A number of years back I wanted an instrument which was a bit different so designed and constructed something with a banjo neck and a body the size of a mandola/cittern. I was very plesed with the final result and ended up calling it a Bandola (ban-citt didn't have quite the same ring to it!). One friend used to refer to it as the Banjaxed!
I don't know what the one on Elderly instruments would sound like, but my instrument has a tone which reminds me of an Appalachian Dulcimer.
Jed - I once happened across a 7-string banjo on a second hand instrument stall run by someone I knew in Cardiff. It was a full 6 strings plus a peg on the side of the neck. We didn't get it playing as it was old and worse for wear, plus we didn't really know what to string it up as. My recollection is blurred as it was about 1980/81 when I saw it. I have a feeling that it was nylon strung rather than metal strings, and probably dated from the 1920's or '30's.