be doing to get the best sound out of their banjos?

DS: That depends on the expertise of the player. Also, everyone's ear is a little different and we all are looking for possibly a different sound. Yourself is what you have to please primarily. Unfortunately I don't have a 10 minute lesson on how to set you banjo up. Now common sense goes a long way. The tighter the head the brighter the sound. The more tension on the tail piece then probably the louder the instrument will be.

JBM: Is that the purpose of the Oettinger tail piece?

DS: The purpose of the Oetinger is to equalize the pressure of the strings on the bridge. When the strings respond it lets the diaphragm, the head, move the fullest excursion which gives you the best sound. The tenor banjos are so sensitive because the "A" string is so horribly tight and then the strings get progressively looser as you go from treble to bass. The tenors are much more difficult to equalize the down pressure on the bridge then plectrums. 

JBM: What you are saying then is that you will have the most amount of pressure on the bass "C" string and the least amount of pressure on the "A" string.

DS: And string gauges come into play.  

JBM: How do you decide how much tension to place on each string?

DS: You go by your ear. Part of the problem is that banjos were invented back when everyone had to have a skin head. To get a good musical sound you had to place the bridge within a certain distance of the edge of the rim. If you placed it closer to the center of the head you got a "thunk." To get a bright sound the bridge had to be within four inches of the rim. As it got closer to the center of the head you got a muffled dumpy sound. 

JBM: Earlier you said that the placement of the bridge was in the center of the head so what is going on here?

DS: The advent of the plastic head and the use of more modern material created this change. Who says that banjos have to be built like they were back in the 1920s? The first thing I did was add a 20th fret to my tenor. That did two things; it gave

the players a high "F" and I was able to move the bridge 3/8 of inch. And I thought: "Boy what an improvement in the sound!" So I started doing the same thing on the plectrum.

JBM: How many frets do you have on the plectrum?

DS: Just 22. The distance between the final fret and the tension hoop determines where your bridge will be. If you leave a little extra meat your bridge will come closer to the center.
        Early on when I decided I was going to build banjos for a profession, if I was not familiar with your playing, I made you send me a tape. That way I could listen to your attack and the way you played the banjo. I would try to set the banjo to enhance your style of play. You would set up a banjo differently for a player that played full chord melody opposed to someone that played single string melodies. 

JBM: What would you be doing differently?

DS: With a chord player you want to produce a sound that is equal across all four strings. You don't want any of the individual strings to stand out more than the others. You want a balanced response to your playing. Where as with single string playing you are after volume.  

JBM: Wouldn't you want the first string to have more volume since chord melody technique usually plays the melody on the first string?

DS: You do that with string gauge. 

JBM: So you would put a heavier gauge string on your first string. Buddy Wachter does just the opposite. His bass string gauges are very high, they are almost like cables.

DS: That's right and you can almost tighten Buddies head with your fingers since it keeps it fairly loose.

JBM: Also he won't tighten down the resonator to the flange.

DS: I think that is a good idea. On Gibson style banjos I used to put a little rubber washer under there to isolate the resonator from the rest of the banjo. By keeping the resonator tight to the banjo it can produce an unwanted sound.

JBM: What type of head do you prefer on your banjos? Do you like the "Renaissance" head?

                               
Back to Jazz Banjo