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Position of 5th string on CBBanjo

Hi,
I am new and building my first cigar box banjo using a neck recovered from an electric guitar.
I want five strings but my bandsaw will burn out trying to reshape the top of the neck.
Can I run the 5th string up to the head but tune it to the octave G? Or should i be settling for 4 strings and tune it as a tenor banjo?

All suggestions welcome.

Thanks,
tina

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Permalink Reply by gary herget on September 11, 2014 at 3:28pm

I did one with all 5 stings mounted at the head. the neck was too thin to put 5th string tuner on the side. Played just fine with the 5th string mounted that way.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on September 12, 2014 at 2:21am

Going the tenor banjo route would certainly be easier. Just leave the high and low strings off and just use the center 4 strings.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 12, 2014 at 2:28am

'Course you can. There are no rules. Keith Richards uses 5 strings on his Tele, tuned to Open G.

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on September 12, 2014 at 2:51am

Many Victorian 5 string banjos used a 6 string neck (leaving a redundant machinehead) and ran the 5th string in a 'tunnel' under the fretboard from the 5th fret to the headstock. You can achieve a similar effect by using a "railroad spike" in the fretboard behind the 5th fret. The string simply hooks underneath and you've got your octave G in the right place. Spikes available from most banjo outfitters, StewMac etc...but I'm sure you could nip the head off a panel pin and bend it to get the same result. Just drill the fretboard with a really small drill (I used a .5mm drill last time I did this on a banjo) to make sure the spike goes in without bending.

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Permalink Reply by Tina Helfrich on September 12, 2014 at 8:32am

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will be stringing it tomorrow.
I would try the tenor banjo route except I have just started learning 5 strings and don't want to get confused with a different tuning.