I have nylon uke strings in the stash, and am building a banjo soon. Can I use the uke strings and will they perform like banjo strings would, all other things being equal? It will be a five string for clawhammer.
Never played a banjo before, so I have no idea.
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I am wondering if my problem with that build was the same problem this gal solved with a big u-shaped piece of plywoood and some sticky felt. You have to scroll down:
Tell you what, though, I had these nylon uke strings on a cookie tin 3-string and they sounded awful. Dunno if it was the tin or what. Ultimately that poor tin-tar went through steel and finally nickel wound before it settled down as playable. But Flatfoot Johnny's tin banjo sounds so sweet, and he uses nylon strings. Maybe he just has superior tins over there in the UK!
Tell you what, though, I had these nylon uke strings on a cookie tin 3-string and they sounded awful. Dunno if it was the tin or what. Ultimately that poor tin-tar went through steel and finally nickel wound before it settled down as playable. But Flatfoot Johnny's tin banjo sounds so sweet, and he uses nylon strings. Maybe he just has superior tins over there in the UK!
Yep find one the same as the smallest one you got and that can be the 5th string.
The 1st and 5th are the same string on a banjo sometimes the 5th is just one gauge smaller but the same gauge will work just fine.
I have a few sets of uke strings, so I'll mix and match til I get the right combo of five. And likely I'll build short anyway, cause that's the way I like it. Standard is 22! I'm thinking more like 17", or 19" at the absolute longest.
Might take some fooling with string gauges to get to some kind of standard tuning, but I'm figuring any open tuning will suffice if I'm not playing with others.
My guess is that the only problem with the uke strings will be that they may be too short for your scale length (well, that and the missing drone string. :)
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I bought a set of nylon strings for my first banjo attempt, and they're a LOT lighter gauge than the nylon uke strings I bought more recently.
http://www.mimf.com/archives/cookietin_banjo.htm
Diane said:
The 1st and 5th are the same string on a banjo sometimes the 5th is just one gauge smaller but the same gauge will work just fine.
Might take some fooling with string gauges to get to some kind of standard tuning, but I'm figuring any open tuning will suffice if I'm not playing with others.
Thanks, fellas!
My guess is that the only problem with the uke strings will be that they may be too short for your scale length (well, that and the missing drone string. :)
But for clawhammer the nylon is a great sound in my opinion.
But you gonna be missing a string!