Banjo Parts & Their Function

Video Transcript

"Hi I’m Fred for ExpertVillage.com and today we’re going to talk about the various parts of the banjo. Some of the parts we’re going to look at today include the pot, which is right here, the head which can be clear or frosted, these parts are the hooks and nuts, inside the banjo we have the two coordinating rods and they’re used to adjust the action and keep the neck in alignment and this is the tone ring, the tone ring is usually made out of bell, brass or bronze. And the tone ring is what’s responsible for the bright clear bell like sound of the banjo. Here we have the tension tail piece and the more downward tension there is, the sharper the tone. This is the bridge, it’s usually made out of wood. This is the heel and up here we have the peg head, these are geared pegs. This is a capo which is used to play in a different key depending on which fret you put it on. This is a fifth string capo, which you slide it forward based on how many frets you have the regular capo on. This is the geared fifth string peg. Any quality banjo will have a geared peg here. And this is the fret board, the fret board on some of the better banjos is very decorative and is usually made out of ebony. "