Old Fretless Banjo (cont)
I bought some D'Addario Pro Arte classical strings, which you can buy separately (you needs two 'E's, plus a 'B' a 'G' and a 'D'). And I didn't have to do any reaming or filing as the strings all sat OK on the nut, and went into the peg holes (just). I did have to cut a piece of cork to support the tailpiece pillar at the back otherwise it would be probably end up bent. The bridge I had had the slots too close together for frailing (your fingers get tangled up) so I adjusted another one. All in all its not bad and its a pity its not mine!
Old Fretless Banjo
A friend of mine asked me to fix up a tatty old fretless banjo. Here are some pictures (randomly oriented for some reason) taken before I brushed all the spiders away.
Its a bit of a mess with missing and replacement tensioners, a very dodgy tailpiece setup and badly turning pegs, but its sound enough and has a good hide head. Probably not worth a complete overhaul, but certainly worth setting up and playing.
My own fretless is set up with nylon strings for that old lightweight plunky sound, so I ordered some of these only to realise that I would have to adjust the nut, fifth string nut and pegs to handle the extra widths.
I'll set up a single nylon string, and if it sounds good I'll request the necessary alteration permissions.
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