Banjo action

[Nail Soup]

I got my banjo down form the loft after over a year. Gonna finally get round to learning a few tunes on it.
The action was virtually zero at the 12th fret. almost every note buzzed or was dead. It was OK last time i looked!
So I looked at a few websites and there are various ways to raise the action:

• Via the Truss rod
• Via the threaded rod at the back
• tighten the drum head
• get a higher bridge.

All a bit complicated for me.
So I kept looking and found someone who advised putting a lolly stick under the bridge. Seemed simple so I went for that. Found a Ice-lolly in the freezer, ate it and cleaned the stick. See pics:

 

Seems to work OK - but should I go for one of the pukka solutions instead?

Any tips appreciated.

 

In case you were wondering: Lemon and Lime Mini Twister

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Nail Soup

[Trueno]

Just make sure you didn’t make the same dumb mistake I made… I had the whole thing tuned an octave down. After years of bass playing I didn’t realise it went so high.

[Waddo Soqable]

Banjo now eh !

If the neck is straight i wouldn't fool with truss rods or coordinator rods ( if it has them)

Your solution to effectively raise the bridge I'd say is the best one. On the couple of banjos I've messed with I've had the opposite and needed to drop the bridge, in actuality I just made another much lower bridge from a sliver of hard wood, job done.

If the drum heads a bit slack it probably wouldnt hurt to tweak it, depending on how it sounds at the mo.

 

I hope to hear a banjo and suitcase symphony from you very shortly

[Trueno]

I used to be on a banjo forum… think it’s called the banjo hangout. There were some great characters on there.

They’ll have the answer to your question… they also seem to know a lot about guns…

[Nail Soup]

12 minutes ago, Trueno said:

they also seem to know a lot about guns…

And if you tell them you play banjo with your sister and wife, they ask if it’s a duo or trio?

[Trueno]

1 hour ago, Nail Soup said:

And if you tell them you play banjo with your sister and wife, they ask if it’s a duo or trio?

So you’ve already been on the banjo forum, then…

[Waddo Soqable]

This is the one I have it was rescued, very cheap from ebay as a pile of bits, i had to soak and stretch a natural skin over the drum part as the original was shredded, and steal some violin pegs for tuners as they were missing.

To my surprise, turns out its from the early 1890s !

I didn't bother with the little drone string at the top as I didn't have another peg, plus it's more straightforward as a 4 string anyway.

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Waddo Soqable

[Nail Soup]

35 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

This is the one I have it was rescued, very cheap from ebay as a pile of bits, i had to soak and stretch a natural skin over the drum part as the original was shredded, and steal some violin pegs for tuners as they were missing.

To my surprise, turns out its from the early 1890s !

 

Cool, great story behind it… would love to have an instrument that old 👍

[Waddo Soqable]

50 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Cool, great story behind it… would love to have an instrument that old 👍

There's quite a few old banjos of various types turn up on ebay, sometimes quite cheap, tho usually needing work.

I'm fixing up another little mandolin banjo for someone else at the mo, which was basically falling apart. I've got the soaking bits of goat skin down to a fine art now !

[Soledad]

Can't help on banjo tech, but I do like banjos quite a lot. Recently found banjo Ben on YT (brilliant character and player), and it's about now I get to post a link to Sheila Kay Adams (never thought I'd get to say that, certainly not here !):

 

 

[Nail Soup]

13 minutes ago, Soledad said:

Sheila Kay Adams

Thanks - I haven’t seen her before.

Actually the style she was playing is “clawhammer” and that’s what I’m planning to incorporate into my playing . Although it’s a banjo style I learnt it already on ukulele, so now will bring it home to banjo.

Probs incorporate a bit of finger picking, but won’t be learning the “rolls” which is the style most people think of when they think of banjo.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Nail Soup

[Waddo Soqable]

When banjo became incredibly popular in the late Victorian period ( hence lots of banjos survive from that era) I believe the main style was essentially finger picking. 

When I muck about with the banjo it's my own hodge-podge of "styles" but mainly subdued finger picking with a bit of strumming, I tend to play funny old music hall type songs on it, and assorted daft tunes.  Definitely I don't go anywhere near bluegrass / rolls with picks stuck on all me fingers etc..noooo 

Edited August 31, 2021 by Waddo Soqable

[Waddo Soqable]

Btw check out Clifton Hicks on you tube, he's excellent and has lots of videos on all aspects of old time banjo, well worth perusing his stuff

 

[Soledad]

I'll just mention Bela Flek, then stop. With the Flektones: 'Big Country'... Victor Wooten on bass. And we're back👍

[Grahambythesea]

Perfect pitch on a banjo - straight into a skip without touching the sides.

[Waddo Soqable]

21 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

Perfect pitch on a banjo - straight into a skip without touching the sides.

Nah..That's the accordion I believe

[pete.young]

2 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Nah..That's the accordion I believe

Into a toilet, without hitting the seat.

[pete.young]

Anyhoo, back to the original question. Using a lolly stick as a shim under the bridge is a pretty nasty bodge. The correct way to do this is to set the neck angle, either by adjusting the co-ordinator rod(s) or by adjusting the wedges if you have an older banjo. To make the action higher, you need to extend the bottom or single rod.

 

There are some good videos about how to do this on the Deering site.

[Nail Soup]

1 hour ago, pete.young said:

Anyhoo, back to the original question. Using a lolly stick as a shim under the bridge is a pretty nasty bodge. The correct way to do this is to set the neck angle, either by adjusting the co-ordinator rod(s) or by adjusting the wedges if you have an older banjo. To make the action higher, you need to extend the bottom or single rod.

 

There are some good videos about how to do this on the Deering site.

Thanks… I’ll have a look at the coordinater. rod option

[Nail Soup]

I’ve found some tips (including Deering) with regard to coordinator rod.

Basically they suggest to loosen off the nut on the outside of the shell  - but my model doesn’t have one just some kind of fixed thing:

 

It has a hexagonal block on the rod so I twisted it to pull the rod further away from the heel.

 

Seems to have helped - now it’s playable without the lolly stick👍…. Thanks!

[pete.young]

Well done. It's not too scary is it? - I had to do a similar job on the Tenor that I got from banjo guru @binky_bassbefore the first lockdown and that improved it no end. One of my 5's was set up by Andybanjo, Glenn there really knows his stuff, and the other one hasn't needed any attention since I got it, so it shouldn't need any more attention.

[Waddo Soqable]

Glad your tweaks helped !

Bear in mind though that bridges are available in different heights and are the simplest solution to changing action height, the equivalent to adjusting your bass bridge saddles with a lil' allen key.

On my very old banjo of course there is no coordinator rod type adjustment available, and dropping the bridge was the only option without butchery ( which i wasn't going to perpetrate)

Be great if you put up a sound clip of the 'jo ! 

[Nail Soup]

21 hours ago, pete.young said:

Well done. It's not too scary is it?

Wasn't too bad after some reassurance and tips form the BC'ers!

[Nail Soup]

11 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Be great if you put up a sound clip of the 'jo ! 

Recorded a quick demo on the zoom recorder... bit rough bit gives an idea where I'm headed:

 

 

[Waddo Soqable]

That's brilliant, absolutely love it!  Now you need to work the suitcase into the act..

I actually reckon you'd do very well busking with all that, great stuff👍