Considering purchasing a banjo.. advice?

[perfectturmoil]

Hey.

I mess around on the banjo. Its a very fun instrument.. and I'd like to get better at it (cause, you know.. who on earth plays the banjo? ) I've been "permanently borrowing" one from a family friend.. it belongs to their father who passed away a few years back. They are happy to have it being used by someone, and its mine for as long as I want it... but.. you know.. I'd like my own and I'd like to give theirs back...

But I'm on the cheap. Any suggestions for looking at them? I don't need anything super.. I've watched ebay, and it seems theres a few of the "starter pack" ones for pretty low prices.. they're probably crappy but might do the trick.. I also saw one that looked like someone made it out of a tambourine.. nifty..

I'm probably gonna try to make my own out of a cookie tin (just for the fun of it).. So I might have SOMETHING of my own to play with.. of course, it'll probably sound terrible and look nearly as bad.. but it will be my own :- ]

But yeah.. any good ways of aquiring a decent banjo?

[unccrombie]

how about the obvious...buy theirs?

[perfectturmoil]

...it belongs to their father who passed away a few years back....

Um.. Yeah.. See.. It was left to them by her father who passed away.. There's sentimental value in it.. So you can probably see why I would like to give it back to them...

[tdowe99]

My friend has an Epiphone MasterBuilt, and it's damn nice.
The MB series is extra high quality. (Obviously not Gibson quality, though)

[unccrombie]

They are happy to have it being used by someone, and its mine for as long as I want it...

well maybe you can buy it from them if you really wanted if they know it'd be going to good use.