The banjo, like the guitar, is actually a family of instruments with a lot of different sounds within the group. I own a banjo strung with nylon strings that sounds a lot different from the common steel string resonator banjo ( which I also own ). I also own one of Bob Flesher's gut string fretless wonders, which has a deep thunderous tone. Very 19th century.   

I'm not going to list all of the different types of banjos made over the years, but those who post to this thread could come up with a list of banjos in these categories they own (or used to own) themselves. So much more for banjo haters to hate and banjo lovers to love!

Joe