I was quite amused by some of the comments posted above re-6-string banjo (5+1) not a guitar. This would be the 'zither' banjo, the invention of which is usually credited to William Temlett an English banjo maker who patented the name 'zither banjo'in 1869. An American, Alfred D Cammeyer, also claimed to have invented it in 1877. Take your pick.

The zither banjo was extraordinarily popular in England during the latter part of the 19th Century and the first two decades of the 20th -really up to the outbreak of the Second World War. Windsor made some of the best and these were by far the most popular. There is a photo of King Edward VII playing one, and they were turned out in their thousands by a variety of makers apart from Windsor. The Windsor factory was destroyed by a bomb in 1941, and that unfortunately rather put paid to their production, but you can still get modern zither banjos made by other makers.

There are still a large number of zither banjos around. They nearly all have 6-machine heads for tuning (ease of manufacture being the main reason) although I have seen them with 5 nickel-silver ones. Contrary to the nonsense written above there is no reason why a good zither banjo in sound condition should not play beautifully using finger-style playing. The zither banjo has a softer mellower tone than other banjos, and I'm told that it was designed to compete with the sound the zither which was also very popular during the 19th Century. Certainly there were a number of zither pieces written to play on the zither banjo. Disregard the story of Cammeyer coining the term 'zither banjo'following a mishap during a concert -the term was in use well before that.

Contrary to some reports, there's no difficulty in playing clawhammer if you wish, and I can't understand why anyone should claim that changing the vellum is a problem. Anyone with a bit of nouse and the appropriate tools (screwdriver, socket-head, and pliers)can do it. I've done it several times with no difficulty at all.

They are lovely instruments and I've had and still have several of them. The distinguishing feature of a zither banjo is its construction. All have a wooden-surround and bowl looking like a resonator to the uninitiated, which is non-removable, and which completely surrounds the back and side of the pot. Unlike other banjos where the neck is attached directly to the pot, the neck of a zither-banjo is directly connected to the wooden bowl (as I tend to call it) and the pot is part suspended on the wooden bowl by brackets (although some of the brackets are purely for asymmetry and decoration).

As to value, it all depends who you are buying from and,of course, condition. My old W. E. Temlett (that's Temlett Junior) sold at Bamford's Auctionhouse two years ago for £110, but the guy who bought it only got £84 for it on Ebay (serve him right!). I bought a very fine Windsor Popular No.9 on Huddersfield (UK) market for £80 recently. You can still can get playable examples for £60 or so, if you're lucky. Or you can pay up to £500. I'd be reluctant to pay more. Be careful buying in the Internet. You really need to see a banjo before you buy it, or make sure the vendor has a decent returns policy.

Good luck.