The most common gauge of strings used on any Deering/Goodtime/Vega banjo is our private label factory light gauge strings made for us by Dunlop here in California. The gauges are 10,11,13,21w,10. These lighter gauge strings will give the banjo a wonderful sparkle and liveliness and because they are not too heavy, they are easier for most players to manipulate with success.
We do have some signature model Deering banjos that have special gauge string packages.
The Tenbrooks Series banjos use 11,12,13, 22w,11. These are the gauges specifically chosen by Jens Kruger for best sound on the Tenbrooks banjos.
The Terry Baucom Signature model gets strings with the following gauges 11,11,13, 20w, 11. Terry is known as the “Duke of Drive” and he has a very powerful playing style which requires a thicker string gauge to get his preferred driving style.
All tenor banjos leave Deering tuned in standard tenor tuning of C, G, D, A with string gauges 10,16,24w,30w. If you want to change to Irish tuning, you will need thicker string gauges and we have a packaged set of 12,16,24w, 36w for use in the Irish tuning G, D, A, E.
Our packaged 6-string banjo string sets are good for both electric and acoustic banjos. They are steel strings and a MUST if you have a Kavanjo pickup for it to work properly. These are 10,13,17,26w,36w,46w.