Putting strings on a Waverly copy tailpiece

So I put a Waverly copy tailpiece on my banjo. I felt its the best design since it could accommodate both four strings and five strings. It has a classy look as well since its a shorter version of the Kershner tailpieces. So here, it sits barren and stringless.

For my banjo, I use Vega tenor strings. These have loop ends which hook nicely onto the little nuts that stick out from the back of the tailpiece.

Like so, feed the hook through the loop of the string. (its not as easy as I thought)

Now is the really hard part about this whole thing. Feed the wire through the hole somehow. I thought it'd be much simpler but it isint. The design of the string is rather awkward so you cant feed the string through that easily.

Eventually, I got it through. So grab your bridge, we're going to measure where it should be.

Theoretically, the 12th fret is the exact middle of the string from nut to bridge. I think it also works with guitars, but it turns out from nut to 12th fret, its about 11 1/4th inches. So measure 11 1/4th inches from the 12th fret towards the tailpiece. Wherever 0 or 11 1/4th inches is marked (whichever you used) put your tailpiece there.

I'm not going to bother talking about how to wind strings in this post, but here's the end result. Pretty?


Happy Strummin'!