@oliverclarke995 Biggest issue there - to my knowledge - would be scale length. Standard scale length is 26.25" - a lot longer than a tenor banjo typically used for that tuning/Irish music - and that puts a lot more tension on the strings. There are short scale/travel banjos that are around 16" so right in line with a tenor - even a bit shorter. Maybe you could offset the standard length with extremely light gauge strings. In either case, you could treat the '5th' string as re-entrant and just ignore it for single-note playing. HTH

I think I’ll just buy a tenor 😉

Thanks for letting me know- I wasn't aware that clip-on/ electronic tuners weren't keyed in on tenor banjo pitch. Even on chromatic setting? I really appreciate the info and I'm all the more glad it's helpful.

Hahahaha well, thank you - I'm glad it's been helpful. And thanks for driving up those view numbers 😀

Life raised it's (very) ugly head. Hope to get it in the works soon. Stay tuned! Or just subscribe for crying out loud and you'll get it to your door ;-) Seriously tho, thanks for watching and following the adventure.

Sorry to hear that.. hope things are getting better in your world, and look forward when you're ready. Take care.

My brother! :-D And, nice channel - yer a man of taste and distinction.

Y'All realize I can NEVER navigate off of this screen again, right? :-D

Hahahaha! Thanks for the great comment :-D I used to be, but talked a lot less back then! Keep in mind this is for absolute beginners - especially ones who are wigged out by the thought of doing this. I figure it takes some talking through - and the devil is in the details. Plus this work gets lonely after a while :-)

@@roughcutguitars Been a teacher myself 🇩🇰😎 By the way, do you have any experience with a chineese chickenbacker 360/12. or any guitar dealers/companies on Aliexpress?

Thanks! Means the world that you noticed. Happy New Year!

Well aren't ya kind! Thanks. You're on track with back angle theoretically, but in practical terms a larger back angle necessitates a taller bridge than would be stable and then messes up the height to the nut. I always start every new build with a plan drawing - unless it's a carbon copy instrument - and the key is to start drawing your plan with the STRING. It will blow your mind and accelerate your learning, understanding, and knowledge of guitar geometry and performance dynamics. You also have to remember that a larger back angle puts the strings higher and higher over the body/box, and any traditionally placed sound hole you might have, which brings a diminishing point of returns on amplitude and string vibration frequency setting up the Soundwave that pump down and back up from the body. Think of a singer's.distance from a microphone. There's a sweet spot depending on a whole bunch of things such as string material and gauge/weight and body material - wood or otherwise. 1.5 to 2 degrees is optimal. You can do some really simple tests with a one-steing instrument and increasing/decreasing the angle. So, the learning never really ends my friend :-)

@roughcutguitars Right on, thanks for the great response. That makes so much sense. I'm actually a retired Mechanical Engineer, lol, but never really applied it to a guitar. The choice to use a slight back angle in my first build came as recommended by Mr. Puckett. I like it cause it provides a bit extra finger pickin room. My next build will be a solid body in the Snowden style. Thanks again for all the helpful feedback.

Thanks for the feedback! Sorry, thought I made it clear in the vid: that was done by someone before me. No way I'd do the replacement like that - and then cover it up if it went south! Hope you checked out parts 2 and 2-1/2. You probably know the challenge of removing one when too much ca was used. Getting to the last part installing the new one hopefully soon - had some distractions come up. Cheers!

That's all part of experience. Skill = Research/knowledge + foresight + practice. Top tip: Start planning/ designing your builds with the string - including target neck angle and work out from there with the parts you're thinking about using. That way, you know what you're in for. Angle gets way more out of string amplitude and that translates into resonance and volume. Thanks for watching and commenting. Best of luck!

I have gotten a lot better with pre fitting and adjusting as needed. I just re-set one of my bolt on necks now the strings are more parallel with neck. Thanks for the information.@@roughcutguitars

Thanks for your interest! Drop me an email at [email protected] or PM me at Rough Cut Guitars, and we can discuss your ideas. In the meantime, you can get an idea of features, options, and pricing at roughcutguitars.com

@samphillips6756 Actually made it up on the spot. Was staying in a French village at the time, which dates back to at least 1252, so I was feeling medieval and inspired :-) What do YOU think we should call it?

