That's no banjo...

Stuckfast

... but what the hell IS it?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Bango-/192143401015

VimFuego

some sort of banjolin I'd guess. 8 strings arranged in 4 courses, but with what looks like a solid top instead of hide.

TonyR

You mean to say you're not familiar with the old "bag-o-shite" then?

Jack_

It's a clock pendulum or a vintage tennis racquet.

Sassafras

It's his great grandfather's.

Bidley

I always find it amusing how the uninitiated think anything that looks a bit like a guitar, but smaller is either a banjo or a ukulele.

Actually I don't find it amusing, it annoys the shit out of me.

Sassafras

Solid top banjos aren't all that common but neither are they unheard of. I've seen quite a few in America.
Looks like a homemade banjolele.

Bridgehouse

Mandolin scale - maybe even mandola. It's more mandolin than banjolin unless it's open backed. 

It has a bit of flatiron or army and navy about it, but def. not banjo or "Bango" in any way, shape, or form

thermionic

It's a Bango from Bangor!

Bridgehouse

thermionic said:

It's a Bango from Bangor!

Didn't we have a loverly time,
The day we shopped on eBay
Spam on the way
And the dick didn't say
He'd post the goods by the worst courier

Opened it up and what do you know
It wasn't as described
Want my cash back
But eBay are crap
So now I'm stuck with an odd wooden banjolin....

Bridgehouse

Or, maybe...

ICBM

It's a mandolin, just not the usual shape. A banjolin is a mandolin-tuned banjo, with a banjo head.