Thought I'd share a couple pictures of a pretty cool project I just finished up. This one wasn't for either of the stores or the teaching studio, in fact this old banjo is actually going up for sale now that it's playable/saleable, along with a couple more instruments I've repaired for this guy. He's a longtime player, collector and seller, now retired and downsizing.
So anyway, the thing was literally a case full of parts when I got it last Winter. (sorry, no before pics...) Most of the work was involved with the neck. The old binding was a crumbled mess. The pearl and abalone inlays were very fragile and several pieces were missing. The angle of the dowelstick from the neck-through construction of the time was tragically shallow, and had been drilled for a crude reinforcement called a "shackle" commonly seen on turn-of-the-century banjos. The pot assembly was in remarkably good shape. To start with, it was still fairly true and round, very little warping. Most of the hooks and nuts were there and matched. The nickel plating looked nice, and a bit worn off to the brass sleeve of the spun-over rim. The original tailpiece was date-stamped May, 1884. This was a nice banjo. I was asked to return it to playable condition, and make it presentable, but leave the patina of 140 years.
I did away with the original dowelstick. Amputation? Yeah, I guess. I did save it, but it's function has been replaced by a modern coordinator rod that secures the neck to the shell by way of a pair of lag bolts threaded into the heel of the neck. The neck heel is fitted to the round rim at the draught angle desired. The rod can be adjusted for length at the tailpiece end by its threads, and locked in place by the 1/2" nuts. This also meant the square hole in the rim once occupied by the dowelstick and screw hole at the the opposite had to be plugged and sealed. I made a wood plug to fit exactly, a piece of dowel, epoxied in place, flushed up both sides, then hid my work under a decorative plate fastened to the inside. The outside I hid under a small piece of aluminum tape behind the tailpiece bracket... seen, but probably unnoticed. After the structure work on the shell was done, it was a matter of drilling and tapping, then fitting the old neck back to its pot assembly.
When I was sure everything was going to line up right... well... reassembly. I put a new 'Renaissance' style head on, and put it all back together. The new synthetic gut strings are still stretching out.
