What's that ... Banjo?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an interesting bantar guitanjo thing played by Brian Setzer in his Stray Cat days. Is it a one-off? Can anyone ID it? Thanks!

yours, Tone Deaf Radio

Hi Tone, it does indeed very familiar. I have a feeling I've seen one being used by The Pogues. But yeah, it's a Deering Crossfire electric banjo. It actually has two magnetic pickups mounted beneath the head and is designed to be played at volume without any feedback.

Note it's not really a "guitanjo" or a "bantar" - those names are usually given to six string banjos, which are essentially banjos tuned like a guitar so as to accommodate guitar players' existing know-how.  This Deering is a proper 5-string banjo, but in electric format.

G L Wilson

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