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When last I posted my banjo was unstrung and in several pieces. I was awaiting arrival of a new bridge and a nut to fasten the tailpiece to its bracket so I could put everything back together. I'm still waiting for the tailpiece nut, but I found something in my junkbox that's working well enough to do the assembly and get some practice in. I'll probably still use the nut I ordered because it looks like it matches the decorative nuts on the brackets. It might be a pain and it might not be significant to anyone but me, but I feel like it's worth doing.
So I pulled out a set of strings, fastened the tailpiece and hooked up the strings to the peghead and the tailpiece, then positioned the bridge properly so that the twelfth fret would sound an octave like it's supposed to. Something felt off, though, and I wasn't sure what it was. I tried adjusting the screw on the tailpiece that controls the tension on the strings, but that didn't seem to help much.
At this point, enter Igor the Younger. He loves to play with the banjo and sing. Good thing it tunes to a major chord most of the time. "Hi, Grandpa," he said, "Did you fix your banjo?"
"Sure did, Boofy."
"Can I play it?"
"Of course," I told him. "Here you go."
I sat the banjo face up on the bed. He took a look at the tailpiece, go this look on his face, ran his finger widthwise across the tailpiece and said, "Where's the strings here?"
And that's when I noticed that I had strung the banjo wrong. The tailpiece has a set of hooks at one end and a set of holes at the other that the strings are supposed to pass through so the tailpiece can control the tension. I had hooked the strings to the upper holes rather than to the hooks, which was why the tension - and the feel of the banjo - were off.
So I let Igor the Younger play on the banjo for as long as his attention span allowed him to, and then I started the laborious task of unstringing each string, one at a time, and carefully restringing it with the loop in the hook and the string going through the hole on its way to the bridge. The two thinnest strings snapped in the process so I had to replace those; it won't surprise me much if the others do too just because of the way I had them strung. Time to order some more, since I will want to restring the banjo about a week or two before I go to Conchord.
Don't ever let anyone tell you small children don't notice things. They see more than they let on.
So I pulled out a set of strings, fastened the tailpiece and hooked up the strings to the peghead and the tailpiece, then positioned the bridge properly so that the twelfth fret would sound an octave like it's supposed to. Something felt off, though, and I wasn't sure what it was. I tried adjusting the screw on the tailpiece that controls the tension on the strings, but that didn't seem to help much.
At this point, enter Igor the Younger. He loves to play with the banjo and sing. Good thing it tunes to a major chord most of the time. "Hi, Grandpa," he said, "Did you fix your banjo?"
"Sure did, Boofy."
"Can I play it?"
"Of course," I told him. "Here you go."
I sat the banjo face up on the bed. He took a look at the tailpiece, go this look on his face, ran his finger widthwise across the tailpiece and said, "Where's the strings here?"
And that's when I noticed that I had strung the banjo wrong. The tailpiece has a set of hooks at one end and a set of holes at the other that the strings are supposed to pass through so the tailpiece can control the tension. I had hooked the strings to the upper holes rather than to the hooks, which was why the tension - and the feel of the banjo - were off.
So I let Igor the Younger play on the banjo for as long as his attention span allowed him to, and then I started the laborious task of unstringing each string, one at a time, and carefully restringing it with the loop in the hook and the string going through the hole on its way to the bridge. The two thinnest strings snapped in the process so I had to replace those; it won't surprise me much if the others do too just because of the way I had them strung. Time to order some more, since I will want to restring the banjo about a week or two before I go to Conchord.
Don't ever let anyone tell you small children don't notice things. They see more than they let on.
