G'day even yet again Murray,

Back onto the topic: I mentioned this thread and the Gibson EPB at Backblocks practice last night.

Bob Foggin, who plays my bush music arrangements on fiddle (as long as you restrain him from playing schmaltzy 30s stuff on uke ... or mouthorgan ... or fiddle) believes he has handled and played the same instrument - and owns a copy - one of several made in Sydney by the previous owner.

He has played his copy 'EPB' in local churches and describes it (and the original) as sounding a bit like an Hawaiian guitar. To round out the sound, he added a phaser and says the result is quite interesting for church music (but not very much like a banjo!). They did a bit of experimenting to get a better banjo sound from the electric instrument ... different pickups etcetera but it is hard for it not to be a 4-string electric guitar - for banjoists. There is only one set of pickups and this is fairly limiting.

I also looked at Diagram's World book of Musical Instruments and found illustrations of the full range of banjo band instruments ... Tenor Banjo, Plectrum Banjo and Bass Banjo - about 1.6 metres of monster 4-stringer with a 60 cm head! Just the thing for duos with those Mexican acoustic bass guitars that look as if they are designed to be played by three men and a boy.

Regards,

Bob Bolton