Re: the bass banjo - I didn't build it for Paul - I just loaned it to him for that one gig. I think he pretty much hated having it forced upon him and I promised I'd never ask him to touch it again. But he graciously consented to play it that once so we could do the 4 banjo thing on Worried Man. It was just a gag (probably literally), but we had fun with it.

This bass banjo is a very home-made deal. The body is made from one of those card-board barrels that institutions get food stuffs in. I retrieved it from the Scout camp on Vashon Island - I believe it contained oat meal originally. I cut it down to about 6" deep and the bottom of the barrel is the banjo head. I kept the lid for the back side (a sort of resonator) and a friend carved a neck for me out of an old piece of mahogany he had lying around. He also made the bridge for me out of plexiglass and we cut the tail piece out of sheet metal. I had an old set of bass tuners that we put on it and I strung it with an old set of upright bass strings. It has a contact mic pick-up mounted on the underside of the "head" and the jack is in the middle of the "resonator." No frets (too much work!) But actually it doesn't sound all that bad, especially when amplified.