SS Stewart Universal Adjustable Neck Fastener

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ARTISTE BANJOS NZ. www.banjos.co.nz Gold Tone & Recording King Stocked. NZsteve

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From NZsteve on 8/3/2013 5:31:16 PM

A recent e-mail talking about the above after on was sold on trademe,

Hi, the info came from a Hangout thread detailing the "adjustable neck fastener" which evolved from the patented "heavy metal neck fastener", (Mugwumps). On BHO they describe it as a neck splitter, given that the wood is now old and brittle compared to new, and was initial used for minor adjustments on a jo designed for gut, " Swaim Stewart swore against wire until he died" , banjos were built for and played with gut until WW1 forced a major change due to availability, steel was a cheap undesired alternative, the same with violins, steel played a big part in music of the twenties.

My guess as to why the neck splits apart from that already mentioned is that people put wire on them and set string height with the adjuster. Looking at the adjuster it places a shearing force on the neck at the neck heel joint, which if a one piece neck is already weak compared to a modern compound joint where the glue is stronger than the wood, the coordinator rod in respect of where forces are applied is more sensible design. Interesting topic !, Steve.

Any thoughts ?

2 Comments
	banjonz says: 8/3/2013 6:16:20 PM I have seen, played many Stewarts and even owned one. Not all Stewart banjos had this particular 'adjuster' on. When Stewart banjos were made, there was this caveat by SS himself that they should only use gut strings. No Stewart that I am aware of has a reinforced neck. Therefore installing steel strings (which places more stress on the instrument that gut strings) will cause the neck to 'bow up' in over time due to the pull of the strings. I have seen this on numerous banjos. The 'adjuster' was fitted to banjos with the possible intention of correcting neck bow on those banjos whose players prefered steel strings. When I say 'bow', the actual point of distortion on the banjos is where the neck passes through the rim. The heel actually compresses over time as the neck is pulled up and the dowel stick distorts where it comes out of the end of the heel (wood being 'soft). The neck is anchored to the inside of the rim with the little screwed brace and tapered wood blocks. The 'adjuster' would give the player a small amount of adjustment. This was designed to pull the neck back. I am not sure how successfull this was. As for the 'splitting', I have seen the occasional dowel stick 'butchered' where the screw goes in and some I think may actually have split there. I am not sure if this is what the email refers to. Modern coordinator rods are more sensible but many folk don't know how to adjust them correctly. The bottom rod was never designed to seriously adjust string height (action). I have seen a number of banjos where the bottom rod was so over adjusted as to compress the rim AND tone ring ( and this was a Mastertone style ring) that in time they went oval. Modern banjos are generally made so precisely that they generally require no rod adjustment or only a slight to moderate one.
	NZsteve says: 8/3/2013 7:43:47 PM Thanks Wayne, as ever for that excellent info, that Stewart as you may know whent for a Grand.
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