Saving a banjo?

[Austin]

Has anyone else felt the obligation to buy an old banjo just so someone else doesn't give it a life of steel strings and finger picks that it wasn't designed for? Could just be me going crazy, but are Clifford Essex regals designed for steel strings?

[Jody Stecher]

I have played CE Regal-s with steel strings. They were light though. It was fine. No harm to the banjo.  Any model that was made as a Plectrum banjo as well as a "Regular Banjo" (5-string banjo) is fine with steel strings.  The Paragon for instance. The Professional is indestructible so that's fine with steel.  I can't recall if the Regal was made as a Plectrum model.

By the way plenty of people play steel strings with bare fingers. And there are great players who play nylon strings with picks. 

[Austin]

Good. Who plays nylon with picks? Seems strange.

Jody Stecher said:

I have played CE Regal-s with steel strings. They were light though. It was fine. No harm to the banjo.  Any model that was made as a Plectrum banjo as well as a "Regular Banjo" (5-string banjo) is fine with steel strings.  The Paragon for instance. The Professional is indestructible so that's fine with steel.  I can't recall if the Regal was made as a Plectrum model.

By the way plenty of people play steel strings with bare fingers. And there are great players who play nylon strings with picks. 

[Joel Hooks]

Most CE regular banjos built just before and after WW1 had a wire first string from the maker, rest being a regular gut/silk or rayon set.  It is complicated and you are jumping into heavy research and discovery, but basically the war caused a gut shortage (in manufacturing and that gut strings are the same as sutures).  So musicians started looking for substitutions.  Compromise was better than not playing.

CE and Grimshaw stuck with the wire first, and l have seen a few British banjos with heavy fret wear under the first string and little to no wear under the rest.

Morley tried the wire first but stopped using it.  In an early BMG he claimed he liked it, but went back to all gut as later he claimed the wire first was no good and R. Tarrant Bailey wrote that he never saw Morley with a wire first.

So, technically, factory spec was a wire first.  But not for musical reasons. 

We’re Regals “built for wire”… good question.  By the time this model was introduced the plectrum and tenor were standard.  Now, did the designers specifically make construction choices based on string material… I doubt it.  Perhaps.  Who knows.

Never the less, wire puts excess strain and wear on banjos and will ruin thin original frets in a fairly short time. 

[Austin]

Oof now I feel obligated to buy it just to save it from that fate. At least that's the justification for feeding my disorder and I'm sticking to it.

Joel Hooks said:

Most CE regular banjos built just before and after WW1 had a wire first string from the maker, rest being a regular gut/silk or rayon set.  It is complicated and you are jumping into heavy research and discovery, but basically the war caused a gut shortage (in manufacturing and that gut strings are the same as sutures).  So musicians started looking for substitutions.  Compromise was better than not playing.

CE and Grimshaw stuck with the wire first, and l have seen a few British banjos with heavy fret wear under the first string and little to no wear under the rest.

Morley tried the wire first but stopped using it.  In an early BMG he claimed he liked it, but went back to all gut as later he claimed the wire first was no good and R. Tarrant Bailey wrote that he never saw Morley with a wire first.

So, technically, factory spec was a wire first.  But not for musical reasons. 

We’re Regals “built for wire”… good question.  By the time this model was introduced the plectrum and tenor were standard.  Now, did the designers specifically make construction choices based on string material… I doubt it.  Perhaps.  Who knows.

Never the less, wire puts excess strain and wear on banjos and will ruin thin original frets in a fairly short time. 

[Jody Stecher]

Rob Murch does, for one. I never heard anyone play better. He also plays with bare fingers.  
 
Austin said:

Good. Who plays nylon with picks? Seems strange.

[Jody Stecher]

1) I did some quick internet research. The Regal was issued as a 4 string banjo for sure. Ergo, it is meant for steel strings.  I think its best sound is when strung with light gauge steel.

2) I would not put heavy metal strings on it.

3) there was a discussion about the Regal and strings here on this forum a few years ago. the search function will discover it quickly

4) Replacing frets is a standard occurrence amongst professional string players. It is not a big deal. For a skilled luthier it is no harder than replacing a vellum or bridge or tailpiece or tuners/pegs.  Frets on mandolins and steel-strung guitars are replaced every few years on  instruments played many hours per week. It does not mean the instrument is in any way broken. 

5) 19th century banjos are another thing entirely.  Steel strings of medium gauge or higher not only have warped old necks they have pulled the hoops out-of-round.  

[Austin]

Oh dear. Changing frets doesn't seem like a big deal, but a hoop being pulled out of round sounds very bad.

Jody Stecher said:

1) I did some quick internet research. The Regal was issued as a 4 string banjo for sure. Ergo, it is meant for steel strings.  I think its best sound is when strung with light gauge steel.

2) I would not put heavy metal strings on it.

3) there was a discussion about the Regal and strings here on this forum a few years ago. the search function will discover it quickly

4) Replacing frets is a standard occurrence amongst professional string players. It is not a big deal. For a skilled luthier it is no harder than replacing a vellum or bridge or tailpiece or tuners/pegs.  Frets on mandolins and steel-strung guitars are replaced every few years on  instruments played many hours per week. It does not mean the instrument is in any way broken. 

5) 19th century banjos are another thing entirely.  Steel strings of medium gauge or higher not only have warped old necks they have pulled the hoops out-of-round.  

[thereallyniceman]

Buy a Regal and play it with fingertips and nylon strings...  mine sound great to me!

My original post is here  KENTUCKY PARADE

[Jake Glanville]

The answer to your first question is: yes, many times.  Zither banjos are my thing and I can't bear the thought of them being cruelly treated by someone wanting to do the Earl Scruggs thing with heavy strings and 'G' tuning!

I usually de-tune my banjos about three steps down from standard and use Nylgut mostly.  Have always played steel strings with bare fingers, so did most banjo players 60 years ago in my misspent youth (except the ones who used plectrums, of course!)

BJ.