Four string banjo players here?

[greenchimneys]

Just curious. I see quite a few five string banjo players on the site, but haven't really seen any four string players.

If there are any of you, what do you play? Plectrum? Tenor? Irish tenor? What got you into four string banjo?

I personally never thought I'd ever play any kind of banjo. It ranks right up there with the accordion as the most joked about instrument! Playing jazz and really getting into the earlier styles opened my ears to how good these things really sound in that context, and modern players like Buddy Wachter blew my mind when I saw the potential for solo playing on these instruments. I ended up getting an old tenor banjo and really have enjoyed playing it. The tuning in fifths, which had frightened me away from other similarly tuned instruments, is really no better or worse than fourths tuning.

[HHP]

I have one and play it but don't devote too much time to it. I have a 30's Slingerland 17 fret set up for GDAE Irish tuning. Nice when you have too many guitar players and can provide a different voice.

[leftybanjo]

I have a 90 year old Bacon and Day plectrum banjo, I tune it like a guitar and love the sound. Some call it Nashville tuning or Chicago tuning, works very well.

[Mooh]

I play Irish tenor banjo, and other instruments tuned in fifths like mandolin and bouzouki. Right now I have an open back Gold Tone, pretty good bang for the buck, and lots of fun to play. I upgraded the machine heads to Gotohs and the head.

Smakula Fretted Instruments www.smakula.com is a quick and knowledgeable source for instruments and parts.

My first banjo was the long term loan of an old Orpheum No. 1. That thing was loud, sweet, smooth, and pretty. The owner decided not to sell it to me and kept it for himself.

[bohemian]

No such thing as an "Irish Tenor" banjo.

There are short scale 17 fret, long scale 17 fret
Short scale 19 fret and long scale 19 fret.

There are many players of Irish Traditional music banjo players who use any of the above.

And there are Irish Trad banjo players using CGDA and also GDAE.

There is no Irish tuning. There are players who use both.

Just for the record.

[Mooh]

Good point. I agree, but it's becoming a reference, for better or worse, likely worse. Funny how easy it is to adopt it.

[The Bard Rocks]

I play tenor (as well as 5 string), a 17 fretter that is used mostly for Irish (GDAE). It actually sounds pretty good on a lot of other material, but I can only carry so many instruments around. If you listen closely on old recordings you will find far more tenor banjo than you might expect. And sometimes 5 string players, such as Charlie Poole, also used a flat pick which made their 5 string sound like a tenor. (At least that's what it sounds like he does on some of his solos.)

[jcarlos]

I play plectrum tuned dgbe and sometimes dgbd, I use it whenever I want a Rabab sounding lead in some songs, fun stuff, but I dont think it will ever play it more than a guitar

[Steve DeRosa]

Got a '20s Weymann open-back in Irish GDAE and a '94 Deering Boston tenor in low-G tenor uke tuning (GCEA), use the latter more than any other (got a Deering D-6 guitjo and Gold Tone OB-250 5-string). FYI the uke tuning is extremely versatile (back in the 1920's it allowed uke players to make the transition to jazz bands without having to learn new fingerings/chord names), and since it covers the sweet spot in the fiddle/mandolin range it makes an excellent alternative lead instrument - I've used mine for just about every style of acoustic music other than bluegrass. Not too widely known these days, though - TMK Chuck Romanoff of Schooner Fare is the only active proponent...

[Cone Head]

The banjo on the right is a fantastic sounding Stahl from around 1910.
18 frets, 21" scale length, 10" head. It looks tiny next to the 14" Gibson banjitar.



And just for the hell of it (and they are indeed hellish sounding instruments), some banjo-mandolins, a relatively sophisticated sounding (for banjo-mandolins, so take it in context) mid 30s Kay-Kraft, an obnoxiously loud and percussive 1930 Vega Style K, and a dirt-cheap spunover rim Stella from the late teens or early 20s:

[Mooh]

The Deering print catalogue has some nicely presented general banjo information that may be of interest to forumites here. Great company it would seem.

[Scootch]

I've a Framus Irish Tenor style banjo. Love it.

Loud as Hecht.

I restrung with 13, 17, 26w, 34w.
And tuned it to Chicago tuning which is D G B A.

Tuned like a guitar and I play it like an Ukulele.

Tons of fun.

Did it my way.

[Scootch]

Forgot, I also have a Gretsch Clarotone (current model) banjolele.

Also lots of fun.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Scootch

I've a Framus Irish Tenor style banjo...I restrung with 13, 17, 26w, 34w....And tuned it to Chicago tuning which is D G B A...Tuned like a guitar and I play it like a Ukulele...Tons of fun...Did it my way...

I assume you meant DGBE, which is correct for Chicago tuning - I wouldn't try tuning that .013 to high A, especially on a Framus; had my Deering Boston tenor in Chicago for a (very brief) time BTW, used 13-17-26w-36w nickel for a more vintage tone. Since you already take a uke-style approach, you sound like the perfect candidate for the low-G tenor uke tuning (GCEA) I suggested above; works like a guitar capoed at the fifth fret, makes a great lead instrument if someone else is playing a dread or jumbo, and with 10-13-17p-26w nickel strings it's got just slightly less volume than John Force's nitro funny car when I lay in to it (you might want to try 9-12-16-24 if that's a consideration). As you said, tons of fun - and if you'd like to hear some examples of just how much fun, here's a few of my faves (Chuck Romanoff on tenor):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYaQtbIAXFU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1gmf1wB6f4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCaFu_z1QLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQjJwJ7Zqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZ38lYXopM

Interesting (albeit sad) story behind the last one - it was the song on the lips of the students in Tianenmen Square just as the tanks came rolling in...

"Let me write the songs of a natioin - I don't care who makes the laws"
- Samuel Coleridge Taylor

[Scootch]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

I assume you meant DGBE, which is correct for Chicago tuning - I wouldn't try tuning that .013 to high A, especially on a Framus; had my Deering Boston tenor in Chicago for a (very brief) time BTW, used 13-17-26w-36w nickel for a more vintage tone. Since you already take a uke-style approach, you sound like the perfect candidate for the low-G tenor uke tuning (GCEA) I suggested above; works like a guitar capoed at the fifth fret, makes a great lead instrument if someone else is playing a dread or jumbo, and with 10-13-17p-26w nickel strings it's got just slightly less volume than John Force's nitro funny car when I lay in to it (you might want to try 9-12-16-24 if that's a consideration). As you said, tons of fun - and if you'd like to hear some examples of just how much fun, here's a few of my faves (Chuck Romanoff on tenor):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYaQtbIAXFU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1gmf1wB6f4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCaFu_z1QLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQjJwJ7Zqw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZ38lYXopM

Interesting (albeit sad) story behind the last one - it was the song on the lips of the students in Tianenmen Square just as the tanks came rolling in...

"Let me write the songs of a natioin - I don't care who makes the laws"
- Samuel Coleridge Taylor

My mistake... DGBE... I'll try your string suggestions

And it is loud loud loud.