Posted by TD_Frailin on Saturday, December 15, 2012
I recently finished my very first banjo build project (see my copper pot banjo entry). I definitely feel like I've caught the banjo building bug. I really enjoy working on these projects and it sure beats sitting around and watching movies.
I've spent the past couple of evenings carving a new banjo neck. It's coming along nicely. I tried to use a friend's band saw to save time and cut out the rough shape from the neck blank, but it just didn't work out. So, I did everything with hand tools again. I cut the shape out of the neck blank using a hand saw, and I've been using a wood rasp to form the neck and headstock. The grain in this wood is a little more uniform and straight compared to the first neck I carved, which has made the whole carving process go much more smoothly. Also, I used an electric powered planer to get a nice level fingerboard.
Here's where I'm at so far:
I'm not wild about the shape of the headstock yet, so I still have some work to do there.
Here is the gourd I'll be working with (diameter at widest point is ~10 inches):
Over the next couple of evenings I plan on cutting the top off of the gourd and cleaning it out. I'll also ream out the tuning peg holes and finish forming the headstock on the neck. Over the holidays I'll probably carve the dowel stick and some tuning pegs.
I was tired of looking at that weird foot-shaped headstock, so I changed it a little bit. I'm still not really satisfied with it, but I can't do much else at this point:
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