The Gold Tone BG-Mini is a for-real, actual Bluegrass banjo that's been scaled down in size to provide a professional-grade banjo to pint-sized pickers or adults looking for a fun travel-sized instrument. Its design echoes that of Gold Tone's BG-250F and features an eight-inch diameter head sitting on a rolled-brass rod tone ring. The BG-Mini is tuned to open C (like the fifth fret of a standard banjo), but it can be tuned to standard G tuning with heavier strings (see below). This is NOT a novelty banjo -- it's the real deal!