Hey folks, I’ve run into something puzzling with my Gold Tone TS-250 tenor banjo while setting it up. Hoping someone here can help me figure out what’s going on.
I recently loosened the head (was aiming for resetting the tone from scratch by tightening it first by hand), and all of a sudden, I noticed that the action dropped extremely — before I had medium high action. The bridge is low around 1/2 but I had played around with the rods and got a nice medium action which got me the clean tone I wanted.
Anyway so I figured I could just raise the action a bit using the coordinator rods, but here’s the weird part: they don’t seem to be doing anything anymore. Adjusting the rods in either direction has little to no effect on the action at the 12th fret.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
Head tension dropped to somewhere around 88–89 on the DrumDial.
Action at the 12th fret went from ~2.2 mm to around 1.4 mm (too low for my liking).
Tried minor coordinator rod adjustments (inside and outside nuts), no real change.
Neck bolts seem tight, no visible gap at the heel.
My guess is that the loose head is letting the bridge sit lower, and that’s overpowering any subtle rim flex the coordinator rods can apply.
So my questions:
Does this theory sound right?
Would retightening the head to ~91–92 help bring action back up and make the rods effective again?
Is there any chance the rods are damaged or ineffective for another reason I’m missing?
Appreciate any help — trying to dial this in for some session playing and this has me scratching my head (no pun intended).
Thanks!
Loose head + string tension = bridge sinking into the head further, "lowering" the action.
Start tightening the head, you'll see the strings getter higher off the fretboard
You'll need to get the head fairly tight before you can tune the banjo up and start tightening / adjusting the head for sound & tone.
I wouldn't be messing with co-rods until you get the head tightened to where you want it....you're just adding an uneccesary variable to the overall set-up equation
Edited by - RioStat on 04/22/2025 16:23:43
88 on the drum dial is not that low tension. I assume your calibrating the drum dial.
I always heard the coordinator rods should only be used for minor changes to the string action.
To get a precise idea of how much the rim is being distorted, I open a set of dividers (that have sharp points on the ends) to almost the maximum. Then I set the dividers to span the distance of the lower coordinator rod - just barely fit. Then I try to check the distance of the upper coordinator rod to see how similar it is.
I usually check across the width of the pot see if it's pretty similar.
You can cut a piece of metal coat hanger wire to make yourself a homemade gauge to do this check. Cut it just a little long and then file down to the exact size you want.
If you decide you've got some more Flex that you can give to the rim without damaging it, lowering string action means lengthening the rod next to the head and shortening the rod next to the open back or resonator.
quote:
Originally posted by randybartlett88 on the drum dial is not that low tension
That depends on who's ears are doing the listening...
it sure does explains the action diff between 88 and 92 beyond question.
Hello,
Head tension is dependent on the stiffness of the medium. 5-Star heads were notorious for bridges to sink in the medium. How old is the head and what brand?
Start by making the pot ROUND again, then do the other 'stuff'
The bridge went down because the head got looser. That much is obvious and you already know that. Why you'd try to correct that with co-rods, I don't know. Most likely you have all adjustments way out of whack and set to extreme ends. You need to start over, reset to zero, and go through every step methodically, don't just turn nuts, see what happens, and hope for the best.
First, reset the co-rods to neutral. You are literally damaging your banjo by warping the rim by putting extreme force on it with the co-rods, which then changes the neck angle. Read that again. Does it sound like that's an appropriate way to adjust action?
Check your neck relief. That's done with the truss rods.
Consider a 5/8" bridge if you're using a half-inch.
Tighten the head so the bridge doesn't sink so much. Keep in mind, the readings on a drum dial are by-and-large meaningless. There's no objective "91" or "88". A drum dial is used to set a reference point, and get consistent readings across the entire head at every hook. The number on the dial is dimensionless and the value arbitrary.
Do not intentionally warp your rim to adjust neck angle. It's such a pervasive method, I don't know where it started, and why it gets repeated ad nauseum online, but it doesn't take but 5 seconds of thinking to understand why you shouldn't do it.
There are very good videos on how to do this stuff on YouTube.
I agree if all else fails try a taller bridge, if you're happier with the tone of the slacker head tension.
