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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner | Page:   1 2 |
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| tenor banjo as a "change of pace" from baritone uke? | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sun Sep 14th, 2008 03:43 pm |
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21st Post |
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RSteve Approved
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Will wrote: But, Dave has a tenor banjo, NOT a banjo uke; such an instrument with an 11" diameter banjo head and a truss rod reinforced neck is made for steel strings, and the tenor banjo was invented especially to be loud enough to cut through a brass band. If you want the tone of a tenor banjo, use steel banjo strings. A better way to reduce volume is to play it with bare fingers, with a rubber (Wedgie) pick instead of a regular flat pick, or with the resonator removed temporarily. Obviously, Will, you're locked in on steel banjo strings for Dave's banjo. I am well aware that Dave's instrument is a banjo, not a banjo uke. I think we all know that it's a Kay tenor, 19 fret banjo. Trust me, I've built enough ukes and guitars to understand the tension charactersitics necessary to drive the banjo head. No, with nylon strings, his instrument won't "cut through a brass band." It's pretty clear from his posts, that's not what he wants it to do. He wants to be able to play it in his 4th grade classroom, to accompany his students, probably without the sound of the banjo invading his colleagues' classrooms. Hopefully, Dave will experiment with various string combinations to ultimately come up with what is satisfactory for his situation. He's a baritone uke player, likely acclimated to playing on nylon strings with his fingers; not a pick. My assumption is that he wants the most expeditious transfer of training and that would entail retaining nylon strings and playing with his fingers.
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| Posted: Sun Sep 14th, 2008 07:52 pm |
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22nd Post |
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Will Approved 
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RSteve wrote: Will wrote:But, Dave has a tenor banjo, NOT a banjo uke; such an instrument with an 11" diameter banjo head and a truss rod reinforced neck is made for steel strings, and the tenor banjo was invented especially to be loud enough to cut through a brass band. If you want the tone of a tenor banjo, use steel banjo strings. A better way to reduce volume is to play it with bare fingers, with a rubber (Wedgie) pick instead of a regular flat pick, or with the resonator removed temporarily. RSteve, I agree with you that nylon strings on an old tenor banjo could work. But the 23" scale is perhaps too long for standard DGBE baritone uke strings (even if the tension was right, the strings may not be long enough). Perhaps a set of classical guitar strings with ball ends, using just the 4 highest.
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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| Posted: Tue Sep 16th, 2008 07:23 pm |
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23rd Post |
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Will Approved
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Dave: The topic of tuning a tenor banjo to baritone uke DGBE tuning has been discussed in this previous thread over in the banjo forum. Since I haven't personally tried nylon strings on a tenor banjo, I just wanted you to know that someone else has already tried nylon strings on his tenor banjo. The original poster of that thread, ukaholic, said this about nylon strings on his tenor banjo: http://www.ezfolk.com/forums/forum2/5677.html "...I did pay someone over a year ago to set this up for DGBE like a baritone uke but they put nylon strings on it. It does not sound good, just kind of a dead sound, not like uke and not like banjo when it is played. Its been sitting in the closet all this time and then I wandered in this forum I started wondering if it was so dead because of the nylon strings on it. Will definitely give this string suggestions a try and possible perk this old banjo up some. ...and that capo idea sound like a winner too. I am assuming that since these strings are metal that I will have to use a pick instead of my fingers like I do on the uke. " Last edited on Tue Sep 16th, 2008 07:26 pm by Will ____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ A Bunch Of Coconuts http://abunchofcoconuts.com |
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| Posted: Sun Sep 21st, 2008 02:29 pm |
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24th Post |
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Dave Alexander Approved 
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Huge thanks to everyone who has joined in with this. Especially Will and RSteve, since they managed to ease me to the solution. Now that I've had some time to digest the ideas, and experiment a bit, here's an update: I did buy classical guitar strings, and put them on last night -- to the cheers of my wife. She's been patient enough with the loud banjo music -- well, attempted music. The first impressions are good. It creates a much more ukulele-type sount. I imagine this is pretty much a baritone banjolele now. It's a few inches longer than my bari uke, but it plays like it. Oddly enough, the uke and the tenor banjo might be slightly similar, but the uke seems to be a great way to "carry" a tune in a small object. It inspires smiles when you can coax a simple accompanyment out of it. The banjo ups the ante. If you have a banjo, it almost screams out over everything else. If you can play it...yup, thats a good thing. Its an up front sound no matter how many towels I put behind the head. The sound I'm now hearing doesn't quite imitate a guitar (like the bari uke) or the banjo, but it fits somewhere in there. (Actually it fits somewhere on my knee.) Will is 100 percent right, this is not the optimum use for this intrument. But then if you heard me play it with banjo strings, you'd agree that wasn't the best either. RSteve noted correctly that the basic problem with the banjo strings was volume. But I had every mistake on the strings amplified x10. I had to work on the bridge to accomidate the last string (or first, I always forget.) These are physically larger strings, so the last one tries to pop out of the bridge on occasion. An advantage of the banjo as practice instrument: I can just plain "wail" on the bari uke now. The banjo has a narrower neck, and I find I have to really be exacting when I form a complicated chord. The baritone uke has a nice wide fretboard, and feels like a break. Oh, yeah. Oh Susanna really doesn't work on a baritone uke. No mater what I do, the line "...I come from Alabama with a ukulele on my kneee..." always trips me up. Thanks again. Dave
____________________ "My ukulele playing IS entertaining. Just not always to others." -- Dave Alexander |
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| Posted: Sun Nov 9th, 2008 04:32 am |
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25th Post |
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RSteve Approved
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Will wrote: RSteve, I agree with you that nylon strings on an old tenor banjo could work. But the 23" scale is perhaps too long for standard DGBE baritone uke strings (even if the tension was right, the strings may not be long enough). Perhaps a set of classical guitar strings with ball ends, using just the 4 highest. Oh, Will, did you read my prior post with a string set for a 23" scale? RSteve wrote: Here's another suggestion for strings:
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