String and head advice

[Michael Hughes]

Hello all, I'm writing for a bit of advice. I'm within a month of taking delivery of my Clifford Essex Weaver banjo, and I'd like a bit of feedback from the community about the strings and heads people like to use.

I understand that much of this is based on preference, so I'll share mine. As a classical guitarist, I have always preferred high tension strings and a balanced sound. I also like rich bass. I've been looking at medium or heavy gauge Nylgut strings or possibly the gut strings developed by Rob MacKillop for Clifford Essex. I love the sound of Rob's banjo on his recording The Early American Parlor Banjo.

What do you think the proper head might be for this banjo, and how much of a factor is the head in the sound of a gut or Nylgut-strung banjo? Would you recommend a calf skin or goat skin head over a plastic head?

Thanks so much for any feedback you might offer!

Michael Hughes

[Jody Stecher]

1 The head is a huge factor in the sound of a banjo no matter what kind of strings are used.

2  There is no reason to assume the CE Weaver won't arrive with ideal head, strings and bridge

3 Skin vs Synthetic question is best answered by climate. The best sound *may* be gotten by a skin but not every skin sounds alike and in climates with large swings in humidity the chance of the head breaking are higher.  

4 Within each category of plastic head there is high consistency. (99%?).  Renaissance Heads are very good for classic banjo. But it depends on the banjo.

5 Within each category of commercial (and hand made) bridge there is low consistency. Two identical looking bridges are likely to produce non-identical sounds.

[Mike Moss]

Hi Mike,

my Weaver was sent to me perfectly set up, other than having to put up the bridge. Alan V. Middleton feels the Clifford Essex Weaver sounds best with heavy strings, I like it both with heavies and mediums. Keep in mind that it has a very unique sound and it will sound like itself -- it has rich bass but the trebles are clear, loud and nasal and it has very little sustain -- a great, classic "banjo tone" that reminds me of the old recordings by the masters. I love the sound, but it might not fit the description of what you're looking for. CE shipped mine with both a Cammeyer bridge and a Morley bridge, I feel the Cammeyer bridge sounds great on it.

Hope that helped. LMK if you have any questions.

Best,

Mike

[Trapdoor2]

Preferences being a personal thing...

I really like the Nylgut standard set...but I am currently playing a set of the "Red" Nylguts, excepting for the bass string, which is the .028" Weaver bass from CE. I like this combination quite a lot. The gut strings from CE are uniformly excellent, I mounted a set on my banjeaurine a month or two ago.

Bridges...well, I prefer the lightest all-maple (not ebony topped) bridges I can find. There are a dazzling number of variations out there and bridge selection bears a good bit of experimentation.

Heads: I really like vellum-processed calfskin...and equally dislike goat. As I play in air-conditioned comfort 99.44% of the time, once the head is mounted and stable I rarely do anything to 'em. Some of my banjos still have plastic (I like Fiberskyn a lot) but I have not had a Renaissance head yet that I liked.

It is great fun (at least for me) getting a new banjo up and sorted out. Be patient, try the easy-to-alter stuff first...and have fun!

 

[Michael Hughes]

Thanks so much for your thoughts!

@Jody: I live in mid-state Maine, so excessive humidity isn't a problem. I'm assuming the instrument/setup will be lovely; I'm just trying to find out what more experienced players have discovered.

@Mike: I read your excellent review of the Weaver in the latest issue of BMG. I particularly appreciated the details you provided about the construction and sound of the instrument. Thanks for your note about the bridge.

@Trapdoor7: With the CE .028” gut bass, are you tuning to E or C? More generally regarding gut vs. Nylgut, is it more a matter of tone or durability for you? Speaking of tone and heads, I've only ever had plastic heads on my banjos (currently a nice frailing-style instrument from Bart Reiter), so my experience with skin heads is nil.

Thanks again everyone!

[Jody Stecher]

It is an abrupt change in humidity, not excess that causes the problem.  A muggy summer day.  The head goes slack, so much so that the strings are touching the fingerboard. The head must be tightened. THUNDERSTORM comes out of nowhere. All the humidity leaves the air and is released as rain. Banjo head also looses moisture and then explodes with more noise than distant thunder. I have had this happen from a simple change from moderate humidity to an air conditioned room. The explosion was very startling. 

About "more experience": what I've discovered from 55 years of playing the banjo is If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It.  :-)

Michael Hughes said:

Thanks so much for your thoughts!

@Jody: I live in mid-state Maine, so excessive humidity isn't a problem. 

[Mike Moss]

+ 1 to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". The folks at CE know what they're doing so my suggestion is you go with the excellent standard setup for now and change it later on if you want to tinker with the sound. The sound of the banjo is largely due to the sum of its parts as well as the combination of the head size and scale length. For instance, since the scale length is slightly shorter than the common standard, tuning it down to E would probably kill the banjo's punch and tone and would be akin to using a thoroughbred racehorse to pull a plough! ;-)

[Trapdoor2]

I keep most of my classic-style banjos tuned gCGBD, so the .028 CE bass is working within its design envelope. I do occasionally work in the older tunings but usually fit a set of the Aquila Nylgut "Minstrel" strings, which are designed for the lower eAEG#B or dGDF#A tunings. Usually this in conjunction with a banjo designed around those tunings (ie, often a longer scale...like 28").

