Irish Tenor Banjo

Gold Tone AC-4 

Although I'll continue to play American Old Time fiddle tunes on Mandolin, I wanted a GDAE-tuned Tenor Banjo for Irish tunes. I've always liked the sound, and the resonance is more forgiving than trying to get a perfect tone on a mandolin. 

Besides choosing a specific make and model, the big questions were whether to go for 17 or 19 frets and an open or closed back. 17 frets is easier if you are used to the Mandolin, but there can apparently be intonation issues and a slack G-string problem in Irish (GDAE) tuning. So I decided to go for the longer scale if I could cope with the stretch and/or movement of hand position. This awaited actually trying a 19 which I finally managed in August. It was OK.

The closed back (with resonator) provides more volume but I don't expect to be throwing myself into dedicated Irish sessions and I found the resonator banjos very metallic. The open back ones have a sweeter tone.

I eventually decided on the Gold Tone AC-4 which has a two-way adjustable truss rod (lacking in some more expensive banjos) and is considered to be great value. It seemed proportionate to my beginner status and level of commitment shared, as it is, with so many other instruments. The included case is little more than a dust cover but I had a spare padded gig bag.

Transferring the Irish mandolin tunes to banjo was straightforward. Obviously I had to get use to the increased fret distances, but it essentially feels like playing the same instrument.