Nashville Tuning my Banjitar

[Juan_Banjovy]

Put "Nashville tune" strings on my banjitar. I should have done this years ago. Fingerpicking in tradition banjo-style playing it does actually sound like a banjo now. It doesn't sound like a funny sounding guitar. They come in sets like any other strings. I just searched & found several makers & gauges. Same chords but the strings are not tuned in sequence like a guitar. Alternate octaves like a real banjo changes the sound. Imagine taking 6 regular strings off a 12 string guitar but leaving on the 6 octave strings.

[rlgph]

I did something similar, but replaced only strings 5 & 6 with octaves. Definitely more of a banjo twang. I've also done the same thing with one of my guitars for a different sort of sound. With only 5 & 6 replaced with octaves most common chords have two differently sized strings of the same pitch, leading to a kind of a shimmer around that pitch.

[Mandobart]

I also restrung the normal low E and A strings with octave higher on mine. Still not the same as that high G drone.

Last February at Wintergrass I had Tom Nechville add a couple railroad spikes and put a .010 on the 6th string tuned to a true high G at the first spike (5th fret). I tuned the rest to an open G chord (G-D-G-B-D) so now it really does sound like a banjo.

[s11141827]

Aquila 154C High B Tuning strings could give you an interesting Raised B Tuning aka High B Standard tuning, it's a Lower Pitched version of Nashville Tuning that's also an octave above the Baritone Guitar. These strings are made out of Nylon (you might wanna tie Guitar string ball ends onto the ends of them so that it's easier to install them) so they have a much sweeter sound, & a lower tension that's easier for the fretting hand.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

I also restrung the normal low E and A strings with octave higher on mine. Still not the same as that high G drone...

Depending on how long a scale your instrument has - I've only seen it done on the short-scale (~25") aluminum-rim beginner stuff - you could substitute a .010 and .007, two full octaves higher than the low E and A, which not only gives you the classic banjo "drone" but makes it movable across/within keys without the need for spikes; only caveat is that you might need to fill/recut the nut slots or replace the nut entirely...

[RLetson]

I have long used a modified Nashville setup on my 6-strings: EAD strung light and tuned an octave up. This lets me use my familiar fingerstyle patterns (which are already cousins to banjo rolls) with the G in the register I'm used to, while the EAD under my thumb give banjo-y patterns. Not unlike the uke's re-entrant tuning, but with three high notes under the left thumb.

[PHJim]

My brother Gary was becoming discouraged with the sound of his Banjitar, so I suggested that he use Nashville tuning. This was about a decade ago, and high-strung sets were not as available, so he split a 12-string pack between a guitar and his banjitar. He loves it now and uses it for one or two of songs each set.
I have an old FG-75 set up with Nashville tuning and I whip it out when we have 4 or 5 guitars at a jam.