= Stringing and first setup =



The set of stings I have is D'Addario J61 medium gauge set that I bought from Dave Mann Music in Nottingham for £4.99.



Strings in the D'Addario J61 medium gauge set: -

Item # Note Inches mm lbs kg

LE010 D 0.0100 0.2500 13.900 6.300

LE012 B 0.0120 0.3000 14.100 6.409

LE016 G 0.0160 0.4064 15.800 7.181

LE023W D 0.0230 0.5842 12.100 5.490

LE010 G 0.0100 0.2500 13.600 6.150



The last job before stringing was to finally affix the tuning pegs. I pre-drilled shallow 1.5mm holes to guide the little screws slightly. They're rather cheap and nasty and the screw heads can't take much torque before failing as I learned with the first screw. I was sort of expecting this and I had a couple of spare screws so no worries. I couldn't really wait to make the full alterations to the 5th string peg which involves bending one of the screw tabs down so I just bent it a little using some molegrips. There isn't really room to get a hammer in there to finish the job as I imagined I would so I just left it for the time-being as it is just non-functional eye-candy!



The basic stringing technique used was as described at

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/Banjo/BanjoStringing/banjostr1.html



This was kind of fiddly and a bit exciting as the anticipation of hearing the thing approaches! The tail-piece assembly seemed to be working well but it was clear that it would require some adjustment.



The immediate issue was the height of the action: crazy-high! Some serious adjustments would be required of the join between the neck and the pot although I always knew that this would probably be necessary. The bass string (4th) was unable to stay in the initial nut groove so I had to file it out slightly. Remember: at this stage the nut finishing is still on the TODO list!



To make the action easily adjustable the dowel fixing hole at the tailpiece end needed to be turned into a slot. To avoid the need to remove all the strings when removing the tailpiece a temporary clamp made using a RapStrap (as invented by a Nottingham Hackspace member!) can be rigged as shown in the photos. The strings are loosened and the bridge dropped. Then the tailpiece can be dismantled and the strings put out of the way of any works on the pot. The slot is carefully made and filed smooth and after a little sanding on the heel join between the neck and pot we have a good adjustable action.



After a few reassemblies and a lot of tuning we have a nice playable banjo; playable by those who can already play -- i.e. not me! The learning process has begun though and I'm working on old-time clawhammer style as taught on YouTube by rpeek (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8B12621CCAB1A11).



The route of the strings on the peg head was annoying as the outermost strings which are not pulled down enough at the nut have a tendency to pop out of the nut when hammered. The innermost two strings were quite low but also splaying out and cutting into the nut. I fashioned some little string tree hooks from some clipframe clips. They seem to work rather well!

