Thanks, everyone for your input. I've always wanted to play banjo. Maybe next summer, I can try it out (I'm a school teacher and have time for that sort of thing in summer.)
The reason I'm reluctant to get a 5 string banjo? I have all I can handle with my guitar, fiddle, tinwhistle, bodhran, spoons, doumbek and conga practice! If only someone would pay me to play around all day on instruments...I'm not good enough on any of them to play in a band. Why spread myself even thinner?
Thanks, though, for feeding my curiosity. Cheers! Sue