Setup Page 2

Guide to Banjo Setup

Principles of Banjo Sound

Overtones are multiples of specific frequencies produced by different materials in anything that produces sound. A bronze bell produces many more overtones than a log.

A fundamental is the opposite of an overtone. It's the pure sound of something vibrating at a single frequency. A tuning fork is the best example of this.

Timbre in any instrument is related to overtones. Every piece on a banjo plays a role in creating the unique sound of every banjo. We have the ability of change some of the pieces, but not all of them, and we need to understand something about the system as a whole. We can start by listing the main pieces of a bluegrass banjo:

      •   the rim
      •   the tone ring
      •   the flange
      •   the resonator
      •   the stretcher band
      •   the tailpiece
      •   the head
      •   the bridge
      •   the neck
      •   the tuning pegs
      •   the strings

Here are the main factors that we are usually trying to modify or improve:

      •    the sound of the banjo.
      •    the ease of fretting the strings
      •    the responsiveness of banjo to picking by the             right hand

These three categories are very subjective and each player will have his or her own preferences. The goal is to find the best combination of the factors for a particular player and a particular instrument. Before I start on specific setup techniques, let's talk a little more about what the pieces of the banjo listed above contribute to the sound.