I had to seriously contemplate talking about this here, as I know how things can go. But this was so cheap, so simple, a bit gawdy, but so insanely successful, I just had to at least mention it.
I rescued this Goodtime from a Guitar Center classifieds across the country. When it arrived, I was happy to see a very straight neck. But… was puzzled to see very high, unplayable action. So, I did all the basic Goodtime action fixes I know, raising the neck on the rim as far as I was comfortable, sanding as much material off the bottom of the bridge as I was comfortable with, and cranking the single rim rod as much as was safe. This got the action playable, in fact I even payed a gig with it, but I still wasn’t happy. The next step was shims, and I HATE doing that. It was bugging me like crazy, why the action was so crappy, with such a straight neck. After playing it and thinking about it for several months, I finally came to the conclusion that the only physical way for this, was the rim being out of round. So yesterday I took it all apart and measured the rim. YES!!! Even though the bottom of the rim was still round, the top of the rim was 3/32” out of round. Basically, nearly 30 years of string tension, was caving in the top of the rim.
Knowing this would only get worse with age, and a shim was a bandaid, I considered adding the 2nd traditional rim rod. But after some googling, I couldn’t find the 2nd rod as a single, didn’t really want to pay for a pair, wait on them, and had my doubts how well it would work. Trying to correct that much out-of-round with traditional rim rods would be a tremendous load to the neck studs.
So… without a luthiers bone in my body, I went to ACE, and spent $3.86 on a piece of threaded rod, two washers and two nuts. I went home, drilled holes in my rim, installed the parts, and Jack screwed my rim out to perfectly round. I put my Goodtime back together, and the action is fantastic and fully adjustable. It sounds great, and I guarantee the rim will never ever EVER warp again. This turned a marginally playable, unstable, un adjustable banjo… into a perfectly playable totally adjustable banjo. This thing will probably survive WW III.
Necessity is the mother of invention, or in this case, improvisation.
Personally, I don't think that you did anything "wrong".
You identified a problem and fixed it.
Nice work !
Someone much wiser than I once said:
"Our ability to do the best we can, with whatever resources we can find, is what makes humans unique"
Or something like that.
Whatever works! However I am amazed that a pot that looks 5/8" thick would warp in the first place? banjered
quote:
Originally posted by banjeredWhatever works! However I am amazed that a pot that looks 5/8" thick would warp in the first place? banjered
Me too. Which is why it took me so long to figure it out. I guess string tension and a multi ply rim is no match for Father Time and physics. This is my 4th Goodtime, and first time I ever encountered trouble getting one set up well. Judging by the shoe hardware, it's one of the earliest ones.
Those old multiply pots on the Gumby are fine rims. However, they are flexible and do function significantly better with a metal tone ring and an upper coordinator rod. I like your solution.