​@roughcutguitars what about "The Woodsman's Reel" that sounds good to me! Also after listening to this song and a few others a while back, it inspired me to build my own dulcimer. Just waiting on the strings to arrive now!

Thanks... I think 😀 I mean, everyone likes SpongeBob, right???

Sold it a year ago. I think about $275.

Takamine stopped making this one a while ago, but the Yamaha has identical specs, and at the price point even new, it's a great buy.

Those are Fred Kelly Freedom Picks. They work pretty well and sound a bit less strident than metal 'banjo style' picks. I did need to fine-tune the edges with some 300 grit sp, but otherwise put em on and play. Can't remember where I go them, but most of the major online retailers carry them or go direct to fredkellypicks.com

@@roughcutguitars main reason i am interested, is that i was wondering if i could use them on my fretting fingers the same way a noter is used on a traditional dulcimer, to get that special noter sound, but on a dulcitar/pickin stick/ walking dulcimer

Not dumb at all - it's a perfectly natural question and one actually asked many times before early on in this post. Yep, absolutely does uke tuning. I'd just go light gauge on the top A string since that's pretty high tension note at this scale. I'd suggest something like 22 ( orig g string from tenor tuned up or down?) 20 (lighter because tuned up from g) 14 (lighter because tuned whole step up from d) 10 or sager to start with 9 and see how it goes. HTH Cheers!

That's funny because I'm a teacher in my full-time job! I'm taking a break from building or videos bcs I'm dealing with some health issues, but I hope to get back to it. Until then, feel free to email questions you might have and I'll do my best to help. Thanks and Good Luck - enjoy your playing!

I'm very glad it's useful for you. Cbgitty.com and mgbguitars.com are good suppliers but I'm not sure if they ship outside the U.S. Amazon also sells them but I'm not sure if there's a difference in quality - they're all made in China so far as I know. Hope that helps and have fun building!

@@roughcutguitars Thank you! I bought on Amazon :) Next week test. Please do more informative videos. for ex fretting :) Thank you!

@bearshield7138 Geez, so sorry I haven't seen this til now. Don't know why notifications are so sketchy. Hope you got your build done! If so, how'd it go?

Life has happened I hope to get back to it soon

Wish I could say engineering and physics are involved, but I let Gibson and Fender do the heavy lifting there and use those as inspiration depending on the style build I'm going for. For the headstock break angle no matter what I use 13 - 15 degrees (used by Gibson and National to name a few). The one in this tutorial based on a Les Paul is 15 - my preference for nice high tension that plays a bigg part in optimum intonation. Again because it's based on a Gibbby LP I use 2 degree set back/neck angle. For the same benefit of intobation I like some back angle so while Fender tends to be neutral or minimal .5 to 1 degree I use at least that. You also want to think about clearing your strings to your bridge and pickup heights with proper distance from the pole pieces so make sure to measure those first. Absolute BEST advice I ever got and am passing along here is to start designing and ensuring any guitar you build from the strings - after all these are what make everything else happen. I draw plans for every build and ways draw the string first measuring everything out from there. Hope that helps.

Oh, and neck height: I want the fingerboard to sit above the top of course and mine are 3/16" thick. Other than that, I want at least 5/8 of neck material in the pocket. More is more secure of course but depends on the depth of the box and you want enough material at the floor of the pocket for strength too - I'd say 1/4 to 5/16 minum.

@@roughcutguitars thanks for your reply, very useful info 👍

That's everything I hoped it would do, so thanks!

Yup. Technically you might not have to, but then you'll probably have to raise the saddle height near its limit to clear the pups and like I say in the vid, I don't like to be back-against-the wall in any direction. Just make sure to use a very dense material to transfer all that string resonance goodness. I use a piece of ebony with the grain vertical to the top surface as God intended :-) Cheers, best of luck & thanks for commenting.

HAHAHA How many times do you think I've watched him? (Too many, I guess :-) )

And thanks for being kind. You coulda ripped me on that :-)

Hey, I'm still trying to master "The last steam engine"! You sound great 👍 Not much info available on this model on yt. I'm hoping the S stands for a solid top. I'm sure it does? I have a chance to pick one up for $180 in great shape. The one I'm looking at has a lighter b & s.Not NATO like yours. I guess you can't go wrong with a taka at that price!

