I use the 7-string primarily for my one-man band act. I wanted to have a banjo as my stringed instrument in the band, but I wanted more depth of range. To accomplish that I needed 6 strings, thus standard guitar tuning. The 7th string is a drone string and, to be honest I rarely use it in the band context. But the way the instrument is set up with the string mutes, I have the option of muting the 7th string, giving me a standard 6-string banjo (guitar tuning), or muting the 5th and 6th strings, giving me a standard 5-string configuration (altho it is a challenge to get my thumb to reach the extra distance to the 7th string) or muting the 5th, 6th and 7th strings to give me a plectrum configuration (C-G-B-D).
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