Rick,

Maybe I'll just keep the Prototype and donate it to the Smithsonian when I no longer need it. Perhaps you can bottle a few Tony's Roti belches and we'll add it to their Fielding display. Perhaps you can donate your four music stand table while you're at it.

I'm surprised that the patent costs would be so much. You'd have to sell an awful lot of mutes to cover that. However, I'm sure that you could get these fees covered by "Spouses of Banjo Players Anonymous".

I'll just keep on showing mine to people and telling them where to get one.

I'll swap for a packaged one when I see you next. That will be sooner than usual, Karen is already missing the Kitchen Syncopators CD.