Mandolin-banjo common in stores. Morgan Monroe has recently made three models, the MM-MB1 Mandolin Banjo the MM-MB2 Mandolin Banjo, and the Banjolin DLX (8 strings). The Morgan Monroe banjos look like traditional mandolin-banjos and have wooden resonators. The Cumbus model has a spun aluminum resonator. Prices currently range from around US $150 to US $700. In Italy, Musikalia manufactures three models of Mandolin Banjo, always with wooden resonator (mahogany, padouk or maple root wood veneered), animal skin, but gives an alternative between simple or double aluminium ring. Most instruction books concentrate on either the mandolin or the banjo. Mandolinists need more
Mandolin instruments. The mandolin and guitar were played in both classical music and pop music. Although used in popular music, both instruments were also taught in the Saigon National Conservatory (now the Conservatory of Ho Chi Minh City). However, the mandolin has disappeared from the conservatory where it had been taught, apparently dropped from the curriculum. Instead of Guitar-Mandolin department, the school lists Guitar-Accordion. Though probably never a dominant instrument, the mandolin was learned by enough people to have a presence among the settlers who left Vietnam for the United States, and who continued to play mandolins in their new home.