pick-up; yep, just like your electric guitar! The signal is small, so it works best with a pre-amp, but it requires very little EQ, and produces a mcuh much truer banjo sound then I ever could have dreammed! And surprisingly, the banjo lends itself very well to the more electric instrument dynamics then I would expect.

Anyway - this has been a success story for me. Thanks for all your help here.