Fine tuning a banjo bridgeBefore we go any further, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: intonation inaccuracies do NOT reflect on the quality of the instrument. Some banjos, and/or because of the way they're setup, simply do and some simply do not need compensation. I've seen "garage sale specials" with perfect intonation and some exoticly expensive ones that needed heavy duty compensation. In other words, no need to run out getting a refund for a perfectly fine banjo just because it needs a bit of tweaking. There are plenty legit reasons your banjo might need some adjusting. Having said that, the easiest way to start the real fine tuning is by going through steps 1 through 5 of the "charting the sweet spots" (at the bottom of this page). Once you've found the sweet spots and connect them dot-to-dot - if they form a reasonably straight line, that's where you put the bridge. Sometimes it looks "slanted," the 'first string end' usually a bit closer towards the neck and the 5th string end closer towards the tail piece. For many banjos this works out well and with a bit of trial and error you'll end up with an acceptable compromise for a position where the bridge produces acceptable sound and intonation. As long as most strings are as near to the sweet spot as you can get, no further intonation compensation is needed. Mind you, if you are real finnicky, or if playing chords up the neck might throw things out of whack enough, you should try a compensated bridge. If the sweet spots do not form a straight line you need a compensated bridge . The thing is, there aren't any acceptable averages when it comes to compensation values for each ones of the strings - these values are always unique for each banjo and its player. You might hit it lucky with a generically compensated bridge but don't count on it - did I mention there are no acceptable average compensation values... Extreme tuningThat's where I come in, I've developed a practical way of making totally custom tailored bridges to get you as near to intonation perfection as you can get. I have this weird British made Windsor banjo and it sounds real nice. But, this thing was totally unplayable, you just couldn't tune it right, no way, no how. Tuning the open strings, no problem of course. But as soon as you made a chord - whoa!!! So totally out to lunch, it was off by at least half a fret or so - talk about a severe intonation problem! Refretting was not an option and as it turned out, it was not needed. The crude looking bridge I ended up with overcame the intonation problem completely. It now actually plays real nice and has a terrific bright sparky sound. I played this Windsor on my CD (Some o'Mine and Some I Like) when I recorded the tune Riverdale. |
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