Banjo action

[yorks5stringer]

Asking on behalf of our Banjo player...... how do you tune it without playing aross all the spoken song introductions or otherwise leaving dead space while there is the sound of gut being wound around tuning pegs? 

 

He tried to tell us it's impossible to tune with a headstock tuner as the crystal can't cope. Are there inline tuners with a mute that may help?  Currently he has one banjo that sounds crap and is out of tune most of the time and another which he swears sounds better tonally but goes out of tune all the time......

 

Plus he's deaf and has no idea he's drowning out the rest of the band including electric guitar.

[Nail Soup]

Never played banjo in a band but at home I tune to a clip-on or my phone app.

[Soledad]

2 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

Are there inline tuners with a mute that may help? 

Is this a thing with banjo's, that they go out of tune a lot?
Anyways, my pedal tuner (TC Polytune) mutes when tuning so if the acoustic level of banjo is acceptable for tuning that would maybe sort it. Even quieter - get him to tune from the harmonics - I mean just off the first harmonic (12 fret I assume) - that is quiet, deadly accurate and a foot pedal tuner will see the pitch fine.

[pete.young]

Think the headstock tuner argument is bogus, since they work from vibrations. I've used them before with no issues.

 

Inline tuners work fine provided you have an amplified banjo. If it's purely acoustic you can't mute the natural sound. If it uses tuning pegs and gut strings, I'm surprised that it's too loud, that sort of banjo idoesn't normally make as much volume as something modern with steel strings and a tone ring.

 

If it is too loud, a DIY mute in the form of a scarf or item of clothing wedged between the rod and the vellum will quieten it down a bit. Bonus style points may be awarded for using a soft toy instead, I have a Gabumon from Digimon living in one of my banjos for exactly this purpose.

 

Tuning issues are sadly quite common with friction pegs. I eventually gave in and replaced the pegs on my Windsor Premier with some geared banjo tuners, and it now holds it's tuning very much better. Even the more budget models with geared guitar-type machines are better in this respect.

 

There's not much you can do about someone who insists on tuning up over song introductions. Usually this is less the fault of the banjo, and more the banjo player being an inconsiderate derrière. If he's deaf you might need to point out how much it is affecting the audience.

[Waddo Soqable]

I've certainly found those little £3.99 clip on headstock tuners work for a banjo no problem. The ones that light up green when you're in tune would be just the job on a dark stage too ( as long as you don't think it looks too naff using one in public !! )

[Nail Soup]

4 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

I've certainly found those little £3.99 clip on headstock tuners work for a banjo no problem. The ones that light up green when you're in tune would be just the job on a dark stage too ( as long as you don't think it looks too naff using one in public !! )

I'm willing to hold my head high with the banjo, but draw the line at clip-on tuners while performing (it's OK while you're actually tuning... then unclip it!)

[Waddo Soqable]

10 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

I'm willing to hold my head high with the banjo, but draw the line at clip-on tuners while performing (it's OK while you're actually tuning... then unclip it!)

Then again you could do the deliberately naff thing, a bit like Elvis Costello's glasses !

I now gots another banjo btw ( this is all your fault) a very cheapo fixer upper, its one of the aluminium body things aka bottle top type. It's in bits at the mo receiving 'attention' will be very different from my olde one so all good!

Perhaps we could make this thread the Banjo Action thread, ie "what's your latest action with banjos guys?" 

[Nail Soup]

9 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

Perhaps we could make this thread the Banjo Action thread, ie "what's your latest action with banjos guys?" 

Good idea! I could add something to the title maybe?

[Nail Soup]

9 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

I now gots another banjo btw ( this is all your fault) a very cheapo fixer upper, its one of the aluminium body things aka bottle top type. It's in bits at the mo receiving 'attention' will be very different from my olde one so all good!

Looking forward to the pics and maybe a soundclip......

[Waddo Soqable]

16 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Looking forward to the pics and maybe a soundclip......

It's totally in bits at the mo, and awaiting my "engineering expertise" ! 

[Waddo Soqable]

17 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Good idea! I could add something to the title maybe?

Ol' Mr Soup's Banjer Pickin' Cornerr

[Waddo Soqable]

4 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Looking forward to the pics and maybe a soundclip......

A crappy pic of the major bits ( this tablet effort takes rubbish blurry pics)

The metal pot thing was quite corroded and has polished up quite well considering, the little hooks and nuts were rusting and had a soak in vinegar and a scrub with a brass wire brush to get the worst off. The drum head was knackered so I've ordered a slice of goat, like wot I dun on the olde one.

It's a bit tricky stretching a soaked skin and bullying it in place, but I've done a couple before so may be easier this time.

The experts will prob say "you should have a remo drum type head on a banjo like this".. but someone's always bucking the system eh.

