#Short scale banjo tuner plus

I was assuming I would need special bridges made too, but everything has worked hokey-dokey with the Moons. Logic says that if your intonation is right when capoed at the 4th fret, mine should be jes'fine with the same scale - logic tends to go out the window with banjos so I really expected problems, and have been most pleasantly surprised at the lack of trouble. I use Moon compensated bridges and have had none of the 'Intonation Problems' that were predicted when I first mentioned this project here. But I've only had the 2nd banjo for a couple months now so I have not made any final decisions about either. Eventually I will choose one of the banjos to remain permanently in G-C tuning while the other goes to D-A. When we are actually going to play in G I usually tune down from Double D (Double C Capo 2) to Old G gDGDE - this is a mere two string retune from my standard D tuning (aDADE).

I tune them to G (gDGBD) or Double C gCGCD) and use a capo for A and D. These banjos fit nicely into Tenor Banjo cases - I got them two of the generic Canadian cases Elderly sells. I then had him move the 5th string pegs to the 8th fret - like on a Vega Elite, so I can capo up to the 6th fret without interfering with the 5th string peg. He did change the scale slightly but not enough to matter. I had him build based on capoing my Ramsey at the 4th fret and/or on my 17 fret Slingerlands tenor (or tango) Banjo. The scale is around 21-22 inches - I've never measured it. I've forgotten the actual measurements but with three extra frets it would have come out right in the length range of a 27 inch scale normal banjo, and probably would have fit in a Vega style 'normal' 5 string case. I liked that idea a lot but my hands were fading so I never built one.Īs matters with my hands have gone from bad to badder I finally had a luthier friend build me two banjos that should serve until I can't play at all.

#Short scale banjo tuner plus

Plus some people had various pre-1900 banjos with scale lengths up to 28 inches (and possibly longer).Īll 'long neck' banjos I can recall seeing in those days were based on the 27' stretched 3 frets to about 32' Vega Elite and Seeger models.Įven back in the 70s I thought about making a long neck based on a normal scale around 24 inches - a lot of my 19th Century banjos were more or less 24 inch scale - what is now called 'A' scale. In those days 26.x was considered standard on anything that was not pre 1900, and then there was Fairbanks/Vega 27 inch scale. I know we never referred to short scale banjos as 'A Scale' back in my instrument repair days. I never worked out A scale when starting with a 27 inch scale banjo, but that might be where the term originated. What is generally called 'A' Scale is roughly 24' which is technically longer than a 26.3 or a 25.5 scale capoed at the 2nd fret.