mikeyes - Posted - 08/18/2025:  10:57:59

Has anyone set up a bottlecap aluminum banjo with nylon strings the way Joe Decosimo has done? Apparently he tunes it low with the Aquila strings and the YouTube video I saw sounded great.

Some of the older threads on bottlecap banjos mentioned that tuning one low got rid of the annoying (to bluegrass players) harmonics and I am thinking of doing the same thing. If anyone has done this to their satisfaction I would appreciate any setup tips as I am impressed with the volume and clarity mine has with steel strings.

youtu.be/LNwTDpuFtJg?si=buBK91wTUfp8M_rM

Mike Keyes

RG - Posted - 08/18/2025:  17:21:20

You can also get wooden embroidery hoops, cut them, and fit them inside of bottlecap rims... I usually did 3 layers (plys) and glued them with a thin layer of Elmer's Titebond, like having a spunover pot, sounded great with wire strings.

LyleK - Posted - 08/19/2025:  08:29:21

quote:

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Originally posted by mikeyes

Has anyone set up a bottlecap aluminum banjo with nylon strings the way Joe Decosimo has done? Apparently he tunes it low with the Aquila strings and the YouTube video I saw sounded great.



Mike Keyes

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I have  a "bottlecap" aluminum banjo that I got from the Sears & Roebuck catalog in 1972 when I was in my early teens.  It was my first and only banjo for 29 years.  It had three "features."  It sounded pretty terrible, the built in flange dug into my thigh, and you could get vibrato by wobbling the neck.  Twenty-nine years later I bought a much better banjo.  I keep the "bottlecap" around as a reminder, but I can't see spending time trying to get it to be anything other than what it is.  Sorry that I am no help here.

Cruddy 1972 Sear & Roebuck banjo

 

oldchattanooga - Posted - 08/19/2025:  10:28:00

mikeyes I'm glad you like how my banjo sounds! I think these (or any banjo for the matter) can sound great if you mess with it and figure out how it wants to be played. In the video example you posted, I'm actually playing with metal strings that had probably been on there since high school. It's tuned about as low as it can go. I popped some nylgut strings on this banjo and didn't like it much. I've got them on an old harmony and Kay and they sound great. Anyway, I'd try tuning some metal strings low and seeing what happens.

I used the bottlecap "aluminum wonder" banjo on my new record a bunch too and love the away it sounds: check out Puncheon Camps, Good Father and Mother, Flowery Girls, and Glory in the Meetinghouse for examples. josephdecosimo.bandcamp.com/al...y-gizzard
best,
Joseph

mikeyes - Posted - 08/19/2025:  10:39:00

Joseph,

Thanks for the clarification, I made an assumption that I shouldn't have.

One of the archived messages from 10 years ago mentioned that lowering the tuning of the strings did help but that tip was buried in a sea of demeaning the sound because it was not appropriate for bluegrass. I get that but since I was "saved" during COVID and started back in OT music, I had a different approach when I saw this banjo (which is the same one you have, just a different logo) at a swap booth. I had to have it both because I saw you were playing your incredible instrument on YouTube and because it spoke to me.

I think the strings on this are probably original to the banjo, so I will see how changing the tuning works.

Mike

gentrixuk - Posted - 08/21/2025:  11:34:15

I was just on the process of fixing up my old Palmer bottle cap when this thread popped up and gave me some inspiration. I put some acoustic foam on the inside to calm down the overtones, and swapped bridges for a heavier flat bottomed one, and it's surprising how good it sounds, even in regular tuning. I was going to sell it, but think I'll hang onto it now.