Hello banjo friends - I have acquired an old banjo on ebay which has a Durkee Tailpiece and I would like some advice as to how to string it with nylon strings.  Any help appreciated.  (p.s. the maker is JH Green, a bit of a mystery)

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Unless there are prongs behind the bolt, the only options I can see are

1)  to make loops as you would for any tailpiece, preferably by tying a bowline, and loop them around the four round "teeth" that point downward at the top of the open space. Since there are four of these teeth prongs the fourth and fifth string must share a prong.

2) tie very fat knots at the end of each string, over and over until you have a lump about the size of the "thing" at the end of a "ball end" steel string, which is not really a ball at all. Place each of these in the five spaces to the sides of teeth. Most likely the string goes over the solid metal and then under the bolt. (Same thing in option 1)

3) replace the tailpiece with something else.

What does the rest of the banjo look like?

Thanks very much Jody - I have tried method 2 (holding my breath when tuning up the very squeaky wooden friction pegs) and so far the strings are holding.  However, I haven't strung the 5th peg yet as not sure what to do - do you go have a favored method of stringing the 5th peg so it doesn't slip?  The peg isn't fixed into the hole and has 2 side holes.  

Thanks for the photo. Use which ever hole seems best. Or tuck the end of the string in the unused hole, after clipping most of the excess.  I'd use the same method for the fifth peg as with the other 4 pegs. Through, under, over, hold, turn. What is the scale length? It looks long. If so, tuning lower by 3 half steps or more might be best. Is that the original bridge?  How does this fifth peg attach? Is it vertical (with knob downward?). I'm not sure what *not fixed in the hole" means. A photo would clarify things.

Carrie, also if you put some Hill Peg Compound on the pegs they will turn smoothly and hold well.

Hi Carrie

Nice banjo.  Jodie's method two is the way to go, but adding a loop around the bolt will transfer the string's  end tension from the knot to the loop and the hefty bolt. See attached pic. This is the way the ivory tailpieces with similar conformation were strung, back in the day.

Yes, Shawn's way is better. Carrie, what does it say on the tailpiece? I brightened up the image but it still seems to say "PATMAN".  Is this Batman's cousin? Or PacMan's uncle? or what? And then is that a 4 below the letters, in amongst the flowers? Very mysterious.

Shawn McSweeny said:

Hi Carrie

Nice banjo.  Jodie's method two is the way to go, but adding a loop around the bolt will transfer the string's  end tension from the knot to the loop and the hefty bolt. See attached pic. This is the way the ivory tailpieces with similar conformation were strung, back in the day.

Thanks Shawn - the photo is very helpful; it makes sense for the bar to take the string tension.

Also, thanks Jody for the tip about the Hill Peg Compound for those squeaky pegs! 

Carrie

Hi Carrie, A friend of mine, Patrick O'Dooley is a violin maker in my home town of Malvern so I asked him what he would recommend for squeaky pegs. His told me that he always rubs the pegs with a small piece of child's modeling clay, we call it Plasticine in the UK. It's a mixture of oil and fine clay and according to Patrick, it does the job without making the pegs slip. I've never tried it myself but having recently (and eventually) got my Simpson fret less in playing order, also with squeaky pegs, I'll try and get hold of some Plasticine from one of the grand kids and give it a try...Steve.


carrie horgan said:

Thanks Shawn - the photo is very helpful; it makes sense for the bar to take the string tension.

Also, thanks Jody for the tip about the Hill Peg Compound for those squeaky pegs! 

Carrie

Plasticine! Who would have thought... thanks for the tip, I will give it a go.  

The banjo is still not quite in playing order as the 5th string peg is too short for the banjo - I am going to replace it with a 'PegHed' tuner which will be in keeping with the banjo.  I'm hoping to play some of the early fingerstyle tunes (Converse etc) on it.  It's my first fretless!

Hi Carrie, I've only been playing my fretless for a couple of days and it certainly takes  a bit of getting used to. I've come to the conclusion that frets make you lazy! Without them, you really have to think about where to put your fingers..Steve.

carrie horgan said:

Plasticine! Who would have thought... thanks for the tip, I will give it a go.  

The banjo is still not quite in playing order as the 5th string peg is too short for the banjo - I am going to replace it with a 'PegHed' tuner which will be in keeping with the banjo.  I'm hoping to play some of the early fingerstyle tunes (Converse etc) on it.  It's my first fretless!

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