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Yes, but you have to make the tiny stabilizing hole deeper. I use one of my tiny drill bits made to clean welding equipment.
quote:
Originally posted by HSmith"Ron Block is famed for his 'choking' style, and he manages perfectly well without any modification to his tuners. He is a member here and is very approachable. Why not ask him for his opinion?"
Depending on the musical context I will either bend strings or not. In a more traditional bluegrass song I don't do it much. But on more modern stuff, like AKUS or blues-based or modal songs, bending works out quite well.
Staying in tune while bending:
I use Rickard 10:1 tuners. When I restring I put the string through the tailpiece, and through the tuner hole. I hold the short end up top and the rest around the middle of the fretboard, and kink the string both ways so it sort of locks in.
I wind the first time around ABOVE the string sticking out of the hole, and the rest of the winds BELOW it.
I never tie the strings or otherwise make it impossible to change strings quickly.
As I am turning the tuner to wind the string on I'm pulling on it a bit with my other hand, adding tension, stretching.
Once I get all the strings on I get them close to pitch and I do various string bends - extreme ones - to get the strings to stretch and stop slipping. Once it starts staying in tune after every bend I go to regular playing.
They're usually pretty good after all that. I've restrung a few minutes before shows and not had too much slippage.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Ron
Unless you have tried them, you shouldn't speak on the subject. I also use them on my Tranjo practice banjo and a practice square neck resophonic guitar I made. No tuning problems at all, plus all 4 stay in tune for weeks, even when in their cases. And, there is no hardware sticking up as in the case of violin fine-tuners.
quote:
Originally posted by mikehalloran"When I restring I put the string through the tailpiece, and through the tuner hole. I hold the short end up top and the rest around the middle of the fretboard, and kink the string both ways so it sort of locks in. "
Never on my instruments unless you want to change the strings.
For anyone else reading this, it's not the same as tying the strings on (a fact I made clear in my post)..
You don't wrap the string around itself. They still pull out easily. In fact this is what strings do anyway (they kink around the post as they tighten).
This technique just takes away the gradual slipping and tightening, and gets the banjo tuning to solidify more quickly. It's a must, as I tend to do some string-bending.
Update: Tightening the Keith tuners and putting some pencil lead on the nut basically solved the issue.
I did buy a Gold Tone tensionator because I love the idea of having fine tuners, but the adjustment screws have way too much tension for me to turn without a screwdriver, so they really don't work as fine tuners. It also pushed my bridge eastward (if the neck is north and the tailpiece is south), which isn't a problem I have had with my Presta or my Kershner-style tailpiece. The bridge issue might be an issue I could fix if I liked the tailpiece more, but I don't, so I didn't bother researching solutions. I'll be either returning or reselling the tensionator.
I hope to someday see the banjo equivalent of a Floyd Rose, but the tensionator ain't it. Bummer.
Edited by - matthewfbyrnes on 01/10/2025 09:48:15
I have a set on one of my banjos that has friction tuners. I also had them on my old Orpheum. I stabilized them by running a zip tie underneath (between the strings and the tuners) and trimming it. Otherwise the tuners tend to lean over. Here's a set on a banjeaurine (with friction tuners) that I borrowed from our local musical instrument lending library, Joe's MILL (the Joe Chithalen Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library).
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