"Dear John and Peter, I am enjoying my new folding tenor so much that I haven't picked up my good and trusty Vega since. It's wonderful and I'm loving it! Yesterday, I purchased a snare drum hard case for the Ireland trip. I'll fashion some back pack style straps for the case so I can easily haul it with my washboard and jug. I can't say thank you enough. I'm so proud of it and look forward to a lifetime of fun with it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!" Best, Craig High Boxcar Preachers   For excellent sound samples of the original Fold a Jo, please visit the "Fold a Jo Sound Samples" page.	Made in very limited quantities since the 1960s, the J. A. Sloan Fold a Jo is once again available on a special order basis. It was the original travel banjo, practical and durable. Like our Travel Jo, it is a travel banjo with true banjo dimensions and performance. It is also one of the world's finest sounding banjos (see our "Fold a Jo Sound Samples" page.) The Fold a Jo weighs only about five pounds and folds without tools to an incredibly compact 16.5 inches in seconds. Better yet, the Fold a Jo opens, still in tune, just as quickly. No more broken banjo necks due to careless luggage handlers. Price for a new 5 string Fold a Jo, $3000.00. Oh, and by the way, every Fold a Jo has an adjustment for setting the strings to an individual player's preferred height. It's a nice touch.
My dad never really finished a Fold a Jo, selling quite a few in a roughly finished state and leaving the rest in a sort of abandoned mid-operation condition. In February 2009 I completed the first proper finishing of two of these instruments made in the 1970s. Note the difference in the heel area of the two instruments pictured below.	This was the first folding banjo brought up to snuff. I'd call the final result a near-commercial finish. Keep in mind that these banjos were in fairly rough shape when Dad put them away. They required such finalizing touches as re-shaping the pegheads to a more precise symmetry. I think it turned out pretty nicely. Unbelievably sweet tone, too.
Here's the instrument above, full front and back view. This is the standard version of the Fold a Jo, meaning that instead of a latching device mid-neck, it has a removable brace that locks the neck into its assembled position.	And here is the instrument pictured in details below. The major difference is a different handling of the wooden neck to aluminum heel hinge transition.
Our special thanks to Mr. Larry Orlick of California for sending us these photos of his Premium model Folding Banjo.	Looks good out in that California Sun. Note the metal hinge mid-neck, more durable and more visible than standard version.