Depends on the tuning you're using and scale of your banjo. Can you let me know?

@@roughcutguitars it is a 19 fret tenor banjo from the early 20th century, the decal on the pegboard depicts a cabin and says "winner" (i think-it is very worn) I don't have much background on it. I play guitar and want to use the banjo for playing rhythmically vs. jazz.

@@inkthay I'd really like to help but I need to know the specific scale length. Knowing the tuning would also help - both of these things affect tension on the strings, which can cause them to break if it's too much for the string gauge/weight. That assumes there's not a sharp edge somewhere on a point of contact with the string such as the nut or maybe bridge or even tailpiece, tuner post, or fret. Is the tuning one of these in the video? Here's how to measure scale length on any string instrument: images.app.goo.gl/Nr9JWBshPUvGK99dA

@@roughcutguitars I see. It is 23 inches

@@inkthay Thanks! Sorry for late reply - don't know why I don't see alerts for comments. OK. That's pretty much on the longer end of the spectrum for tenor scale, so tensionnis already going to be naturally higher. If you're using CGDA tuning, I definitely recommend tenor banjo string gauge 9 - 30. That 'top' (meaning highest treble range string) is at its limit and needs a light gauge. DGBE is a lower tension tuning overall, so you can probably go 12-40 or so. If you're still having issues, see if you can find a set with 11 on top. Lighter gauge strings generally sound more flabby, can buzz a bit because there not as tight along the length of the banjo, and have less projection/fullness/precise intonation, but the longer length of your banjo should compensate for that. Good luck, and thanks for watching and commenting.

Hi Geni, Sounds like kind of a hot mess. Sorry to hear about that. There are so many unknowns about your guitar and the issue that it's impossible to give you specific advice. First off I'd say if you paid for it in good faith expecting it to be built and work properly then the seller/builder should stand behind it. If that's not possible for some reason and you feel comfortable w DIY, the first thing I can tell you is if it has frets or is fretless but with fret reference marks, it's easy to get the scale even with the bridge/saddle on. Remember that the 12th fret is the exact halfway point from the nut to the bridge. All you have to do is measure from the fingerboard side of the nut to the middle of the crown of the 12th fret and multiply by two. Then position the bridge or in this case saddle if you have a hard tail bridge assembly like the one in my video using this multiplied measurement starting again from the inner side of the nut. You don't want to measure from the 12th fret to the bridge - just trust me, there are reasons for this. You're also going to want to fill those old holes with same diameter dowel - use a hard, dense grain wood like hard maple, NOT soft or open grain like poplar or oak - and use Titebond or epoxy, then trim off & sand down any excess sticking up from the top. As for drilling and mounting the new bridge position, I'd need to see a photo of your guitar to better advise. If you're still looking for advice, email me the photo - address is in the description under the video. Good luck!

Oh, and remember, moving the bridge forward makes notes flat. Moving it back makes em sharp.

@@roughcutguitars Thanks for the detailed info. After reading it, I think it's worse than I thought and actually the opposite direction. It's 12" from the nut to the 12th fret, so that would mean the scale length should be 24". Currently the saddles sit at 25", which accounts for the wild sharpness no matter where they're set. So that means the bridge needs to go forward, not back. I was going to tackle it myself but now I think I'll reach out to the seller since it's more complicated than I thought. Thanks again. I'll let you know how I make out.

I'm not sure what you mean by standard American fourth string banjo. I'm not an in-depth expert on banjos, but the 2 types of 4-string banjos are tenor like this one and plectrum. Your strings depend on which type you have because they are different scale lengths and will put different tension on the strings so it's important to choose strings appropriate for your scale banjo. Tenor banjo scale is anywhere from 19" to around 23". Plectrum banjos are much longer thus a lot higher tension. If you have a tenor banjo, I recommend buying a set of tenor banjo strings to keep things simple. They're available online and no pricier than other strings. There are some options for light or medium gauge but start with one and go from there. Hope that helps.