Thanks Mr Duck, what does not appear on these posts is a little sign indicating that the writer has tongue firmly inserted in their cheek. I was referring to a much earlier post where Jon W clearly stated his definition of a banjo.
I have little actual knowledge of banjos but an old friend, many years ago, had an old banjo which he said was an English Windsor model. I remember clearly that it had a head very similar to a 'spanish' guitar with slots in which were fixed 6 machine heads. He said that this was 'normal' and only 5 strings were ever used. The 5th string was run from the bridge and it disappeared into a little hole at the side of the neck and emerged at the back of the nut to connect to the tuner. I don't know if this was a usual technique but it fascinated me at the time.