Wow. Here's my update: I spent a couple of hours redoing the bridge on the old Stella last summer and took it camping. A friend who plays a Martin normally (which he is afraid to bring camping) borrowed it, and told me I ought to go down to the local acoustic music shop and pay them to set it up for me, it's got a great voice for a hunk of plywood.

I never made the canjolin, I made a strumstick for my two year old for her August birthday. I had hopes she would play with that and leave me alone when I practice banjo - no such luck. A strumstick is a neck, tuners, a bridge, a nut, and not much of a body, with two strings tuned however you want, or not at all. Doesn't matter because you can't really hear it! Anyway, I'm currently about half done building a wooden topped five string banjo - coming along nicely. I built it with a short neck so I won't have to use a capo to play Irish tunes in D. I built it with wood head because I'm too cheap to buy the hardware to tension a plastic head, and I'm not sure how long a stretched skin head would last in our dry weather - I'm talking about a place where living trees have a lower moisture content than kiln dried lumber in most other areas. I can't wait to string it up and hear how it sounds - but I'll have to wait any way. Still lots of work to do on the house.

Jon W.