Ybanjo - Posted - 09/23/2015:  12:39:51

I just purchased a Gold Tone CEB 5 cello banjo and I understand that the strings are not very good.  In fact, the 3rd string broke after about an hour of playing!  I have read that several people are using steel guitar strings with success, so can someone tell me what I need to buy to get something that last longer than an hour?

Thanks.

GerryH - Posted - 09/23/2015:  15:15:39

Send a message to Paul Roberts of Banjo Crazy. He is a member of the BHO and active on the forums. He sells Gold Tone instruments and I purchased a Cello Banjo from him. He is a trustworthy individual and will give you helpful information, I think.
GerryH

raharris - Posted - 09/23/2015:  18:36:09

 

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Originally posted by GerryH

Send a message to Paul Roberts of Banjo Crazy. He is a member of the BHO and active on the forums. He sells Gold Tone instruments and I purchased a Cello Banjo from him. He is a trustworthy individual and will give you helpful information, I think.

GerryH

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I love Roberts' music and I'm glad he's promoting cello banjos, but as a Gold Tone distributor isn't he likely to promote Gold Tone strings? Again, I like GT strings but they're not the only option. Doc Huff strings his cellos with heavy five-string sets. I've tried that and I've used nylon and steel guitar strings.  I'm currently using Pearse  heavy gauge nickel-wound tenor strings on my 4-string cello -- #980m, I believe.  With some experimentation you can figure out something for the fifth string.

Edited by - raharris on 09/23/2015 18:37:22

rmcdow - Posted - 09/23/2015:  22:11:18

On my Gold Tone cello banjo, I use ECG25 XL Chrome light gauge electric guitar strings. They are D'Addario flat-wounds, cost $10.87 from Just Strings: DAD_ECG25. You will need to buy a single string, the DAD_CG024 .024" string for the 5th string, at $3.80. The set would consist of of two .024w, one each for the 1st and 5th strings, one .032w for the 2nd string, one .042 for the 3rd string and one .052 for the 4th string. They are ball end strings so you have to improvise a bit to attach them to the Gold Tone tailpiece. You can jam two of the balls together in the first slot (string one and two), and one each in the other slots. Thanks go to Don Hergert here on the hangout for letting me know about these strings. He said that he has used one set for 6 years, putting WD-40 on the strings after playing. I've had mine for a few months now, like them much better than that Gold Tone strings (slides aren't noisy anymore), and they do look like they are going to last well.

Edited by - rmcdow on 09/23/2015 22:12:41

Ybanjo - Posted - 09/24/2015:  06:31:35

I have those steel strings on order right now. But, I'm a little confused. The tailpiece on my CEB5 has pins for the string attachment. It doesn't have slots. Do I have a different tailpiece than is on yours??
How would I attach ball end strings to a pin??

rmcdow - Posted - 09/24/2015:  06:41:37

Here's a photo. Open G, one octave lower.

CEB-5 string attachment

Ybanjo - Posted - 09/24/2015:  06:54:45

Hmmm.... looks like a different tailpiece. Here's my tailpiece. It has 5 pins.

CEB5 Tailpiece

rmcdow - Posted - 09/24/2015:  08:20:12

The balls can be taken out of the loops with some care, and you'll have loop end strings. I just tried it on one of the strings, and it leaves a small loop, but I'm pretty sure they will fit over the pins on your tailpiece.

dhergert - Posted - 11/27/2015:  11:11:42

Picking up late on this thread... As Rives has mentioned, the flatwound steel strings work nicely.

My CEB-5 is one of the early ones that came with the GT Straight-line tailpiece. It also has only 4 notches so I simply put the 1st and 2nd strings on the same notch to balance the tension. The other thing I do with these strings on the straight-line tailpiece is remove tension from the thumbscrew angle adjuster so the tailpiece won't be under too much pressure with the steel strings. You really don't need to crank the tailpiece down with these banjos for optimal tone anyway.

I had actually tried to find fishing line strings that would work instead of the high tension nylon classical strings. The windings around the nylon classical strings last only a few hours for me, too, and I had at first hoped to stay with nylon but not-wound strings with the fishing line. But, unfortunately fishing line has to get way too thick without winding to be practical for tone, and then they aren't practical for playing on a fretted neck, nor do they fit through the stock tuner holes. So that's when I went to the flat wound steel strings from D'Addario.

I'm actually still using (and happy with) those original D'Addario strings -- after nearly 8 years now. They still have great tone and volume. And yes, I clean them with WD40 obsessively after each playing; WD40 seems to keep steel strings playing like new. I also clean the steel strings on my other banjos the same way and they last for years (and I play a lot). And, I also clean my mando (D'Addario flat-tops) strings with WD40 with great success. Note though, I'm always careful to wipe the WD40 off of the strings or any other surface that it gets on, and to not let it get on the bridge or on the nut. (I don't recommend WD-40 for non-flatwound steel or bronze strings on guitars though -- WD-40 stays in the ruts between the big windings on the larger wound strings, and it tends to collect dust and debris, deadening those strings.)

I hope you're all enjoying you CEB-5s. They are pretty amazing banjos -- a wonderful way to add variety to your banjo playing life.

CEB-5 with Resonator 1

CEB-5 with Resonator 2