Reminds me of the pitch pipes I found for eAEG#B. I emailed the company and found that they still make 'em in that tuning for banjo. They didn't know it was a 'dead' tuning until just recently...
g. My impression was that C tuning was in favor by the time of the Stewart Empire... but I suppose not. Would this mean that banjos made in Philadelphia were expected to be tuned eAEG#B rather than gCGBD?
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m say the same thing. The Lansing Practical, e.g., recommends the same tuning (pg 5).
Rather than try to pass on my own addled bit of historical knowledge, I'll defer to the wiser folks on this site and point you toward a search on this site for "eAEG#B"
http://classic-banjo.ning.com/main/search/search?q=eAEG%23B
As you can see it's come up in a few discussions over the years! Joel Hooks might be our strongest advocate of A tuning. I'll let him (or others) chime in further, if they so want.
One last comment, some banjos from the late 19th C do sound better tuned eAEG#B - I have a Dobson that sounds terrific in that tuning, but absolutely terrible tuned up to gCGBD. There was another recent post on this topic, here:
http://classic-banjo.ning.com/profiles/blogs/luscombe-banjo-pitch
That said, my Stewart Thoroughbred (ironically) sounds better (to me, of course) tuned up to gCGBD. Go figure.
Best,
Adam…