Minstrel Banjo

For enthusiasts of early banjo

I watched a video demo of Terry Bell going through the different tunings on a minstrel banjo. It was playable immediately after he returned.

My experience with nylon strings on my banjo has been quite a bit different. After I change tunings on my banjo it has taken hours to days to hold and be playable again.

Am I doing something wrong?

Ron H

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What type/brand of nylon strings are you using?

I use Aquila Nylgut 'Minstrel' set (a little heavier gauge than Nylgut's 'Classic' set) and after the first few days of breaking in, they seem pretty stable when I change tunings.

That said, any time you change tunings the strings will exhibit a tendency to creep back in its previous pitch's direction- but that minor and after a half a tune you can tweak it a bit again and it should be fine.

I have found stretching the crap out of em per another Terry Bell video I saw on youtube helps get them all stretched out so they creep back to previous tuning a lil less. I'm sure if you retune often enough the strings will comply.

I found it frustrating to retune so I just keep various fretless banjos tuned differently.

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