Driving Spikes like John Henry

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Long Neck Banjo

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... for those of us who prefer the tuning and singing differences the LN provides. All questions & help welcome!

273 Members, Created 1/30/2011 -

Administrators: TonyS (owner) , Gary Blanchard , pastorharry , vega long neck

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From LongNeckJo on 4/17/2020 11:11:45 AM

Fellow long neck players,

If you spike the 5th, where do you have yours?

I currently have them at 10,12,13 (equiv to 7, 9, 10 on standard) and keep the 5th tuned to G when not spiked. However, when I want to play uncapo'd, I manually tune the 5th down to E.

However, I read an idea I like and thinking about changing to: Keep the 5th tuned to E and put spikes in the 11, 13, and 15. Then when you put it in the 11th spike you have a G for standard, 13th gives A, and the 15th gives B.

There seems to be a lot less turning of the tuners this way, especially when you want to play the full length. Anyone already do this or have a reason for why I wouldn't want to do it?

Thanks!

7 Comments
	Lew H says: 4/17/2020 11:46:25 AM The fifth string is a bit loose when tuned to E, so the tone is changed slightly. It will still be loose when you spike it at higher frets for the other keys. If you don't mind that, then its a great idea.
	wesrichards says: 4/17/2020 1:58:18 PM One of my four has one of those sliding 5th string capos. The other two have a nail or screw at (I think) the 12th so I can tune up and down. One has no spikes.
	LongNeckJo says: 4/17/2020 2:55:58 PM Thank you for the responses so far. I could see that the tone may be changed some by shortening the string instead of increasing tension. Wesrichards, do you prefer one of those 5th string adjustment methods over the others?
	tucsonsean says: 4/20/2020 9:11:54 AM I also use a sliding 5th string capo. Why put all those holes in your fretboard? Another alternative is a moveable/removeable 5th string capo. There's been some elegant and not-so-elegant examples of these on the forum in the past.
	LongNeckJo says: 4/20/2020 10:02:49 AM Yes, I had one of the "not" so elegant examples and it's what led me to spikes. I also didn't want any thing else in the way of playing (the 5th string peg was enough) But I like the concept of them.
	petersj12 says: 5/5/2020 5:14:43 AM I tend to play a lot of tunes in E and F so I keep the 5 string tuned to E with spikes on the 11th, 13th and 16TH. I tune it to F when in that key. I do gave a standard length banjo that I use for the key of G also.
	TonyS says: 8/16/2020 2:55:13 PM yes, usually in E for the few songs I do, but I do have that little brass dohickey i'll be tryin rather than the spikes....
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