Care
Care and Feeding of your Bean Sprout
Extreme Temperatures:
The Bean Sprout Banjo Ukulele is made of high quality maple, ebony and steel parts and is therefore susceptible to the dangers of extreme changes in temperature and humidity. These extremes can cause problems for a hand made instrument. Do your best to avoid these conditions. The biggest cause of problems like these is leaving your banjo in the car. Please don’t do that!
Head Adjustment:
Your banjo came with a natural skin head, and is set in the correct position for the best possible tone and playability. However, your skin head may loosen and tighten when faced with extremes in temperature and humidity. You will know that it is too loose when your bridge has sunk more than an 1/8 inch into the head and the head is quite flexible under pressure from your thumb. Another sign of this problem is a soft, weak tone and/or some buzzing of the strings on the frets. Don’t worry, it is quite easy to fix. Using the banjo wrench provided to you by Bean Sprout, begin tightening the lug at the one o’clock position. Tighten it one half turn or about 180 degrees. Move across the head to the lug at seven o’clock position and do the same. Move back across to two o’clock, and then to eight o’clock, then three, etc…until all of them have been tightened. Check your head tension with your thumb and take a look at the bridge level. If it needs more tightening go through the same process again until it is back to a normal tension. Please note that you may need to loosen these lugs a bit when your banjo returns to a “normal” temperature as the skin head may break. Over zealous tightening may also cause the skin to split as well, so take it easy! If you have questions take it to an experienced banjo player, a luthier or email us, we will be happy to assist you.
Bridge Adjustment:
Your banjo bridge has been set in the perfect position during construction. Using a pencil, we have made a light mark on the front edge of the bridge so that you can keep it in position. We recommend changing your strings one at a time so that the bridge does not move. Check the bridge location once in a while as it may have moved by accident during transport or playing.
Transport:
Speaking of transport, our Bean Sprout custom case is great for the demands of the professional touring musician and for casual transport. (They look cool too!) In Colorado, it can go from freezing to 85 degrees in just a few hours. Thats why we us Colorado Case Company for our custom fit case. You can also try a simple mandolin gig bag or hard case for your Bean Sprout, but you will have to add extra padding to make it fit.
Sound Adjustment:
Many banjo players like to take a handkerchief or sock and position it between the dowel stick and the head. This dampens the the sound slightly and makes a “plunkier” tone. Experiment with the size of cloth and the location of its placement to find your banjo ukulele tone.
Cleaning:
Clean your Bean Sprout banjo ukulele regularly. Wipe the strings down with a soft cloth to reduce residue buildup on the fret-board.
If you follow this advice your instrument will play better, last longer and be a valuable asset in years to come.