It appears that at some distant point in the 20th century, I fancied playing the banjo, and being very lazy, I didn't want to learn new fingerings, so I mentioned that there are banjos with guitar tuning, and sure enough I got a guitar banjo.
There are certainly times when I enjoy making that sharp ploinky sound, but I never quite liked it enough to put any effort into improving. The steel strings are very unpleasant under the fingers, the shape is awkward, the whole thing is too heavy, and strumming guitar chords on it sounds dreadful.
Also, while the drum head is a US brand (Remo), it pointedly distances itself from the rest of the instrument with the inscription "banjo head only" under the brand name. I assume they did this because the rest is cheaply made Korean stuff (Arirang), which is now becoming obvious as the plastic knobs of the machine heads have a tendency to break when you try to tune.
If all of that doesn't put you off banjos forever, here's my attempt at playing John Ryan's polka:
One day though I'll take the thing to a session just to shock people. First I'll actually have to practise a tune though, that's the problem.
I should also mention that a photo of this banjo played a pivotal role at the very beginning of the whole folk craziness going on in my family, so I'll give the old Arirang some credit for that.
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