The Banjola

I made my way up to Blue Moon Music in Fayetteville, Arkansas earlier this week. I was visiting one of my band members and to my surprise I came across an instrument that I have had my eyes on for around 4 years now. It was a Gold Tone banjola. The instrument is a cross between a guitar, mandolin and banjo. At first glance it might fool someone not so much in the know as being a zitar. The banjola has a very unique sound that is nothing like the banjo (thank goodness). It has a great resonation, but is very soft and can easily be drowned out by other acoustics. My plan is to add a pickup to send to an amplifier. I'm curious to see how the flange affects it's sound. When I get pictures, I'll post them up on Flickr (to which I'm addicted).