My $15 thrift store banjo finally snapped a string and I have no idea how to restring it

Picked up this old banjo from Goodwill last month, it was missing the fifth string but I figured hey, cheap fix. Finally ordered the right gauge strings online, took 3 days to arrive, and when I tried to tune the second string it just snapped. Like immediately. Now I'm sitting here with a pile of broken string and no clue if I even threaded it through the peg right. Anyone else ever mess up a cheap instrument repair?

2 comments

2 Comments

linda_clark4d ago

Oh man, I totally wrecked a ukulele once trying to restring it. I got the wrong sized strings and just kept cranking until the bridge actually popped off. Ngl, I sat there for like ten minutes just staring at the wood splinters before giving up and using it as a decoration. Honestly, the peg threading is tricky on cheap instruments because the holes are never cut right, so the string just slips or snaps under tension.

nina1804d ago

Took 3 days to arrive" - man, I gotta say, is it really that serious? You snapped one string on a fifteen dollar banjo from Goodwill. That's like being mad that a beater car you bought for 500 bucks blew a tire. The peg threading stuff linda_clark mentioned might be true for some cheap instruments, but honestly you might just have gotten a bad string or put it on wrong. I've done the same thing with a yard sale acoustic - snapped the high E and sat there feeling like a failure until I realized I could buy a whole pack of strings for six bucks. Take a breath, watch a YouTube video, and try again. If it breaks again, you're out fifteen bucks and you got a month of messing around with it out of the deal.