Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Old Lowe on October 16, 2009 at 3:42pm

Way different sound between nylon and steel.
But for clawhammer the nylon is a great sound in my opinion.
But you gonna be missing a string!

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Permalink Reply by Tres Seaver on October 16, 2009 at 3:55pm

Dennis Havlena swears by nylon strings for clawhammer playing.

My guess is that the only problem with the uke strings will be that they may be too short for your scale length (well, that and the missing drone string. :)

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on October 16, 2009 at 4:07pm

I have a few sets of uke strings, so I'll mix and match til I get the right combo of five. And likely I'll build short anyway, cause that's the way I like it. Standard is 22! I'm thinking more like 17", or 19" at the absolute longest.

Might take some fooling with string gauges to get to some kind of standard tuning, but I'm figuring any open tuning will suffice if I'm not playing with others.

Thanks, fellas!

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Permalink Reply by Old Lowe on October 16, 2009 at 4:43pm

Yep find one the same as the smallest one you got and that can be the 5th string.
The 1st and 5th are the same string on a banjo sometimes the 5th is just one gauge smaller but the same gauge will work just fine.

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on October 16, 2009 at 4:58pm

Tell you what, though, I had these nylon uke strings on a cookie tin 3-string and they sounded awful. Dunno if it was the tin or what. Ultimately that poor tin-tar went through steel and finally nickel wound before it settled down as playable. But Flatfoot Johnny's tin banjo sounds so sweet, and he uses nylon strings. Maybe he just has superior tins over there in the UK!

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on October 17, 2009 at 3:04am

I am wondering if my problem with that build was the same problem this gal solved with a big u-shaped piece of plywoood and some sticky felt. You have to scroll down:

http://www.mimf.com/archives/cookietin_banjo.htm

Diane said:

Tell you what, though, I had these nylon uke strings on a cookie tin 3-string and they sounded awful. Dunno if it was the tin or what. Ultimately that poor tin-tar went through steel and finally nickel wound before it settled down as playable. But Flatfoot Johnny's tin banjo sounds so sweet, and he uses nylon strings. Maybe he just has superior tins over there in the UK!

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Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on October 17, 2009 at 5:02am

Pretty much, nylon is nylon (though there are some new blends that are harder) as long as the diameter is the same...

I bought a set of nylon strings for my first banjo attempt, and they're a LOT lighter gauge than the nylon uke strings I bought more recently.

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