torpedovegas
Junior Member
- Messages
- 27
Hi Guys,
So, as a "thank you" for helping him a get a job a colleague of mine gave me his Dean Banjitar (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-traditional-instruments/dean-backwoods-6-banjo)... which of course was super generous of him.
When I received it, it definitely needed some TLC, and amongst other things the action was about a mile high off of the fretboard. I've pinned the problem down to the bridge.
Before I go any further I should say that I'm trying to do a rather unique set up with this instrument. Part of me has always felt that the Banjitar was "cheating" and if I were to get a Banjo for myself it would probably be a 5-string open back. However, here I am with a free Banjitar and I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I decided it would be cool if I put the Banjitar in New Standard Tuning. Basically C-G-D-A-E-G. For anyone looking to read more about it, check this out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_standard_tuning
Anyway, so even before I started there was a problem with the low E or in this case C string, whether it was tuned to standard or not, would pop right out of the saddle with the gentlest pluck. I imagine this is because compared to a banjo, the ratio of the width of the bridge to the width of the tailpiece is pretty disparate. When I sand down the bridge, the problem seems to become worse, I've ordered a couple new bridges on Amazon but they all end up being too high and my efforts to deepen the slot for the E string usually have no effect.
I know this is slightly left field for the warmoth forum, but I find the guys here to be pretty knowledgable so I figured I'd give it a shot.
So, as a "thank you" for helping him a get a job a colleague of mine gave me his Dean Banjitar (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-traditional-instruments/dean-backwoods-6-banjo)... which of course was super generous of him.
When I received it, it definitely needed some TLC, and amongst other things the action was about a mile high off of the fretboard. I've pinned the problem down to the bridge.
Before I go any further I should say that I'm trying to do a rather unique set up with this instrument. Part of me has always felt that the Banjitar was "cheating" and if I were to get a Banjo for myself it would probably be a 5-string open back. However, here I am with a free Banjitar and I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I decided it would be cool if I put the Banjitar in New Standard Tuning. Basically C-G-D-A-E-G. For anyone looking to read more about it, check this out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_standard_tuning
Anyway, so even before I started there was a problem with the low E or in this case C string, whether it was tuned to standard or not, would pop right out of the saddle with the gentlest pluck. I imagine this is because compared to a banjo, the ratio of the width of the bridge to the width of the tailpiece is pretty disparate. When I sand down the bridge, the problem seems to become worse, I've ordered a couple new bridges on Amazon but they all end up being too high and my efforts to deepen the slot for the E string usually have no effect.
I know this is slightly left field for the warmoth forum, but I find the guys here to be pretty knowledgable so I figured I'd give it a shot.
