scale length of the 5th string on banjo
 

Starts around the 5th fret. Assuming a standard 26 1/4 scale what is the vibrating length of the 5th string from the fifth fret to the bridge?

19-3/8" - 19-1/2"

Curious why you ask?

You can use any standard fret layout calculator to find the fifth fret position of any desired scale. If you're working on designing your own banjo you can find a bunch of info on my old website "Banjo Design Primer" page.

Little longer than I thought. To find out how high I can tune the string.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MY8alk2WetM Someone managed to get it up to C

Donald Zepp is someone who would take the chance! ;)

His point in the original video was that folks who play shouldn't be all that concerned with taking the fifth string up by a full step to A.

If you really want a banjo to have it's fifth string tuned up higher than an A then spikes are a good solution.

Some makers of custom banjos install the fifth string tuner at the 7th or 8th fret location, so that's also an option.

The scale would be around 16 or 17 inches. You might get it to a mandolin hi e if you are lucky if it's installed at the 8th fret.

The 5th fret should be as near as dammit half way between nut and 12th fret, so that string will be 3/4 of the full scale length of your banjo.

Using the term "scale length" of the drone string unnecessarily confuses the question. It would be advantageous to use the correct terminology to obtain an answer that is easier for most to understand.

"Scale length" is the hypothetical distance from the nut to the bridge for any fretted instrument.

The distance you are asking about is the "vibrating string length from the 5th fret to the bridge".

The actual measurement for fifth fret position is universally represented as the "distance from the nut to the fifth fret" in this case.

The terminology is sometimes misunderstood in the case of the banjo because the fifth string is often said to pass over a fifth string "nut". In the case of the banjo this "nut" is simply a stopping point for the vibrating string, as if the string would have ran the full distance to the actual nut position. It's simply an easy way to implement the higher "re-entrant tuning" of the fifth string, re-entrant tuning meaning the fifth string is higher in pitch than what would normally be found in a sequential string arrangement.

Fixed the wording.