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Building a Banjo - Peg Head Roughed Out

Posted by errantBanjo on Sunday, March 2, 2008

Hi everyone,

I was able to correct my earlier issue with the truss rod not being seated correctly. I popped the rod back out (it only had 2 dabs of clear silicone caulk on the double nuts), and hand carved the channel a little deeper. I had to hand carve it because both my dremel and router are at my father in laws, and I knew I wouldn't be able to get out there this week. It took a lot of cut, check it, cut some more, check it to get it just right. I'm now happy with the result though.
peg head rough out clamped onto head
Here's the truss rod installed. If you look at it straight on from the front, the adjustment nut site just inside the part where it slopes down to the peg head.

I also spent some time roughing out the peg head. I clamped the blank onto the head with 2 clamps to hold it steady while I traced the outline of the head onto the blank. I set it up so that the end of the blank that will meet up with the nut was a little longer than necessary (extended over the fretboard slightly) to give myself some play. It's going to be easier I think to remove some material rather than trying to piece something in because I fell short.  When doing this, I included the pre-drilled tuner holes. in my tracing to help me line the blank back up on the peg head later on. (There's a few pictures of it clamped in my gallery, I apologize for forgetting to snap a few before I cut the shape out.

Once I had the outline done, I took my el-cheapo Black and Decker jigsaw with a nice new fine toothed blade, and began to cut out the outline. I made my first cuts pretty far away from the actual line and slowly worked my way in. I've done this before with building elaborate trim for my house and have learned that if you feel uncomfortable in any way while doing this, to back off and then come at it from a different angle, and to really take your time. If you do this, keep the deck/fence of the jigsaw flat on the wood, and hold it tightly, what you do not want is for the wood to bounce around, or the blade to angle too much as it will cause the wood to chip and splinter or worse for a piece to crack off along the grain!

peg head roughed out

Anyway, I was pretty happy with it and will be gluing it in place after I cut out my slot for the truss rod adjustments. Once it's glued in place I will be filing and sanding the edges flush with the headstock.

I picked up a good tip in my "Constructing a 5 String Banjo" book that told me to save the saw dust and any fragments left over while working with the neck. Apparently if you mix the sawdust with glue, it will finish and match the instrument exactly in the event that you need to repair any chip-outs. So I grabbed a small tupperware container and put as much of the dust as I could into it in case I make any mistakes.

I will post more as I glue it in place.

3 comments on “Building a Banjo - Peg Head Roughed Out”

banjotef Says:
Sunday, March 2, 2008 @10:02:39 PM

This is fascinating,   Brian.   Keep those posts coming! 

tomthacker Says:
Monday, March 3, 2008 @12:38:43 AM

Great job. I wish I had started saving my sawdust earlier it would be saving me some headaches now. I guess I should actually read Constructing a Five String Banjo.

mainejohn Says:
Monday, March 3, 2008 @7:52:20 AM

Very interesting. I was going to send to a pic of a similar project I did, but I see you have no email address.

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