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For longer than I care to remember, I have had a great interest in stringed instruments, in particular five string banjo and acoustic guitar in that order, I have repaired instruments, modified and even built a neck for a banjo. The long neck five string is my main instrument for folk singing whenever I get the chance to play it, but , I play more gigs solo than as a duo with Dan, so I use acoustic guitar for most of the time. I had the privilege of meeting with Luke Kelly of The Dubliners at the Cork Opera House in 1981, I was only seventeen at the time and after asking him about his long neck Vega Pete Seeger banjo, he kindly offered to let me have a go with it and a dream came true for me. I sang and played "The Travelling People". He also sang and played "Raglan Road" for me solo in the Opera House backstage bar, so it is a moment in time I will cherish forever. My ambition was to own a Vega Pete Seeger at some time, but after trying endlessly to locate one, I eventually through the advent of internet found that The Deering Banjo company had acquired the "Vega" trade mark and were reproducing the Vega longneck, so I purchased one and it compares very closely to the originals. At one stage, I was under the impression that vintage instruments were of better quality and craftsmanship, but having purchased three new banjos in recent times, I would safely say that premium new instruments are as well, if not better crafted than their vintage counterparts.

I also have purchased a Wildwood long neck banjo which is very well built and also uses the Tubaphone tone ring system. Being a clawhammer player also, I purchased a Bart Reiter Whyte Ladie De-Luxe banjo and this instruments craftsmanship is superb and also produces a beautiful sound and is reputedly his last one of these models as the intricate inlaying is hard on his sight. I have two old banjos, my first banjos. I bought both of them from Kevin O'Callaghan an instrument luthier in Cork. One is a Benery Celebration, probably late 1800's and a British zither banjo with a name of St. James on a brass plate.

Then I commissioned the great Irish Luthier and friend Tom Cussen of Clareen Banjos, Clarenbridge, Co. Galway to build a clawhammer banjo to my specification. He did a great job which included a frailing scoop and a Whyte Ladie tone ring. I purchased a Kevin Enoch 200 fretless with 12" rim and has nylon strings second-hand. It is a fun banjo, but have since sold it on due to under use. Then I came across a Mechanical Merlin Long Neck mainly constructed of aluminium, built in Chigago. It is rare and synonymous with my legendry idol Luke Kelly of "The Dubliners". It is great to hear the unique sound found in many of Lukes recordings.

Deering Vega is my favourite all rounder and the Reiter Whyte Ladie specifically for clawhammer. Check out the links page for some useful links for banjos and guitars.

I then purchased a used Deering Crossfire Electric banjo and had some fun with that, but sold it on. I then acquired a Derring Custom Folk Era long neck with resonator, a true work of art and commissioned CF Martin guitars to build me full body Acoustic/electric DC Aura with my name inlayed on the fingerboard, a beauty. I also built a long neck banjo from an American pot and a neck from Taiwan.

As regards guitars, I bought an Epiphone FT-145 Texan acoustic from a colleague second-hand which was my first guitar and I still have and is still playing well. I once owned a 1968 Martin D21which was a great guitar, but not very practical without installing a pick-up which would have spoiled it, so I sold that. I have a 1964 Guild D40 which I found to be a great working guitar and a very balanced sound right across the six strings. I then bought a Takamine FP360SC in 1992 as a working guitar and use it since. It is not great acoustically, but plugged in, it works very reliably and is nice to handle. I then purchased a brand new Takamine EF360SC in 2003 which I must admit, I haven't gigged much using it basically as a spare. Then thanks to eBay I purchased a 1993 Takamine FP360S in good shape also as a spare but since moved this on and bought another Takamine FP 360SC in mint condition on Ebay and also purchased a Ozark F style mandolin for recording projects.

I picked up a cool shallow arched body marble finish Takamine for my kids and also a Weymann open back five string for Ricky my son.

AS you can see, I am a it of an instrument maniac, but suppose I could be doing worse!

I must admit my wifes patience are to be commended for letting me use the house for storage and supporting the purchase of each after my justification speech for each.

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