Help! Fifth string tail keeps biting me!
I’ve been playing with a capo this afternoon and this little sucker keeps jabbing me. Is there some way to attach the fifth string differently where there is not a sharp little piece of banjo string sticking out? I’m running out of bandaids over here
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Just bend it over so its facing the other way.
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you could even use a pair of needle nose pliers to bend it away from your thumb. its worked for me every time.
Happens to all of us. Bending the tail away can help but if your like me you’ll hook your thumb round the winder without thinking and jab yourself. I’ll watch this thread with some interest to see what others suggest.
I like to cut the tail on the fifth string long to start. I also think cutting the strings with the cutter on a string winder makes the end less sharp. After I tune up to standard I take a look at the best way to deal with the tail. I can trim it, bend in whatever direction, and I even run the tail back through the tuner hole. I’m with @Archie, I am interested to see how trim the tail. 
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That’s awful when that happens. I use flush cut wire cutters and cut off as much of the string as I can.
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I first heard about this tip from a female guitar player back in 1983. More recently I saw a video with the same tip from Jens Kruger on trimming strings. It works like a charm. (Note-I’m in the habit of changing my strings every 3 months., so I’ve done this a couple times.)
Once you get the string wound around the peg properly, wrap some of the excess string around a pencil to get a good grip, (and to prevent the string from cutting into your hand!) then just start whipping the excess string around & around, up & down until it breaks from metal fatigue. It will break off right at or just inside the peg hole, leaving no sharp pointy thing sticking out.
EDIT: You will be tempted to hold onto the excess strings with pliers, but the metal fatigue will happen first at the pliers jaws, leaving you with shorter & shorter pieces of string. Use the pencil that you use to put a bit of graphite in the nut.
Yes, my peg head is dusty because my banjo lives outside the case, ready to play on the spur of the moment!
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Sometimes when I don’t have wire cutters I do the trick of bending back and forth until the string breaks but sometimes when I do that it breaks off too far inside the peg and it causes the string to slip out of the tuner and come off.
Do you use one wind to clamp the string down? It should not slip. Ben likes to throw a loop over the post. (See at the 19:00 min mark)
https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/how-to-change-banjo-strings-banjo?from_track=beginner-banjo
This guy slips the excess end under the first winding. (See 4:10)
Either way, what you are basically doing is making a clove hitch with your banjo string.
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@BanJoe Is there a video you could share. I think this is similar to a technique I have seen with contract fencers when they snap off heavy duty tension wire. I’d love to see how it’s done on the banjo.
Ah! you beat me to it, but this is not what I was thinking it was going to be.
I’d add this guy is a bit sloppy the way he discards old strings on the floor. Safety first. I never cut the strings off the banjo. There is always the danger you could poke yourself in the eye or face. I always unwind the string completely and pull it back through the hole. I then loop the old string back in on itself then I put it in the package the new string came out of and pop it in the bin. It may take a few minutes more but your not messing about with small, sharp fragments of string.
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Same here. Safety first! And I certainly don’t want one of our pets getting poked in the paw!
Here’s one for guitar. The principle is the same. However, I’ve have found that the wound 4th string breaks much easier than a smooth one. And yes, you can hold a wound string in your fingers, but I DO NOT recommend it with the smooth string. They really can cut your flesh. Wrap it around a pencil. You might have to overlap one or two winds to keep it from slipping.
It seems the heavier the string, the easier it is to snap off. Some may take a little more wiggling than others, but it’s worth it!
Yep, that’s pretty much it.!
And it shows how it’s easier to do it with a heavier gauge string.
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I’d like to see it done on a banjo before I attempt it.
I’m due to change my strings in the next couple days. I’ll see if I can do a little video on “How To Break Banjo Strings.”
I believe it’s a topic that hasn’t been fully explored.
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