Hi Wen.  I'll be at the Blue and Gray Chickamauga reenactment in the civilian town of Lafayette (at the reenactment) on the weekend of the 21st.  If you can get down to the reenactment look me up!

thanks for the warm welcomes. I have been playing clawhammer banjo for about two years.  I just bought a minstrel banjo kit in the mail. I will have to sand and stain it and put it together. Here is the question for you minstrel banjo players. Do you play the minstrel banjo the same way as the clawhammer?  --Wen

Short answer: it can seem familiar, but there are many things that are done a little differently than typical clawhammer.  Wrapping your head around these differences can be confusing and challenging until you have a few "A-HAh!" moments.  It can feel awkward at first, but lots of fun if you stick with it and don't mind sounding a little foolish for a while.  That's the stage i'm at.   ;)   I didn't want to just clawhammer my way through the repertoire, so I tossed my pride aside and started with Juba...I highly recommend it as a first tune!