Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Ran into something interesting (to me, at least)

#1

Being the type of person that has to tear things down, break them, fix them, just to see how they work, it seemed only natural to change the strings on a brand new banjo, with my whole 8 days worth of banjo experience. RIght? That’s a thing.

Anyhow…

After changing and tuning the strings, I had a weird buzz. Wasn’t sure if it was the new strings, the new bridge I put on a couple days ago, my crappy playing (seemed the most likely) or something else.

Today, I realized when I put the Deering bridge on, I didn’t remeasure to make sure it was in the correct spot. I just kind of guessed, since I had marks for the old bridge. Turned out it was about 4mm off where it should be. So… an 1/8th of an inch roughly. Moved it that 1/8th of an inch and the weird buzzing isn’t there anymore.

Seriously, could 1/8th of an inch make that big of a difference? Or am I just hearing what I want to hear?

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#2

Here is a video on that…
https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/banjo-setup-with-steve-huber-bridge-placement-banjo

I would assume a lot of things could be the issue. With the head tension, moving the bridge closer to the neck, or the tail piece would have a slight effect on the string height, very slight. Changing the strings from 1 weight to another can have an effect on it by increasing or decreasing the tension on the neck, causing the neck bow to be different, thus a truss rod adjustment may be necessary. It could be that the bridge was backward, causing the string seat to be incorrect. I’m no expert by any means, so I’m sure others will chime in with much better advice.
Also, with the bridge placement, make sure you check the intonation and make sure that the open string pitch, and the note fretted at the 12th fret are the same. Well, not the same pitch, but you know what I’m attempting to say, lol.

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#3

I think you’re right. The strings I put on are lighter than OEM. I can’t find it, but I think OEM are mediums, and I put on light strings.

Need to get the proper sized nut driver to adjust.

Luckily, it’s not horrible, just a little buzzy at times. So, I can still practice without it being too distracting.

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#4

I had the same issue going from medium to light strings and Adam suggested a truss rod adjustment and that cured it. Not much, just a little on the adjustment.

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