I am truly amazed that, even in these later inflated times, that banjo costs that much. There was a time that you couldn't give them away to many of us in Chicago. We saw them as way-too-heavy and unwieldy -- unbalanced and laughable aberations that were in a league with fiberglass body guitars like the Ovation, and certain plastic molded in one piece instruments.

That said, the ovation is highly regarded now as a very balanced instrument--bass to treble--for recording as I've been told.

I remember a joke going around: One guy says, "I just got a set of strings for my Merlin banjo." His friend says, "Good trade!!"

Art Thieme