Iāve heard the strings that come stock on the Twanger are pretty heavy.
Low D string buzz
If the stock strings are heavy and you went to lighter strings, itās possible you are hearing some buzz from the enlarged bridge and nut slots. You could look up the neck carefully and make sure thereās distance between the string and the first fret. Thatās where Iād start.
If it is a Presto style tail piece, you should check the string cover. I had that same issue and a very small felt pad placed on the underside of the string cover took care of my problem. The pad I used is probably 1/16ā thick and the diameter of the eraser on a pencil.
You looked in the right places and to top that off, you got a bunch of great suggestions so far. I have a new banjo and it developed a little rattle as well that it took me a while to locate. Mine ended up up being a little bit in the tailpiece and a more significant one in the g string slot (that was the worse culprit).
Other things to check:
Make sure the resonator mounting screws are not loose
check that the truss and coordinator hardware (like washers) canāt rattle
Check that the tailpiece mounting is not loose and that the tailpiece is not touching the ring
Good luck, youāll find it! It took me a while (and some help on the phone with Jake and Adam) to exorcise the rattles from mine. Banjos seem to be more rattly than most instruments.
And by the way, I took the tailpiece cover off, put it in a baggie with the two mounting screws and threw it in the case early on. It didnāt seem like it would do me any good and just looking at it, I thought it looked guilty of rattling (a false accusation on my part).
When I play the open low D string HARD. I sometimes hear an intermittent buss/rattle. If the middle G string is fretted, it doesnāt buzz. To me, the buzz is a trade off for a better set-up and playability. The tone quality is good the entire length of the neck. I have fret clearance and everything is tight. Adam and Justin checked it out at camp in April. They swapped the bridge and helped the issue. Iāve messed around looking for the buzz and I think itās in the bridge and/or tailpiece area.
The buzz is now an indicator for me to relax and lighten up. I catch myself ādigging inā when Iām frustrated.
I never use the covers on my Presto tailpieces. A lot of banjo players donāt Iāve noticed.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Iāll mess with it more today with what yāall have said in mind.
After applying what yāall said and doing some more reading I slipped a small bit of paper in the nut under the string. Iāve been playing for about an hour now and not one single buzz. My question now is does this mean I need to adjust the rod or maybe go back to heaver strings?
As of last night thatās where mine lives as well. It just looked like a problem waiting to happen.
Hey, how dare you guys discriminate against that innocent tailpiece cover! You must have unconscious bias against tailpiece covers. Youāre probably truss-rod-cover supremacists! Banjo microaggression!
Oh please, give me a break (no pun intended)
Well if you want to start with music puns, I have a good Liszt.
First thing I would check is the nut action. I know what to look for on guitar, but Iād get some guidance elsewhere for banjo.
This is one of those threads I know Iāll have to reference one day. Thanks for bringing your issue to the forum.
This was my first thought as well. Twangers come with medium gauge strings on them. Putting on a set of lights really opens up the sound, but thereās the potential for buzz.
If it were me, Iād try to back off the truss rod tension just a tad to see if that helps. Remove the truss rod cover, then looking down the banjo neck from the head stock, give the truss rod nut 1/8th to 1/4 turn to the left to loosen it. If thereās any tension on the truss rod at all, this will put some relief back in the neck and allow it to slightly bow, which would theoretically move the buzzing fret(s) away from the open string.
If that doesnāt work, the next step is to raise the action a bit.