dean londot - Posted - 02/17/2011:  11:49:47

B] Hey guys, I'm new here .I've been look'in in for about a month or so.I respect your opinions. I used this site for information as I built my first banjo.Its a foxfire 3 type. Tedra Harmon neck and Ernest Franklin all wood head.I went the extra mile.,all hand tools,hand shaped ,carved.added some really nice artwork and finish.I'm an artist and wood sculptor,not a banjo maker. I purchased some chris sands med nylon.I heard nylgut cut easy and couldn't find real gut.I don't play ANY instruments. I don't know a thing about tuning. I thought I could take my baby to a shop get it tuned and learn to play it . Boy was I wrong! Also, I'm not very computer savy.I hope this reaches someone with the patience to help me understand my problem thanks dean londot

UNYBP - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:06:02

Hi Dean,
You didn't really say what problems you were having?

xomcat - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:14:44

Have you not found a capable luthier to do a fine tuned set-up?

cockneybanjo - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:16:28

if I understand the original post, the question is that he has built a mountain-style banjo - because he understands woodwork - and doesn't know how to string it, tune it and play it.

steve j. - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:25:54

I tried to reply to your PM but it says account wont recieve messages ??

Jim D - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:28:03

Help is at hand.... go to the members section (link in frame to the left) and put Sugar Land, TX in the search fields... you'll get 6 names besides yours. Several have posted within the last month. You can send a PM to them or even try to look them up in the phone book. I have little doubt that any of these would help you get off square one.

Good Luck!

Jim

Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:29:49

Tuning a fretless is not the easiest thing to do for someone who doesn't have any background in music...and will be plenty hard to describe as well. But it's an essential first step, so I'll try to begin you on the process.

(By the way, I read Patti Smith's memoirs, and when she started playing guitar she didn't realize that it would gradually go out of tune, and didn't understand why it kept sounding crappier and crappier. Once she realized that it was out of tune, she also realized that she had no idea how to tune it, so she struck on the idea that every time it would go out of tune, she would ask one of the many people she knew who actually knew how to play guitar if they wanted to play it a bit...and they would always start by tuning it! If you knew anyone who plays banjo, that would be a huge help.)

Next, I'm going to point out that there are literally hundreds of different tuning used on the banjo (though some are much more common than others) so there is no one single correct way to have it tuned. The most important thing is that the strings bear some sort of logical or harmonious relationship to each other.

If you know anyone who plays guitar, they could be of great assistance in helping you learn how to tune, because you can tune some of your strings to match the notes of certain guitar strings. Most particularly, you can tune the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings to the same notes as the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th guitar strings. Then you can tune the 1st string one octave higher than the 4th string, and you can tune the 5th string one octave higher than the 3rd string. (an octave higher is the same note at the top of the scale, as the earlier note...that is, if you sing doh re mi fa so la ti doh...the second doh is one octave higher than the first doh).

So my first piece of advice...I reiterate, is to find a guitar playing friend to help you.

EDIT: While I was writing this, someone else posted the even better advice about how to find banjo hangout members in your city. Of course they would be an even better resource than a guitar player!

Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 02/17/2011 12:32:14

Scrat - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:37:37

Dean,
If you search the member homepages for houston, tx there is lots of banjo players in your area. Maybe somebody there could help you out.

Better yet, you should post in the Banjo Building, Setup and Repair Forum and reach out to somebody near you.

There are also a bunch of videos here on the hangout for set up and building of banjos.
Here's the link. banjohangout.org/lessons/brows...opic&id=8
Good luck,
Paul

dean londot - Posted - 02/17/2011:  20:50:28

Guys,Thanks for all your suggestions.You are kind. I did as suggested,made a search of Sugar Land,Texas.I put in a friend request to a local.I'm currently waiting for a reply.You should all be proud. this is a great group to be a part of. dean

dean londot - Posted - 02/17/2011:  20:59:34

Also, fixed my message glitch. dean

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 02/18/2011:  14:42:31

You might invest in an electronic tuner.

Even if you took it to a shop and they tuned it for you it won't stay
that way for long, plus in the beginning, nylon (or any other) strings
are going to stretch quite a bit so tuning/re-tuning is just part of it.

Good Luck.