Members seagullplayer77 Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 My sister decided to take up the banjo, and she's been getting along pretty well. She broke a string the other day, and asked me to change them. I figured it couldn't be that hard - just like a guitar, right? Wrong. I stabbed myself on a string once, had choice words for the instrument on several occasions, and broke three strings. Three new strings. It took about an hour to get the damn thing restrung, and it was most certainly NOT like restringing a guitar. Someone should make a banjo with bridge pins - it makes a lot more sense than having to loop strings around little posts that are parallel to the direction of the strings. And the strings kept slipping on the tuning pegs. I ended up locking all the free ends around the posts, which was an adventure because I never do that with my guitars and I didn't know how to do it. I used to think all those banjo jokes were just for fun, but I'm starting to think that perhaps there's some truth in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guildfire Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 My sister decided to take up the banjo, and she's been getting along pretty well. She broke a string the other day, and asked me to change them. I figured it couldn't be that hard - just like a guitar, right? Wrong. I stabbed myself on a string once, had choice words for the instrument on several occasions, and broke three strings. Three new strings. It took about an hour to get the damn thing restrung, and it was most certainly NOT like restringing a guitar. Someone should make a banjo with bridge pins - it makes a lot more sense than having to loop strings around little posts that are parallel to the direction of the strings. And the strings kept slipping on the tuning pegs. I ended up locking all the free ends around the posts, which was an adventure because I never do that with my guitars and I didn't know how to do it. I used to think all those banjo jokes were just for fun, but I'm starting to think that perhaps there's some truth in them. Serves you right for letting her take up the banjo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Samilyn Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 Mando stringing is fun too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FretFiend. Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 Q: When does a banjo sound its best? A: When you have the strings off of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opa John Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 I don't know about the rest of you people, but whenever I have to restring a banjo or mandolin, I hook the string on at the tailpiece, then I bring it up toward the headstock and snap a capo on the string at about the third fret. This holds that booger in place while I wind it onto the tuning post. I don't have to do this with a guitar, but sometimes I even use a capo when doing a guitar too. It just makes it a little easier to do. This is another reason I like Kyser capos......easy to do with just one hand. I've got three of 'em. One for six string steel, one for my classical guitar and a small banjo capo for my baritone uke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bernie P. Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 I've never had a problem stringing mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chicken Monkey Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 Yeah, I can't recall struggling to restring a banjo. I remember well the first time I restrung a mandolin and the bridge fell off, tho. I've talked down a friend over the phone who made the same mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Samilyn Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 Yeah, I can't recall struggling to restring a banjo. I remember well the first time I restrung a mandolin and the bridge fell off, tho. I've talked down a friend over the phone who made the same mistake. That's what happened to me the first time I made the mistake of taking all the strings off at once to give the mando a good cleaning. Took me forever to get the bridge back in exactly the right spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seagullplayer77 Posted May 13, 2012 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 I've had no problems restringing my mandolin. There, the hooks are perpendicular to the direction of the string, so the tension of the string naturally keeps them hooked in. On my sister's banjo - and maybe on other banjos too, since I'm no expert - there are pegs that run parallel to the direction of the strings. There's a groove that the strings are supposed to catch, but you have to put a 90 degree bend in the loop end of the string to keep it on the peg. And unfortunately, tightening the string pulls it towards the headstock more than it does down into the groove. Personally, I think it's a bad design. And I think I was using the only bad set of strings that D'Addario ever made, because one of the loop ends came unwound while I was tightening it, and another one snapped right off. It probably didn't help that I was using light strings. I figured it would be easier for my sister to play, but they seemed pretty delicate. Lesson learned: buy mediums next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarist21 Posted May 13, 2012 Members Share Posted May 13, 2012 Someone should make a banjo with bridge pins ... Personally, I think it's a bad design. I 100% agree with you. Restringing a banjo is so unnecessarily difficult. On a related note, I can't understand why violins don't have geared tuners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tony Burns Posted May 14, 2012 Members Share Posted May 14, 2012 I have yet to figure out why anyone would want one of the darn things any ways - ( i own several so I can slam them ) mine have sat it their cases for quite a bit of time now--havent opened up a case in several years .Someone could steal them and leave the emtpy cases their and i wouldn't know the difference ( Hint Hint ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted May 14, 2012 Members Share Posted May 14, 2012 Banjo? Pah! Kidstuff! You are a real man (or woman) when you restring an Autoharp: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poppytater Posted May 14, 2012 Members Share Posted May 14, 2012 [video=youtube;EhPQx0zR0Ms] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastblueheeler Posted May 14, 2012 Members Share Posted May 14, 2012 I don't know about the rest of you people, but whenever I have to restring a banjo or mandolin, I hook the string on at the tailpiece, then I bring it up toward the headstock and snap a capo on the string at about the third fret. This holds that booger in place while I wind it onto the tuning post. I don't have to do this with a guitar, but sometimes I even use a capo when doing a guitar too. It just makes it a little easier to do.This is another reason I like Kyser capos......easy to do with just one hand. I've got three of 'em. One for six string steel, one for my classical guitar and a small banjo capo for my baritone uke. Thanks John, this came at a good time, I just traded an amp I never use for a cheapo Epiphone banjo. Figured it was good enough to learn on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opa John Posted May 14, 2012 Members Share Posted May 14, 2012 Thanks John, this came at a good time, I just traded an amp I never use for a cheapo Epiphone banjo. Figured it was good enough to learn on. A friend of mine has an Epiphone EB-90 for sale right now. I could get it cheap. But, I had one once before and I remember spending almost as much time trying to keep it looking nice as I did actually trying to play it. They can be real dust collectors if left out of the case. I'm thinking about it, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opa John Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 :eek:Horrors! You take that back! We have conventions and traditions to uphold here and I'll not have some young upstart trying to put banana peels under them.Thinking a little more on it, I agree. I change the strings on my kids violin. The rough tuning pegs at the headstock get a ball park tune going and the little tail piece screws fine tune them. Seems weak in thought and design. You have to put the little screws at their extreme set points, tighten the headstock tuners and then tweak the little screws in to each string's pitch. While not a complete hairball design, you'd think they'd have waved tradition on the entry level to mid level stuff and redesigned the HS for geared tuners. You can buy 'em, ya know. I've thought about it once or twice. http://elderly.com/accessories/items/PVP1.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarist21 Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 You can buy 'em, ya know. I've thought about it once or twice. http://elderly.com/accessories/items/PVP1.htm It blows my mind that those things are 4:1. I mean, I guess if you're used to the pegs (which would be 1:1) it's a massive improvement. But the Grovers on my Epi are 18:1. Craziness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Opa John Posted May 15, 2012 Members Share Posted May 15, 2012 Shet my mouf. Did you just happen to know this stuff or get curious from reading this thread? Thanks for the link. I will probably get a set. My kid has two violins. One is purely electric and I'll get them for that one. I've been thinking of taking it up. I found out about them about a year ago at the fiddle hangout forum. There's another brand of geared tuner on the market that I can't seem to find at this moment and one of the two brands is supposedly better. Can't remember which one now. You might wanna do a little checking at fiddle hangout before you buy. Pretty sure they're both the same price. There's also a very good video on You Tube about how to properly install them. They don't just push in like a normal tuning peg. They screw in and some fitting might be required. My fiddle isn't a high end fiddle, but it's not a $100 cheapo either. I'm still thinking about getting a set. [video=youtube;3ANq51XhgIE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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