bFunk - Posted - 01/16/2012:  22:43:39

After declaring my love for nylgut to both friends and this forum and saying i didn't think I'd ever go back to steel, I took off my nylguts today and put steel strings on. I did it because my nylguts were old and the 4th string in particular felt kind of dead.

Now I would like to declare my eternal love for steel strings. Louder, more responsive, crisper hammer-ons, more sustain (which can be a drawback as well).

Two lessons I've learned:

1) Both steel and nylgut have their plusses and minuses.

2) I should get a 2nd banjo so I have both available at the same time.

Main drawbacks of steel (compared to nylgut) I've noticed

- more sustain can make the banjo sound cluttered at times

- more "pick noise"

- pull-offs, especially on the thinner 1st and 2nd strings, aren't as crisp

- 4th string sounds a little buzzy

- slides aren't as smooth (think this may get better as my fingers toughen up)

Any advice on adjusting back to steel would be appreciated.

-Bryce

Chadbanjo - Posted - 01/17/2012:  00:15:16

Ha!, thats happened to me twice now, and i'm back on nylon. And man oh man, we must be brothers from different mothers, when I saw your avatar I thought it was me.

hstrawn - Posted - 01/17/2012:  06:16:27

A 2nd banjo for sure!

whyteman - Posted - 01/17/2012:  07:43:19

I have conflicted feelings about nylagut. I've used them off and on myself; I have a recording here at BHO of Dixie that would have been good had we known what we were doing recording-wise at the time.

Still, I'm uncomfortable with the notion of the claim of conveying a "more authentic" OT feeling utilizing a plastic head and plastic strings. I had a banjo pal back where I used to live, a folklorist/scholar who had such a setup on a vintage Vega. This person raved about the authentic gut-like sound. I thought the banjo sounded awful, and this scholar seemed quite unscholarly with that banjo decked out in plastic. I casually challenged this person to find me a single field or studio recording of any deceased OT banjo hero who used such a setup. In fact many of these departed heroes used resonator banjos and plastic heads.

Yes nylaguts do sound a lot better with a skin head for sure. But, there is still a huge difference in sound of actual gut vs. nylon banjo strings. The playing of Dan Gellert and Whit Meade (to me the "gutsyest" banjo players around) would not be the same if they tried to fake it with nylon. At a workshop years ago, I heard Mike Seeger simply declare that he flat out did not like nylon.

So, I strung up my old Lyon and Healy banjo (the one used for Dixie) with steel strings and it sounded absolutely appalling. Before you can say Aquila Corde Armoniche, nylaguts went right back on.

Yep, still conflicted. Someday I'd like to try gut, but the skin head split, and I don't want to use gut with the current fibreskin desecration. So it's plastic head and strings for me. Can't win for loosing when chasing an "authentic" sound that never existed.

Don

banjered - Posted - 01/17/2012:  09:34:10

I have one steel strung that I use for jams that of course have frequent key changes, and 4 other banjos in nylgut. I prefer a sound that has both ring and plunk. My nylgut Tradesman is VERY mellow/round and not enough ring for me. I am thinking that my preferred sound is nylgut on a banjo with either a metal tone ring or a hardwood tone ring (which I have never experimented with).  I really like the minstrel nylgut that allows me to tune "G" down to "E" which much better suits the pitch of my voice.  Steel strings for jamming on fiddle tunes, nylgut for singing - defintely need/want at least TWO banjos. Banjered

Bufo Bill - Posted - 01/17/2012:  10:40:25

This discussion will be a good resource for people researching the different materials, so I'm linking it to the Polymer Strings Group over on the groups section.
For me personally it's not about authenticity so much, more getting the sound that suits me and my tunes. This can be either Nylgut, More traditional Nylon strings or Steel. This is mostly a decision based on my mood. I recommend the two banjo tactic, it's what I do, and this way I can choose a string set to suit the banjo itself, which may sound strange, but it's an idea that works in my head.

All the best from Bill.

DEmery - Posted - 01/17/2012:  11:50:17

Gut and Nylgut is an interesting comparison. I can tell more about the gauge of string than tone per se. I have used gut strings from Bob Flesher and they are great quality. On the other hand I have recently purchased Labella's that are so thin they are simply poor. As time goes along there seems to be a limited supply of gut providers (or I cannot find them) at a reasonable price and Nylgut works well. I don't know if it is texture that makes gut feel good; but in a few years it probably won't matter. Seems synthetic is where things are going and over time things simply change. David E.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 01/17/2012:  12:20:40

I prefer the sound of straight nylon strings to Nylgut and they certainly last longer. Right not I'm pretty happy with Chris Sands Mediums (at concert pitch) and Heavies (Tuned a minor 3rd low) fo my uses. My main playing out banjos are strung with steel however.

whyteman - Posted - 01/17/2012:  13:06:26

I will try the Sands as I have been aware of your touting them for a long time.

Don

Bufo Bill - Posted - 01/17/2012:  14:25:07

The Chris Sands mediums are beautiful sounding strings, well worth a punt in my opinion.
All the best from Bill.

Durkin - Posted - 01/17/2012:  14:34:05

Just about to do the opposite! Looking forward to the difference in texture and sound but I think that 'variety is the spice of life' so its probably good to switch every so often, that is until I can afford to get a second banjo :)

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 01/17/2012:  15:17:13

Someone used to mention a combination of strings including 3 0r 4 Saverez Yellow Card trebles. I've never tried them but they sound like another possibility. Strings get pretty personal - they are the spot where you really interact with the banjo. Everyone has their favs.

I wish I could still get Black Nylon strings in the right sizes without breaking up sets. Black Nylon has a slippery quality I like and the tone is quite bright. I used to use La Bella Blacks with Gold Basses (of course they were simply gold bronze but they did look kwel) for flamenco. But now they want more than twice the price of normal nylon strings for them and you can only get them in sets. It would kill at least 2 guitar sets to make a single 5 string banjo set.

unclekurty - Posted - 01/17/2012:  16:09:31

I've been an advocate of the Savarez Yellow Cards but now use the Cristal Corums. The strings have a smaller gauge. I'm not done trying the nylguts though. I'm going to try them again just to be sure I prefer the Savarez. And I have to try the Chris Sands too. On my Hartel I've had a set of guts on it for more than a few years. Gut strings can last as long as those nylons.

Now oddly enough I tried nylons on a banjo that the skin busted on and put a ren on. And I won't be going back to skin head on this banjo. It sounds better with nylon with the ren. I was quite surprised. I have skin on another banjo with nylons and I'm keeping the skin. It does seem counter intuitive that a ren head would sound good with nylons but you never know.

And I do think nylons sound better with banjos with a metal ring. Not sure about all those Stewarts without rings set up with nylon and gut. Maybe with the longer scale lengths on older banjos the increased length adds some pop.