Neary Torque Wrench
John Stewart
I am using a neary torque wrench to adjust the head tension on my banjo.
Having no real experience tightening the head, i don't have much "feel" for
it, but that is what i'd like to get to. I have a Stelling Red Fox, and I
do like having a good deal of volume and punch, but not too much. Does
anyone use one of these and can you recommend an ideal number to crank each
of the nuts to...at least to start out with....and if possible about what
that would tune it to (G or A or whatever)...I just kind of feel like i have
nothing to go by...and unfortunately have noone to sit down with who knows
what they're doing.
Thanks in advance...
John
Bill Hays
banjo, even within the same brand (such as Stelling). Two basic reasons
for this, near as I can determine:
- The Neary is not a highly accurate piece of gear, being made of plastic
and springs as it is. One Neary is accurate (i.e., repeatable) unto
itself, pretty much, but they vary somewhat from one copy to another.
- There are too many variables from banjo to banjo, from head to tension
hoop to friction on brackets and nuts -- not to mention what sound is most
appealing to your ears -- to derive a standard answer for all banjos.
The best routine I've discovered is to slacken all the nuts off to a place
where the head is too plunky and dead sounding. Then tighten them up in
one kilogram-centimenter increments -- all the way around the head --
until you get a ringing tone you like. You can tap-tune the head by
bouncing the eraser of a 6" pencil about an inch or so inside the
circumference of the head until you get the right resonant tone. Leave it
there for awhile and see how it sounds -- newly tightened banjo heads take
a few days to settle in. Adjust as necessary after that.
You can find pretty specific instructions for doing this -- moreso than
I've given here -- on Bill Palmer's website (the URL of which I don't have
handy, although a Google search will turn it up).
Having said all this, however, I'll also say that for me, on my Deering
Calico, a torque level of 9-10 kg/cm is about right.
B.
In article <flmIa.34019$vq.6508@sccrnsc04>, "John Stewart"
Marshal L. Hendrickson
believe he said that would normally tune it to an A or Ab. I then checked
the Palmer banjo setup site and his conversion chart showed 7.4 kg/cm.
I also went to a banjo seminar by Tony Trishka and he said he tuned his
banjo a little looser than Goeff recommended, because as he was getting
older, he found he liked a little more mellow sound. He tap tuned his
closer to a G.
Tony played my Fox a bit. It was really a kick to hear it played right.
Also to hear it "from the other side". He also showed me how to tap tune a
banjo. Before that I thought it was all a myth.
I believe what the other responder said. Each Banjo and each Torque Wrench
will likely vary a bit. Maybe the tap tuning is the best approach to start
with. Try it at several different settings and then check with your wrench
and log the settings. Then you can use that for later resetting.
Or, better yet, play around with it until you get the sound you like and
record the settings.
Eat, Sleep and Pick
Marshall H.
Bill Hays wrote in message ...
Lynn Oliver
suprisingly consistent, given the lack of calibration. I have seen wide
variations in tension settings between banjos.
Recently I set up two banjos side by side, tap tuning the heads to the same
pitch. Both banjos were relatively new and used hardware from the same
source. One registered 7 kg-cm on my wrench and the other 11 kg-cm, on the
same wrench. The only difference that I could find was that one banjo had a
standard Remo head and the other a Huber, which is a Remo with slightly
heavier frosting. The banjo with the Huber head had the higher reading.
Checking both banjos with a DrumDial gave essentially identical readings.
FWIW, I have found that the traditional method of tightening the brackets
sequentially does not work well with the Neary wrench because of interaction
between the brackets.
Lynn
Rob
[snip]
> Recently I set up two banjos side by side, tap tuning the heads to the same
> pitch. Both banjos were relatively new and used hardware from the same
> source. One registered 7 kg-cm on my wrench and the other 11 kg-cm, on the
> same wrench. The only difference that I could find was that one banjo had a
> standard Remo head and the other a Huber, which is a Remo with slightly
> heavier frosting. The banjo with the Huber head had the higher reading.
>
> Checking both banjos with a DrumDial gave essentially identical readings.
This is very interesting, Lynn. So what do you think of the DrumDial
for use on the banjo? For a given Neary-torque, does the DrumDial give
a consistent reading around the entire perimeter?
I guess one way to ensure that the 7 vs. 11 torque is or isn't the
difference between the Remo & Huber heads is to swap the heads on your
two banjos. After spending an afternoon doing this, let us know what
happens :)
> FWIW, I have found that the traditional method of tightening the brackets
> sequentially does not work well with the Neary wrench because of interaction
> between the brackets.
I agree.
-Rob
Lynn Oliver
> for use on the banjo? For a given Neary-torque, does the DrumDial give
> a consistent reading around the entire perimeter?
The DrumDial is nice because you can do a reading quickly, but it is awkward
to use in setting the tension because it reads from the top of the head.
The graduations are really too coarse for final setup, because a small
change in tension that won't even register on the DrumDial can make a big
difference in the sound.
I do find that setting the tension with the Neary will give consistent
readings around the head using the DrumDial. However, I always check to
make sure the that tension hoop is flat and level.
> I guess one way to ensure that the 7 vs. 11 torque is or isn't the
> difference between the Remo & Huber heads is to swap the heads on your
> two banjos. After spending an afternoon doing this, let us know what
> happens :)
I'd love to, but they weren't my banjos.
Lynn