This is the darnedest thing...I have a set of nylon Labella 17's on my banjo and a generic, straight bridge. The B string is intonating quite flat as I go up the neck. None of the other strings have issues. It doesn't seem like a nut issue (it has a zero fret) because the first couple frets on the B string intonate well. I don't see anything visually amiss with the banjo; neck is on straight, frets are even, tuning is stable. Could it be that the string is just defective somehow? I'm just wondering before I go and buy more strings if anyone has had this issue before.
If you've got the open G, B, and D sounding perfectly in tune together, the B will be a noticeable bit flat of where it should be in the equal-tempered scale, and all the fretted notes on that string will be flat, too.
If a string weren't of an even diameter along its whole length, it wouldn't fret to accurate pitches. I wouldn't expect that of a new LaBella string, but nobody's perfect.
Dan Gellert Hi Dan, no I'm aware of that. What I mean is that if I fret the 2nd string at the 12th fret and then compare it with the 12th fret harmonic, the fretted note is clearly flat. But when I try the same for the 1st, 3rd, or 4th strings, the fretted notes are true (or even slightly sharp). This is an absolute mystery to me, and I have no other explanation than there is something wrong with the string itself. I haven't ever experienced that, but then again I am new to playing with nylons.
Is it possible the 2nd string is riding high in the nut and missing the zero fret?
