WOW, hanks so much for all the advice! From all you've said, I guess I'll stick with less expensive for now.

One of my problems is that there is no one locally who sells open back banjos. I may have a chance while in the Twin Cities, MN over the holidays to actually find a place that has a few that I can look at more closely. Most of my questions come from reading catalog descriptions and not really understanding them.

One thing I'm having trouble with is that when the right hand fingernails have broken off too short, I really can't seem to get much sound, or really even tell how cleanly I'm hitting the strings. Any and all fingernail advice is appreciated.

Right now I'm really hot on Dwight Diller's style, but the video I have lacks a bit on some of the basic techniques. I'll probably be happiest if I can accompany myself when singing ala Sheila Kay Adams.