The reason for the trip to San Diego!

 I arrived at the Deering Banjo Factory at 10 am and was greeted by the receptionist, Jamie Ward.  She was vey knowledgeable and let me handle and pick a number of banjos.  I was stunned by the range of weight from 5-6 lbs to 12-14 lbs.  The tone of the more expensive banjos is very clearly better than the lighter, cheaper banjos.  She tried me out and listened to me describe what I wanted to play.  She narrowed it down to the Deering Artisan and it was beautiful.  Not the most expensive or cheapest.

I stayed 2 hours and could have stayed longer.  I have to say, the building did have a sign saying there were factory tours….no there weren’t.  No lessons either but they had a list of teachers in the area.  Tomorrow packing, laundry, and then off I go!