"Michael Hofer" wrote in message:

Thanks,. good idea.

Yes, it seems well constructed, but designed for ease of production as well.

That's what I understand. It sure is awkward!

I remember a lot of banjo players with folk groups back in the 60s playing long neck Vegas. From the way this handles it's not hard to see why they sort of faded, what a moose!

The one I have has been poorly stored over the years (no case) and really needs to be disasembled & thoroughly cleaned. One nice thing about the aluminum body is that despite the poor care all it needs is a polishing. A wooden one would likely not have survived the beating this one took.

I restrung it yesterday with a standard light gauge set (.009s) and have been letting it settle in. As one would expect, due to its poor care it really nees a some attention. The tailpiece adjustment was all goofy so I got that sorted a bit. and a local player suggests the head is way overtightened. The bridge is not level, drooping on the bbutt side, and the head tensioners are all over the place tension-wise. I have an opld friend who used to adjust banjo heads with a little inch-pounds torque wrench, which got them perfectly even. Seems a bit anal to me, but it moight be a good technique on something this far out of whack. The head itself is either the original, apears to be original, or at least a genuine ODE replacement. I'll likely remove it and store it away. Any suggestions for a good replacement?

Thanks very much, I'll check it out for sure!

Thanks again Michael, this has been very helpful!