You mean I have to maintain it?!

I‘ve noticed a trend: if I see 10 new banjo students today, 7 of those will say “I’ve had this banjo in the closet for the last 20 years and I figured it was time to learn how to play it”. These same people are always surprised to find out that a banjo isn’t a “set it and forget it” proposition; there is some necessary care and feeding that goes along with proper banjo ownership. Pulling it out of the closet and trying to use it after someone else played it hard and put it away 20 years ago is a tough row to hoe.

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Change those banjo strings!

The most dramatic change you can make is to replace the strings. Strings start becoming old and dull after just a couple of months, let alone several years of being on the banjo.

I‘ve had quite a few people be surprised to find out that the banjo doesn’t stay in tune even after putting it away in tune. It’s not just a matter of months and years that we’re talking about, either: your banjo can go out of tune minutes after you just tuned it, even without touching it again. Weather, temperature, and humidity greatly affect stringed instruments, and banjo players are forever retuning. In fact, most banjo players spend half their time tuning, and the other half playing out of tune.

Download my banjo setup guide.

I have a basic banjo setup guide available for download that can steer you in the right direction on making some minor adjustments to your banjo. If you look on the right side of this page, you’ll see the square ad for my downloadable setup guide. It can help you make your banjo sound a bit better, but keep in mind it’s not a definitive set of instructions on curing all banjo setup and maintenance issues. It just helps a beginner to make their banjo sound a little better without having to spend big dollars at a repair shop.

Your banjo needs regular maintenance

As I said above, a banjo isn’t a “set it and forget it” proposition. Here’s just a small list of things to “tweak” regularly, and of course these will all need to be done if pulling the banjo out of the closet after 20 years:

• You’ll need to keep up on string changes, especially if you are playing regularly. (I’ve heard one source quote that you should consider changing your strings after each 8 hours of playing time.)
• Keep an eye on the head of the banjo. A tight, crisp head produces the best, most banjo-ey sound.
• Check the 5th string tuning peg now and then; make sure it isn’t loose in the hole its mounted in. You may need to take the banjo to a repair shop for this
• Periodically remove the resonator and check that none of the bracket nuts are loose
• Clean up the metal brackets, tension hoop, flange, etc., now and then. Dust, dirt, food particles, debris, etc., always seems to collect all over the body of the banjo.
• Use a product like Fast Frets by GHS to clean and condition the strings each time you play. This can help the strings to last longer.

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Please leave your tips below

I‘m a reasonably knowledgable banjo player after more than 25 years picking banjo, but I don’t claim to be an expert at banjo setup or maintenance. I’d love to know what you recommend for regular banjo maintenance! I hope you’ll leave some comments at the bottom of this blog post in the comments area. We can all learn from each other this way. Thanks so much, and as I always say: pick ‘em if ya got ‘em!

Banjo Paul
“Wunse, I coodn’t even spel bango pikker…now I are one!”
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www.mybanjolife.com (blog)
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