[Dixielandjazz] Banjo's & Washboards - Was "something substantial"

[DWSI at aol.com]

John:

At the risk of sounding too academic on this site (a rare risk taken I 
notice), I recall reading that the banjo is, in fact, the only truly 
American-original instrument. And it gets stranger. The first banjo (Carolinas origin where 
the Scots first settled) was a five string. The tenor four string came much 
later. The fifth string was supposed to mimic the drone of a bagpipe. Is that 
weird or what?

Dan (piano fingers) Spink