Hi, Ulf... Hmmm. Not to sound like a know-it-all, but I figured out all that stuff a long time ago by just foolin' around with my banjo! Was there any grant money involved?

But the premise sure is right... a banjo is the ultimate "tweak it until you like it" instrument. I can't think of a single player I know who doesn't mess with their banjos all the time, and the banjo seems to be the favorite instrument for any new pitch that claims to produce tone. Especially ULTIMATE tone, whatever that is.

Lately, the big thing is using old submerged wood that is dredged up from the bottom of Lake Michigan for the rim. Only a banjo player would even think of something like that, but it's nothing new- just another spin of the same old ball. A hundred years ago, A.A. Farland swore that using a thin metal head with a hole in it made a huge difference in tone over the skin heads of the day, but I haven't seen many of those lately. However, about 20 years ago, a guy came out with a plastic head with a hole in it. Haven't seen many of those lately, either... maybe the next banjo head with a hole in it will be made of carbon fiber, which will probably have the ultimate tone for sure.

Thirty years ago, nobody wanted a resonator flange that was made of pot metal... just a cheap subsbreastute for the good stuff, solid brbutt. Brbutt has the ultimate tone. So lots of old flanges were pulled off and brbutt ones were put on. Now, the pot metal flange is the big tone producer, so all the old brbutt flanges are being pulled off and new pot metal ones are being put on. It never ends. I get dizzy, going in all these circles! Regards, Stanger