[Dixielandjazz] 17 vs 19 fret for ease of chording

[Scott Anthony]

This may not interest non-banjo/guitar players, but here goes...

I doubt very much that the number of frets on the banjo or the scale length 
(length of string from nut to bridge) has much to do with what you are 
experiencing except indirectly (see below). It sounds to me like the action 
on your banjo is not set up very well, especially at the nut, so that you 
need to press down too hard to get a good clean sound. You might need to 
file the slots in the nut a bit deeper. Here's a link to a site that shows 
how to get the nut slots just the right depth:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/GenSetup/NutAction/nutaction.html

(By the way, this is a wonderful site for stringed instrument players. Their 
online "museum" is fabulous. It has items such as the Martin Centennial 
special guitars and a Gibson Super 400 Tenor guitar!)

A couple of additional points I might mention:

1. A 17 fret, short scale banjo with light strings made for a plectrum (that 
has 22 frets) will give you really "floppy", loose strings. This might have 
something to do with the problem you are having. In general, the shorter the 
scale, the larger the diameter/gauge of the strings for a given pitch. Your 
17 fret instrument is designed to be a tenor banjo, pitched way higher than 
what you are tuning to or what the plectrum is tuned to. With loose strings, 
you need to set the action (and the string height at the nut) very high to 
avoid buzzing. With heavier strings, you can set the action much lower 
without buzzing. I couldn't find the Deering 17 fret Goodtime model on their 
website, but I would imagine the scale length is about 22" - 22-1/2". 
Putting light gauge plectrum strings (meant for scale lengths of 26" - 
27-1/2" is not a good combination. For your tenor tuned to guitar I should 
think the gauges should be, starting with the 1st string:
13, 17, 24, 36

2. You should make sure that your thumb stays centered as much as possible 
on the back of the neck, not out the bass side like some guitar players do. 
This will give you better pressure for the barred chords and might fix the 
problem in combination with 1 above.

3. Having played banjo now for almost 50 years, and now building and playing 
4 and 6-string archtop guitars, I think I have made an observation about 
guitar tuning vs. plectrum or tenor banjo/guitar tuning that may shed some 
light on your problem: Looking directly at the fret board (like a normal 
chord diagram), most (but not all) guitar chords seem to have a North East 
to South West diagonal "orientation" whereas tenor and plectrum tuning 
results in more chords having a sort-of North West to South East diagonal 
orientation. Having played banjo so long, I have a devil of a time playing 
certain guitar chords, like the augmenteds. My fingers just don't want to 
arrange themselves in the guitar orientation. This might explain why your 
dead note is on the B string (2nd string). If you were to try plectrum 
tuning, you might see a difference.

I hope this helps.

Scott Anthony
Golden Gate Rhythm Machine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joseph" <ezola at charter.net>
To: <santh at pacbell.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 1:45 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] 17 vs 19 fret for ease of chording


> I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts. I play dixieland in a band and 
> notice my bar chords are difficult to play clearly at times. I tune to the 
> guitar, and find my "B" string falls under my knuckle which makes a thud 
> for a note. Chords that sound this way are usually, but not exclusively, 
> on the first fret, such as Ab7 or F7. I try rolling my forefinger but this 
> is difficult and puts a lot of stress on my finger. I play a 17-fret 
> Gooodtime banjo by Deering. Would buying a 19-fret be easier to play? I 
> switched to ghs plectrum light strings. At first this seemed to be easier, 
> but again, the bar chords are "thuds." Any ideas?
> Joe
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