Got the Harmony back from Bruce Dowd last night - wow! The work he did on it was amazing, and the price very reasonable. The sound is beautiful - plunky and warm - and the Aquila nylon strings are stiff enough to make it easy to play.
I had difficulty keeping Nichol away from it last night. Looks like he’s got the nylon-strung bug too.
My Harmony banjo arrived today. For something essentially made of plastic, with a brown-painted neck, it sounds great.
Got another banjo last night: an old Harmony Reso-Tone. These were the volksbanjos of the sixties, and though cheap, have a pleasant mellow tone.
The one thing I will have to get used to is its very narrow neck. But hey, if a “Steel Reinforced Neck” Reso-Tone was good enough for Lee Hammons …
I’m planning to put nylon strings on it for that backwoods tone.