Hi, this instrument started out as a ceiling down light. - A
B - An old banjo Tone ring was utilised
C - To take a wooden top
D – Then fitted to the light body
E – I also used an old guitar neck, which was modified, of course.
F – The rod was removed and replaced with a hardwood insert.
G – heal removed
H – heal rebuilt to suit banjo rim
I – Neck ready for fingerboard and fitting
J – Showing the parts before assembly
K – Now to string up
L – The modified peghead with new veneer overlay
M – All done
N – Fingerboard detail
O – For size comparison
Just to give new folks some ideas. Probably be a hard one to copy. Hahaha.
Cheers Taff
Replies
Hi, I do not have photos of the actual job, but it is easy to follow the info here I think.
I started with the neck shown here. A guitar neck, a cheapy with the normal style cheap truss rod. I removed the actual rod and replaced it with a hardwood fillet.
Note: if I was building the neck for a CBG style instrument I would not go to the expense of a truss rod. I would select a neck blank that is cut on the quarter and add a hardwood inlay or an aluminium bar or carbon fibre instead. Bar gives more resistance to bending that does a rod. Unless the rod is adjustable and installed correctly, which is a bit demanding for many CBG builders I would suspect.
The peghead was just a matter of filling the old tuner holes with dowel and making a plywood template of the desired design. I normally make templates for marking out, out of a firm clear plastic sheet. Lots of products come packaged in the stuff. Once the cutout is made, I can move it around on the work surface and see the best positioning.
Then it’s just a matter of drawing around the template, cutting close to the line and sanding. I remove the previous finish and glue on a suitable veneer. Then drill the new tuner post holes. These were positioned by finding their best location through the clear plastic template.
Bracing the neck had me guessing what you meant. But if it means attaching the neck to the body, I do this neck attachment to the side of the box, I never use a through neck. [But I have done in the past].
As in the photo in the previous post, on this build, there are two screws trough the top into the heal part and two strews into the heal from the inside of the rim.
I hope this helps; glad I was of some help so far.
Taff
Yes, Your further explanation helps understand. And now I can see the posted piics better too. I'm still learning to understand how this forum works. What I can understand is how much time and experience you show in your work.
Disclaimer ::: I am not now, or plan to be, a professional luthier. I do not plan to sell. Sometimes friends chase me down to make repairs , I don't look for them. My work background is trucking, mechanics, welder fabricator, assembler, home repair, sewing work and odd jobs. Still, after 35 years of fixing, tinkering with, and building banjos and such, i do have a good understanding of what it takes to produce a quality product.
My work nearly always needs improvement . Seeing what has been done does help to encourage working more carefully. thanks for taking the time to share .
kentr
Hi, Truly beautiful work. Just acoustic? Any chance you will post pics of the headstock remake and how the neck was braced against string tension?
Thanks for the ideas. While there's no chance I'll be copying that one, the quality of your work does inspire me to work more carefully at what i'm working on.
kentr