Regarding Nylgut, I do like the tone I get out of it...but I'm just as keen on the feel under the fingers. I don't like a really floppy/rubbery string but neither do I like a very hard string. Nylguts seem to fill that bill for me nicely. I must say that the natural gut sets from CE are also a favorite of mine...and the "Weaver 4ths" are much more durable than the Nylgut 4ths (which "notch" on the frets quite quickly). I usually change Nylgut 4ths 2:1 with the rest of the set. The CE Weaver 4ths appear to wear less quickly and I've changed them 1:1.

Not that I change strings all that often. I'm not a performer, so I often find myself changing strings on my fretted banjos annually (if not longer). Fretless...well, I'm on the second set of Nylguts I mounted when I purchased my Hartel Ashborn in 2008. Would still be on the first set if I hadn't changed the head a couple years ago.  ;-)

[Michael Hughes]

Jody , Mike & Trapdoor2, thanks for the additional words of wisdom. It is much appreciated. I've just written to Clem at CE asking for his feedback on these questions, and when he replies I'll share his comments.

Jody, I had an experience similar to yours some years ago. I had traveled some distance to a gig on a very cold night with my guitar in the trunk of my car. I brought my gear inside the club and set the PA up, leaving my instrument, a custom Martin M-36, in its case. I thought enough time had passed for the guitar to acclimate, but alas, no. As I opened the case, I heard a faint crackling sound--the entire top had crazed in an instant.

Trapdoor2, I'll plan on ordering a few different sets to play around with once I receive my banjo. Thanks for digging in deeper regarding the Nylgut. I agree that feel is important.

Thanks again!

[Richard William Ineson]

Jody's comment, re exploding banjo heads, reminded me of a similar incident experienced by myself, in Rangoon in the early 70s. The monsoon season was in full swing and I, after a very convivial afternoon in the bar of the Pegu club (off limits to the local Bamars in those days, but famous for the the 'Pegu cocktail', does anyone still make these?) unthinkingly, opened the case of my Cammeyer 'Tropical' (the model 'guaranteed to be termite proof' with the metal bands around the hoop and the integral tonic water holder, and mosquito net) zither banjo, resulting in the vellum bursting with an incredibly loud noise, despatching the bridge directly at my head at the speed of sound. I suffered a severe blow to the left temple, rendering me unconscious. I awoke, some hours later, to find myself surrounded by a wilderness of  the notorious local 'fire monkeys' who, for some reason, had not attacked me. My manservant at the time, told me that,though extremely dangerous, they were very wary of the banjo, he had observed them outside my window on many occasions and was surprised to find that they made no attempt to enter my rooms, he put it down to the 'noise' as he put it, rather indelicately, in my view. On another tack, I came across an old 7 stringer in a local junk shop, supposedly, previously the property of Rudyard Kipling, wish I'd bought it now. The monkey incident, puts a whole new light on his famous lines, 'And the dawn comes up like thunder, from China 'cross the bay'

[Mike Moss]

Indeed, Richard, and it reminds me of the time I was hunting the baagh with the viscount Mountbatten when, all of a sudden, my head hit a hanging vine and I fell off my hathi. It was a terribly embarrassing situation as no-one seemed to have noticed my fall and, while the man-eating tiger lurked in the brush, my gun wallah was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately I noticed my Riley and Baker all-metal zither banjo had also fallen off but had been kept sound by the Reliance case I stored it in. Surrounded by the rioting invasion of soundless life, the rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to sweep me out of existence, I took out the banjo and cracked out the first few bars of To The Front. The effect was remarkable, as all animal life in a two-mile radius seemed to spring up and flee at the same time and, once the wild cackling of birds and hooting of the gibbons and macaques subsided, there was not a living soul left. After following the trail for a few miles I eventually happened upon my would-be saviour, an old sadhu who rarely ever left the jungle. Unfortunately, the holy man, being unaccustomed to banjo playing, was still startled and could only mutter "The horror, the horror" when I met him.

[thereallyniceman]

Personally I have never been an advocate of incarcerating mentally bewildered banjo players in lunatic asylums, but on reflection there may be occasions when they are of use… I can think of two likely candidates :-)

 

Nearby to where I live is the county town of Lancaster. Lancaster was once the largest manufacturing centre in the world of Linoleum, now defunct, and was also famous for having several large asylums.

 

It is often said that Lancaster is famous for Lino and Lunatics, but they don’t make Lino any more.

 

…. Nurse says that you would be very welcome and perhaps we could form a banjo trio?

 

:-)

 

[Jody Stecher]

Perhaps they are not mentally bewildered but merely *banjoloigists*. The following may shed some light in spite of the  four-string banjo content at the other end of this link:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=R4kzQRK...

thereallyniceman said:

Personally I have never been an advocate of incarcerating mentally bewildered banjo players in lunatic asylums,