I put a Saga kit neck on a Kay pot one time. I drilled out the plastic inlays and replaced them with pearl dots as well as inlaying a pearl oval on the peghead. I also smoothed the fret ends with a Stewart MacDonald file that is made for that purpose. I stained it to match the rim and resonator and sprayed it with canned lacquer.
You could try using a wooden rim if you want. You would have to replace the screws for the bracket shoes with longer ones to make them fit. Just realize that you are going to be sinking more money into the pot if you do that.
I don't think I would use Rickard tuners. A set of Gotoh tuners would be a good upgrade. I think the Saga tuners are pretty much what you can get on eBay from China.
Since I had the wooden Kay rim, I replaced the steel hoop with a 1/4" brass ring and put a set of rim rods in it to hold the neck. It sounded better than it should have but I still had a Kay banjo when I was done. I had more invested in it than I got out of it. Still, it was a lot of fun.

Thank you, Culloden. Your words get me thinking to do it as-is. Enjoy it as a project I can do with my youngster, and keep it out as an instrument that kids, friends and family can plunk around on without fear of it getting damaged. Much obliged.

They were/are amazing banjos as-is.

Your prayers have been answered  >>>  the Bedazzler Kit with Rhinestones  [you can thank me later]:     

Bart Veerman going to give it a shot and a chance

Haha, much appreciated Owen

"I’ve got a couple of awesome banjos already, so this would be a nice one to enjoy building, and probably be a gateway to a career in losing money. Any words of wisdom appreciated. "

" If Chuck {of Chuck Lee banjos} won the lottery he would just keep making banjos until he ran out of money." Chuck Lee's wife.

banjered

banjered I had read that, exactly where I’m heading!

I bought the Saga Bluegrass model many years ago. It (IMO) was a nice copy of the Gibson Mastertone. Had a wood hoop and a Mastertone style tone ring. Very decent parts. The only thing I did was upgrade the tuners to Planetary Tuners. Now I would probably go with something like the Gotuh planetary model tuners as I used those on a recent banjo and they are quite decent and cost a lot less.

No sense trashing a perfectly good aluminum rim. IMO, the most significant "upgrade" would be to start by spending some time getting all those parts tweaked to fit together as precisely as possible, particularly the neck-to-rim joint. Smoothing off any burrs, rough edges, bumps etc. on the hardware, (left by casting/machining) really does make a difference in the overall look and feeling of quality, and I do think it has some positive effect on the tone, as well.

Thank you Dan Gellert, I will do that. Much obliged.

I have Saga Rover with probably a neck like yours. It's too narrow for me -- barely 1" at the nut and barely 1/8" between strings. Not fat-finger friendly, but a smaller person might have a good time with it.

I purchased a Saga Style III several years back,( one of the aluminum pots that is a flathead).
All the banjo needed was a decent resonator.
From the words of Bill Palmer, it's a pretty good work horse of a banjo.
I have played it for years.....Good luck!!...