My friend is a banjo player. He foolishly left his instrument on the back shelf of the car in full view and when he returned, someone had smashed the window and left another banjo there!

Seriously, I can't believe how lively some of these debates get. Why so precious? Like most instruments, they're crap in the hands of a novice. But we were all novices once. Played well, the banjo is fine, especially the 5 string bluegrass type. 6 string banjos tuned like a guitar on the other hand, are evil.