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Post by shanea on Feb 8, 2021 10:55:14 GMT
I've had a banjolin for a few years now and it's been sitting waiting on a repair to the neck. Finally got round to fixing it, so the banjolin is now in pieces. Figured I'd give it a good maintenance at the same time - fret level, tune the skin etc.
Question - what pitch should the banjolin skin be tuned to? Can't find much about it on the web.
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doc
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My main instrument is: A Francis Milsom parlour guitar
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Post by doc on Feb 8, 2021 12:23:59 GMT
Please understand that I know less about this than an amoeba but I have seen references to tuning a skin to G or G flat. I don’t even know what that means.
I found a couple of YouTube videos when I googled pitch setting a banjolin skin but I imagine you’ve done that.
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Post by shanea on Feb 8, 2021 13:23:35 GMT
Yeah, when I googled that, I got a few videos on tuning a banjo skin....presuming it gets tuned to same pitch? G# ? or Gb?
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doc
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,261
My main instrument is: A Francis Milsom parlour guitar
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Post by doc on Feb 8, 2021 15:29:52 GMT
The reference I read was G or G#. I read it as “pick your own pitch,” BUT, and this is a big BUT, I haven’t a clue. I wonder if a guitar tuner would clip on and give a reading. Some of the banjoists on here might know.
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Feb 8, 2021 18:24:28 GMT
I know nothing whatsoever about this, but once the bridge and strings are fitted, the tension/pitch of the skin will increase/rise by an amount that will be dependent on the proposed string gauge. So presumably the strings intended might affect what tension the skin should be set at before stringing?
Interesting topic though - the resonance of hollow guitar bodies have capability of causing some fretted notes to vibrate less freely - often around the G or G# on the low E string. Care in construction can minimise these effects, as can careful tweaking post construction. Is a similar principle at work here in banjos - ie trying to avoid a "body" resonance that may be detrimental by tensioning the skin correctly?
Please ignore me if I'm talking out of the incorrect orifice!
Keith
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Post by shanea on Feb 8, 2021 20:29:52 GMT
I was thinking something similar, Keith. G# is not a strong overtone for banjo strings, so likely to not resonate. However, the Banjolin, tuned like a mandolin would have 2 E strings, and the G# is a strongish overtone on those strings? Dunno, bedroom physicist here...lol. Mybe I try tuning to Gb instead.
Still, it's an interesting project. My dad picked up the banjolin cheaply at an auction. I took it along to the local folk club and found that it had belonged to someone who used to play at the club years prior. I did nothing with it other than tune it and play it. One of the regulars (a luthier) had told me a bit more detail about it, as he had worked on it before, but memory is not so good where beer is involved lol. Somewhere along the way, the neck cracked right at the heel, making it unplayable and it's been sitting for 5+ years gathering dust. Time to fix it.
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Jo whoever he is.
