Perhaps this is a bit of thread creep but I've recently done some work on my Proffitt banjo and other players may be interested. I removed the retrofitted fine tuners which I spoke about in my last post to this thread, widened the nut and bridge slots a bit and changed the strings.

No more steel strings - now they're fluorocarbon fiber invisible fishing leader. They sound more like gut or nylon bud are far more stable. They work over a wide range of tensions so you can tune them low or high as you like. They tune well with friction pegs and don't need fine tuners.

I used: 30 pound test (0.020 inch dia,) for the 1st and 5th strings, 40 pound test (0.024 inch dia.) for the 2nd string, 60 pound test (0.029 inch dia.) for the 3rd string and 80 pound test (0.036 inch dia.) for the 4th string - all made by Seaguar.

They're easy to play, easy to tune and sound FAR better than anything else on the Proffitt.