PBGuardsman - Posted - 11/14/2009:  21:45:53

Hey Everyone,

I've been playing banjo for about 2 years and I still haven't gotten the hang of restringing that sucker. I've only successfully restrung it a few times, normally I got so frustrated by it that I had a shop do it. (I know, I was spoiling myself). Now I am in college, so I neither have the money nor the proximity to a luthier to have someone restring my banjo for me.

Is there a trick to restringing a banjo? I generally have to spend 5 minutes fitting the loop around the loop catcher (I have big and sometimes sweaty hands, so my dexterity is not so good), and then tune it up, then have the loop pop off the loop catcher, then have to redo the process. It usually takes me 30-60 minutes to restring the whole banjo, and it gets pretty frustrating. Thanks for your time,

Paul

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:17 (NIV)

Julio B - Posted - 11/14/2009:  21:49:27

Here's all you need to know courtesy my old college room-mate:

http://frets.com/FRETSPages/Musicia...njostr1.html

~Julio

LarryD1 - Posted - 11/15/2009:  05:00:47

Paul,

The link that Julio sent is great!

There's only one thing that I would add to keep that loop end from jumping off the tailpiece while you are in the process of threading the tuning peg.

Simply put the string on the tailpiece, pull it snug across the bridge and up the neck and put you capo on the string somewhere around the 7th fret. That will keep tension on the tailpiece and leave you a loose end to thread the peg. Once you tighten the string with the peg, you can remove the capo.

The clamp on Kyser type capos are best for this use.

This trick has really helped me over the years.

Larry

beegee - Posted - 11/15/2009:  05:22:19

some tailpieces arfe more difficult to string. Sometimes you need to bend right-angle in the eye to egt it to stay. If your fingers are too large. try using a small pair of needle-nose pliers to attach the loop or a hemostat, which you can pick up at Harbor Freight or steal from the biology lab.

__________________________
"It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing." -Seneca

steve davis - Posted - 11/15/2009:  05:24:00

Shubb capos work well for this trick,too.
Some tailpieces are easier to restring than others.

Hankulator - Posted - 11/15/2009:  05:54:03

the more you do it the better you'll get. don't have other people do it for you. also i always do one string at a time all off and on. wind each string to the inside of each peg every time. then after tuning pull and stretch each string until it stays in tune (very important).

Hank

dgill - Posted - 11/15/2009:  06:01:48

Thanks to Julio and all of you for your contribution here. This will be vey helpful to me and many others I am sure.

Kstevensmd - Posted - 11/15/2009:  09:06:45

Check out Richie Dotson's website, lots of great info!

http://banjoist.tripod.com/banjo.html

Ken Stevens
Grafton, MA

PBGuardsman - Posted - 11/15/2009:  10:49:43

Thanks everyone this should help a lot.

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:17 (NIV)

PBGuardsman - Posted - 11/15/2009:  10:54:49

Hey Larry, I'll remember that next time I restring my banjo. Thanks for the tip!

"The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 1 John 2:17 (NIV)

kevin - Posted - 11/15/2009:  11:15:47

David Cavage has an excellent video on how to restring using the Frank Ford technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asfX...m=PL&index=5