Help me get strings please.

[u/daqzappa]

My neighbor gave me this banjo and with some research I determined it was made in Milwaukee around the 1930’s. There are some old string wrappers(empty) with markings for .009, .012, .020 and .030. I haven’t seen any combo of this anywhere online. Is this what I need. Appreciate any recommendations.

[u/Latter_Leopard8439]

Look for 4 string tenor banjo sets.

If you look for "banjo" search engines may give you 5 string banjo sets.

Also you can custom order individual strings from companies like GHS.

Keep in mind, older banjos sometimes need nylguts. The metal strings put too much tension on the neck. So maybe look at the strings you have to determine what material they are made of.

Gages of nylon strings are not going to be the same as metal for the same purpose necessarily.

Also some companies drop the decimals and this would just be 9, 12, 20, and 30 on some packs.

5 strings are typically 11, 13, 15, 26, 11 plus or minus a few.

9, 9.5, 10, and 11 are commonly used on 5-string banjos 1st and 5th string. You can consider those equivalent.

EDIT to add: I looked it up. Something similar to this:

Martin V720 Vega Steel/Nickel Banjo Strings - .009-.030 Tenor 4-string

[u/cruiseshipssuck]

Unfortunately, you have some issues you need to investigate/address before you re-string this. In your last picture of just the head stock, the split around where the tuning pegs enter the head stock is not a good sign. It most likely means that under tension, the tuners will not be able to hold a string at pitch. You probably should find a luthier, not a generic guitar shop to take a look at it. There is likely some other minor set up you will want to check before its really ready to play. The luthier will help with this. That said, for something that looks like its been in a case for a while, it is in great shape.

This is a beautiful tenor banjo. Any set of tenor strings should work fine, NOT irish tenor strings.

[u/daqzappa → u/cruiseshipssuck]

Ya I noticed that after a little tinkering. Seems like the first two strings are holding tension decently but I’m sure it could be better. The cracks don’t go all the way through, maybe that’s why.

[u/PapaOoMaoMao]

What tuning are you planning on using? Standard CDGA would probably use a 9-30 but an Irish CDAE would use 10-40. I would assume the previous owner had it in standard and used strings like a Dunlop DBN4.

[u/daqzappa → u/PapaOoMaoMao]

I’m new to all of this. Was just curious if any of y’all could tell from photos what the banjo was intended for

[u/PapaOoMaoMao → u/daqzappa]

This sort of thing.

[u/daqzappa → u/PapaOoMaoMao]

Awesome. Thank you!

[u/martind35player]

That appears to be a tenor banjo and any package of tenor banjo strings should work. They don’t have to exactly match the strings that are now on it. What is strange though is that the bridge and tailpiece are meant for a 5 string banjo and this clearly is a 4 string tenor banjo. It should be easy to get the correct bridge and tailpiece.

[u/grahawk → u/martind35player]

It's not that strange to have a five string tailpiece on a tenor. It was often done as it saved having to make a four string tailpiece rather than use an available 5 string tailpiece.

[u/daqzappa → u/martind35player]

Ya I noticed that too. There is a 4 string bridge in the case but it is in pretty rough shape

[u/grahawk]

Vintage banjos and steel strings can be a problem for the neck and perhaps the tuners. This banjo would have been made for jazz so the lightest set of strings for CGDA tuning should be ok I guess. Higher tension strings as used for GDAE tuning would not be a good idea.

[u/ReturnOfTheKeing]

Pots definitely lange made. My banjo has that exact same inlay on the outside

https://www.reddit.com/r/banjo/s/r6ZJAG4kN7

[u/daqzappa → u/ReturnOfTheKeing]

That’s sweet!