Banjo project

I had a customer call and asked if I worked on banjos. The answer is actually “no” but I generally say that I can take a look at an instrument in the very least. It’s always hard to gauge a job or project without out looking at it in person and more often than not it is a lot more involved when you get into it. Sometimes more than you had actually quoted the customer on the spot.

At first glance, this 60’s Harmony Reso-Tone 5 string banjo just needs some work to get going and a good cleaning. The 5th peg was missing, it needed new strings and a new bridge for sure. The drumhead skin, I would say is optional but hard to gauge with the banjo needing some work to get going.

This banjo rim and resonator is made from bakelite – a form of plastic but the pattern on it almost looks like Wenge wood. It was only after some research that I found out it was bakelite and when you knock on it, you can hear that it isn’t very dense at all.

The tuning machines were in decent shape but a few of the rods were twisted – they still function and turn smoothly after a spray of StringTone but tuning the strings were a bit finicky. A new set of tuning machines would have been best but trying to keep the banjo original was a priority.

The body was dissambled and cleaned. Upon some research, the neck has a tendency to turn from the way it is constructed. It was suggested to install a heel or two at the heel and body joint to prevent the neck from twisting in the future. It did in fact twist so I had installed a couple of screws to keep it in place.

The tension rods, hoop and tailpiece were cleaned and polished as best as I could get them. I did try to polish up the tuning machines as well: some areas were easier than others.

A Grover compensated bridge was ordered in and installed. It is a nice upgrade to what was on the banjo originally.