Just been back (again) to the Deering website and can't find a sound clip of the Goodtime - I'd love to hear one.

I can not imagine a company with the reputation of Deering producing an instrument that does not play well and every comment I have read here and in alt.banjo seems to back that up.

My doubts are not with the peg head (even though I can see what Rick and others are saying) but the instrument appears to lack a resonator and to the best of my knowledge has no tone ring so I would wonder if it produced a suitable sound for bluegrass for example.

Having said that, I questioned the use of a wooden tone ring a couple of months ago (I met somebody who had just fininished playing in our N Wales bluegrass festival who expressed surprise at the weight of my banjo but then said hers had a wooden tone ring) in alt.banjo and was pointed to the Deering John Hartford which I thought sounded superb - I have a lot to learn (and try to play celtic on tenor - no 5 string work).

Jon