I don’t know who Jimmy Kelly is? But the Flanagan fella was playing in the 1920’s. So there wasn’t anyone playing GDAE back then to my knowledge. CGDA was the regular tenor banjo tuning for everything.

DAEC? Very unusual, I've not come across it. Nearly everyone uses GDAE(low to high) with the very notable exception of Gerry O'Connor who mostly uses CGDA.

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Originally posted by malarz

I have just read that at least two Irish banjo players--Mike Flanagan and Jimmy Kelly--used this tuning, a fifth above the usual GDAE. Anyone else who might have used it or does use it?

Thanks for any replies.

That tuning would be very useful for mixolydian scale songs which are very popular in Celtic music
 

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Skeptical about the "C" - Not sure what advantage tuning to E to C, a minor sixth would have?

DAE"B" would be fifth above. Simply CGDA up one step.

To get the high string up to C  would be require a very thin string, (probably less than 8) encounter a lot of  breakage, or bit shorter scale.

Thanks to all for your replies. I thought the high C string would be very thin and liable to break easily. The A string when I tune CGDA always needs extra time to get up to pitch. Maybe the liner notes I read had a typo?

DAEB would make more sense to keep the fifths tuning but if that high C makes playing in the mixolydian scale then that tuning seems to make sense.

I won't be trying that tuning. I've just recently restrung my 17-fret tenor with GDAE strings after a few years of playing in CGDA. I know there are players who can play fiddle tunes in CGDA but the GDAE is easier for me.

What happens when a string reaches the limit of its tension it heats up and plasticises you turn the tuner but the pitch doesn’t rise. At that point it is destined to break. If you can stop and allow the string to rest and stabilise before reaching that point it can be tensioned a little bit more then let it settle again and take it up another little bit and so on until it reaches the required pitch. If you can avoid overheating the string it can last a long time. I’ve had strings last for over a year with regular playing using this approach. ie. stringing up a 17” scale mandola to mandolin tuning.

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Originally posted by malarz

DAEB would make more sense to keep the fifths tuning but if that high C makes playing in the mixolydian scale then that tuning seems to make sense.
 

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I don't see that it would in trad Irish playing, and would make other keys/mode a bit more clunky... larger stretch

Perhaps that comment was assuming it is playing more like CH banjo styles, where common change tuning of open strings to fit different key/mode, to facilitate that style?

Daniel Neely is an expert on the Flanagan brothers and Mike Flanagan. He has been researching and presenting their story for many years. He has taken the presentation to a point where he, along with two other amazing Irish musicians are now recreating their sound. It's absolutely amazing. He would know if Mike ever played in that tuning. I will send him a link to this post.

https://irish-us.org/events/all-ireland-affair-music-famous-flanagan-brothers

Have heard of players tuning d-A-E-B, but never saw the point. If you are playing melody, you lose 5 notes from the bottom(g, a, b, c, c#) to "gain" 1 note on the top(b), or perhaps to gain 3 dead notes on the top (high c, c#, d, and possibly e).

For playing chordal type Irish music, which has never really been a thing, there are many better tunings, ddad, dgbe, gdad, adad, and perhaps several others.

Yes, gdae tenor banjo is an octave lower than the actual melody. But bumping it up a 5th basically makes your banjo live between two working octaves. Does no good for the lower octave and no good for the upper octave. Perhaps this is why you haven't really heard anybody playing this tuning, because it is horrible.

I don't know why id dint think of it before, but the obvious way to try daeb tuning is to put on cgda strings and capo the second fret. Any tunes that don't fall below that low d can be played just fine, and you can learn how to fold up those low notes like flute/whistle/pipe players do. Those low note tunes never sound right to me when folded up, but it does work.

You can then expand your listening to include whistlers/flautists/pipers.  These will no doubt give you a better idea how to deal with the missing lower notes than non-existent banjo players.

Thanks! An easy way to try that tuning.