I'll prob do steel strings on this as the old one has nylon, it'll sound totally different anyway.

I'll also need to make a wedge shim type thing where the neck joins the body, the fit here is rubbish with a gap you can see thru, and you really need a nice fit with full contact where they join. These things look fairly thrown together originally tbh and it should be poss to do much better I'd hope !

 

[Soledad]

11 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

The drum head was knackered so I've ordered a slice of goat, like wot I dun on the olde one.

There's something charmingly pre industrial revolution about this thread.

[Waddo Soqable]

I think I mentioned before, I'm fixing up a little mandolin banjo thing for someone else, I'll try and get some pics of that too ( again it's still  'in progress' ).. It had pretty much fallen to bits and the 'body' de-laminated, which I glued back together, and seems fairly solid now, that one had my "goat skin fettling" applied as well, the drum head is on a seperate metal unit that screws into the body. I made a wedge to set the neck at a reasonable angle too otherwise youd never get a bridge under the strings !

Will be interesting to hear what it sounds like with 8 strings (doubled strings like a 12 str. guitar type thing)

[Waddo Soqable]

Some pics of the little banjo I'm fixing up, as you see the body had come apart and required gluing plus every G clamp I could find. The back was missing entirely so i carved a disc out of an old drawer bottom and glued it on, having a back makes the body pot much more rigid

the neck had dots missing and a bit of a crack in fingerboard, sorted with CA glue, I made a wedge by laminating layers of thin veneer with glue to heel of the neck  ( to get a usable neck angle when strung eventually.)

the drum head assembly was easy enough to work on as it comes out seperately, for goat skin mounting purposes !

[Nail Soup]

3 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said:

plus every G clamp I could find.

You're giving me GAS for G-clamps now!

[Waddo Soqable]

1 minute ago, Nail Soup said:

You're giving me GAS for G-clamps now!

Trust me, you can never have too many G clamps !

[Waddo Soqable]

I'm still awaiting the goat body parts for the big banjo, plus I've ordered some extra long skinny bolts to assist with tightening it down on the rim, the lil' hooks that come with the banjo wouldn't be long enough to make a start on pulling the goat skin into place, so I'll have to do a bit of bodging and cheating (as always)

i'll do some pics etc of all that when i've got the bits and made some progress.

...hopefully your banjo is behaving itself Mr S.. ?

[Nail Soup]

3 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

hopefully your banjo is behaving itself Mr S.

Yep, still in working in working condition! Now one of my kids has left home I’ve got room to keep it permanently out of the lost, do hopefully I can not get rusty again.

[pete.young]

Here's a lovely version of a tune I'm working on at the moment - guy has converted a modern banjo to gut strings which gives it a very different feel.

 

 

[Waddo Soqable]

2 minutes ago, pete.young said:

Here's a lovely version of a tune I'm working on at the moment - guy has converted a modern banjo to gut strings which gives it a very different feel.

 

 

That's a coincidence, as I've just changed some steel strings over to nylon ( effectively gut equivalent) on the banjo i was putting together, as I preferred the sound, the very old banjo I've got has always had non-steel strings so I was aware they're quite different, and gets away from the bluegrass type sound !

[Nail Soup]

15 minutes ago, pete.young said:

Here's a lovely version of a tune I'm working on at the moment - guy has converted a modern banjo to gut strings which gives it a very different feel.

 

 

Closer to the original African sound I guess. Not an expert or nuthin.

I've been listening to a few  songs from Rhiannon Giddens on her gut string Banjo recently. Fretless too!

 

[Soledad]

9 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

I've been listening to a few  songs from Rhiannon Giddens

Yep, found her by accident when I was watching Abby / the spoon lady. Fretless banjo indeed...!!
If you like a bit of rootsy, 'The Spoon Lady' is well worth a minute or so. Lady? - I reckon she's a former poster girl for moonshine.

[pete.young]

21 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said:

That's a coincidence, as I've just changed some steel strings over to nylon ( effectively gut equivalent) on the banjo i was putting together, as I preferred the sound, the very old banjo I've got has always had non-steel strings so I was aware they're quite different, and gets away from the bluegrass type sound !

Which strings did you use? I might give that a go on my older banjo.

[Waddo Soqable]

2 hours ago, pete.young said:

Which strings did you use? I might give that a go on my older banjo.

Picato, 98700 ground nylon banjo 19 19 

set 87NY.  is what's marked on the packet.

( I didn't use the 5th short drone string as I just play 'em as a 4 string like some of the old ragtime mob did !  )

You may have to hunt round as nylon banjo strings seem fairly rare in uk for some reason, tho picato strings are uk made allegedly.

i thought they immediately sounded much nicer than steel strings, but it's obviously all down to personal preference and what you want to play on it.

Edited September 19, 2021 by Waddo Soqable