Buying a 4-String Banjo and restringing it

Hi,

I was wondering about the possibility of buying a 4-string tenor banjo and restringing it so that it could be tuned to GCEA, and thus played as a banjo uke.

My first question is simply is this doable?

Secondly (assuming that it is doable) I'd appreciate some advice about strings. Aquila do banjo uke strings I've noticed, but they don't seem to be scale specific. Is it a case of one size fits all?

Also, I was wondering about the possibility of using fluorocarbon strings. Would regular tenor uke fl strings be okay? (I read somewhere that banjo ukes need fl strings one-scale-size up.)

FYI I'm on a limited budget so simply buying Goldring tenor banjo uke is not a viable solution.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Based on my experience owning a banjo-uke, banjo-mando, and 5-string, I'll ask: why bother with composite strings? A tenor banjo was built to be driven by metal strings; composites will be rather quiet. You could use a 5-string set and keep the 5th as a backup for when you break the 1st.

k0k0peli said:

Based on my experience owning a banjo-uke, banjo-mando, and 5-string, I'll ask: why bother with composite strings? A tenor banjo was built to be driven by metal strings; composites will be rather quiet. You could use a 5-string set and keep the 5th as a backup for when you break the 1st.

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Agree! As an experiment I put nylon strings on my GoodTime 17-fret tenor banjo (tuned CGDA) and was not satisfied with the result.

If the reason one wants to put nylon strings on the banjo is an anticipated uncomfortable feeling of the steel strings, don't be concerned.If the banjo is set up right (especially comfortable string height at the nut, correct bridge height) the steel strings are a no-issue.

As far as tuning GCEA goes, tuning is a matter of personal taste, not mandatory convention. Enjoy what makes you feel good!

SteveZ said:

...
If the reason one wants to put nylon strings on the banjo is an anticipated uncomfortable feeling of the steel strings, don't be concerned.If the banjo is set up right (especially comfortable string height at the nut, correct bridge height) the steel strings are a no-issue....

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One thing to consider, unless you are using the typical metal banjo finger-picks, or just playing with your fingertip pads (and have no fingernails grown out), for those of us (like me) who have carefully grown out and maintain fingernails on the picking/strumming hand, steel strings are an anathema, as they have basically wrecked and/or worn down those fingernails in a very unfavorable way, from which it can take at least a month to recover from while they grow out, and then the playing technique suffers.

For me to 'just use a pick' in the meantime is NOT an option as it ruins my relationship with the instrument by having no tactile experience with my plucking/strumming hand. I might as well put wool gloves on and try to play that way.

For the fretting hand on steel strings, you will eventually build up calluses on your fingertips, and they will be rougher and thicker than those created by nylon/fluoro strings, and once they toughen up, you will not have any, or as much, pain on the fingertips of your fretting hand.

Just my $0.02 after leaving the steel string world for that of various flavors of 'mono-filament' strings.

Another side thought - the nut is already slotted for much narrower steel strings. Nylon strings have a wider diameter and thus will require resizing the nut slots. Also, the banjo tailpiece has hooks for pre-looped strings, so the nyon strings will have to be loop-tied to the tailpiece hooks (not as easy as it sounds!).

GCEA tuning for tenor banjos and guitars is one of the normal alternate tunings for that instrument. Just have to have the right diameter strings. Ditto on learning to play with metal banjo strings.

I would consider a 17 fret tenor as the scale length will closely resemble a baritone uke.