Jon, Liam, and anybody else, I think I should have ended my post re the conversion with a -;) or is it a *BG* or something here? I'm not that serious about it and to be honest, if I found the right bit's, I would make them into a tenor or whatever regardless of what they might have come from and even if I was in the fortunate position of finding an antique and having the money, I would consider putting a tenor neck on a 5 string etc, alhough I would make sure it kept the original parts. I joke about 5 string v tenor quite often but I like them both and too me, the most important thing with instruments is that they are played - not hidden away in a cupboard or part of a collection for show...

Jon, Tenor banjo is normaly played with a pick (I don't know of any finger pickers). There are 2 tunings in common use. The "standard" tuning used by jazz players is CGDA. Most "Irish" players keep to this interval but tune a bit lower to GDAE (an octave below the fiddle and mandolin). I think that the jazz type playing involves a lot of chords and playing up the neck wheras the Iish style is mostly playing sinlge note melodies in the first position. As the Irish style involves playing in the open position and faily long stetches of the left hand compared to fiddle and mandolin, there are a number of players (myself included) who prefer the 17 fret model to the 19 fret model (which gives a bit more space up the neck).

Jon