Left hand fingertip positioning and fingerboard wear

[Dave Culgan]

When you folks play, are you able to keep the fingernails of your fretting fingers from contacting the string?

I’ve always tried to keep my nails real short there to try and minimize the wear on the strings (gut) and fingerboard. I also try to position my fingers to keep the nail away but have mixed success depending on what tune I'm playing.

Are there divots, or signs of much wear on your fingerboard under the most often fretted places?

I had to move the bridge on one very old fretless banjo due to bad fingerboard divots (caused by me in the last 20 years), to place the fret positions in an un-worn spot. I have always had too heavy a grip and my fretted instruments have a lot of fret wear but it seems “counter-intuitive” to lighten up much on a fretless banjo and still get good volume and sustain. Regards, Dave Culgan

[Rob Morrison]

Dave--I have an 1870's factory fresh fretless with divots.  I just filled with sawdust and superglue and stained to match.  I have an 1880's fretless with a walnut neck that came out of a barn with a copper plate.  Beneath plate were grooves so deep it was unplayable.  Copper was too soft a material and it buzzed, so I replaced it with a brass plate.  If you want your banjo to be a playing instrument instead of a collector's item, you should probably take the bull by the horns and do some backfilling.  Wood putty would probably work as well.--Rob