After all the encouragement I got from lots of you about maybe being too old to learn to play the banjo, I decided WHY NOT TRY !!! I ordered a Savannah SB100 left-handed banjo from The BanjoHut and it arrived in the mail yesterday. My gosh; what a beautiful looking instrument it is and the construction looks excellent!!!!! The only minor problem was that the bridge had moved slightly but a quick call to The BanjoHut and they told me about loosening the strings and the proper measuring distance to place it exactly where it should sit. Anyway I received my tuner also yesterday; an Intellitouch PT-10, and was able to quickly tune the strings. I spent 2 hours total working on the clawhammer technique from Patrick Costello's youtube "Frailing". I just love the "tinny twanging" sound of the banjo.My little Dauchsand, Winnie, lays on the floor beside me and I think she likes the banjo sounds too. A few years back when my kids were young we drove through the Blue Ridge Mountains and I never forgot the feeling that I had somehow been there a long time ago before the trip. (Maybe in a past life I was an Appalacian mountain man???). I can see I have to put in a lot of time practicing but I am really excited at this point.
Stay tuned and I hope this isn't too boring.
Andy