"Many thanks Byron! It sounds more powerful and brilliant in person. I do find the louder the instrument, the harder to record... I'm using the Clifford Essex zither banjo set with a gut 3rd."

"That was amazing! Thanks for sharing! I'm loving the sound of the Vibrante. I'm sure it sounds better in person. Are you using the Clifford Essex zither banjo set with nylon 3rd and 4th strings?"

"Just recorded Scheaff's Handel arrangement (possibly not by Handel!) on the Vibrante Royal, with a little semi-improvised prelude... https://youtu.be/NRmynDgtvjk?is=r_-OS_j9zmNH4VWm"

"RE Marc= well, there you go! I have all types, including the Starrett Vernier (and some good reading glasses).  I usually carry, in my bib coveralls, a pair of Starrett pocket calipers, which are no longer made, and read in both metric and SAE,…"

"I would think that all professional and semi-professional zither-banjo and "regular banjo" players who lived and performed within 90 miles of London in 1939 would have known each other. "

"Allow me some pedantism as an old machine-shop denizen: "Vernier" is the type of readout on the calipers. They are "Calipers" and there are 4 common types of readout: Vernier (the oldest), Dial (has a dial with a needle),…"

"Very cool story and connection, It will be fantastic for you to give it voice again.  Regarding connection to Cammeyer?  My guess, Watson bought that stuff from Cammeyer at Cammeyer's "studio" (store)."

"Doing some digging (with the help of Ian Salter of this parish), I'm pretty sure this banjo originally belonged to a Mr Watson. The letter from Musselbrook found in the case, addressed to Mr Watson, mentions Musselbrook, Watson and Leonard…"

"My day job is operating a small textile mill that operates braiding and knitting machines (think braided cord/rope and shoe lace-- but that is not what we make and I don't want to put everyone to sleep explaining). Anyway, for measuring round…"

"No problem! There were so many strings..."

"I misinterpreted. You had mentioned two wire 2nds.  I wrongly assumed the strings in the package photo were those. Obviously I can't count. Not even to 2 :-)"

"I think there's been some light confusion? I don't think I said they were 2nd strings, and if so I mistyped."

"A .022 inch wound string would be used for the bass course on a steel-strung 5-string banjo. It's just below medium gauge. Some go heavier, some go lighter. "

"My digital micrometer is precise all the way down to teensy increments like 0.0001 mm.   I used the old "analog" micrometers for decades but they reacted to cold temperature. I had to warm them up before they would give an accurate…"

"Right, I'll look for one. Assumed they would be expensive but apparently not. That's interesting about the bridge height. I'll try and look into it."

"Just double checked, they are definitely wound strings! .022 inches would make sense for a wound string, no? Though it is rather light. The scale length is 27 1/2 on mine."