When I lay out a neck profile on a blank piece of wood, I cut the truss rod channel first, then lay out the neck profile around the slot. That way, the truss rod runs between the second and third strings at the nut and is still in the center of the heel. There's not that much of an adjustment to make but it should be done from the beginning.
I always cut the truss rod channel while the neck billet is still square. Otherwise, it is a nearly impossible job to get it centered.

I have not built a neck with a center stripe, but I build with everything centered as you describe and make my heel cut to center the third string over center of last fret or inlay. I have not seen any issues and would proceed as you describe. I understand the offset centerline, but have found no reason to angle pegheads or change.

Thanks for your advice.

Welcome to the Hangout - and to the rest of your life!

Yes, stripe in the center. The issue comes in when you connect the neck to the pot, it needs to be angled back slightly (pitch, typically 2-3 degrees), dead parallel with the top of the pot (roll), and angled slightly away from the fifth string side (yaw), so the string tension puts the bridge in the right place. This last is determined by your heel cut and your dowel stick, if you're using one (I use Rudy rod technique).

There have been lots of discussions about "alternate" center lines with placement of inlays. I have so far centered all inlays with mid-point of the fret space I'm putting them in; looks fine to me.

Thank you John. You are right. No matter how precise you determine the centerline of the peghead and fingerboard, it's all in vain if the heelcut is not just as precisely square to that chosen centerline. That's the biggest challenge!

The key, really, is that the center line of the neck and the center line of the pot (at the point where they meet) need to be at a slight angle to each other. This is because when you tune it up the tension of the strings make the third string the center, which determines the bridge position. I'm planning, for my next builds, to try and do this when I first cut the heel in the blank - ie, lay out the line from the third string position at the nut to the center of the pot end of the fingerboard, and clamp the blank at that angle when I cut the heel.

I do it the same way as Mark described, cutting the centered truss rod channel first in the wood block. In the 2nd picture you see how I penciled the neck shape after routing the 5th string tunnel.

With a 3-piece neck with a center stripe that would run from the center of the heel to the center of the tip of the peg head, where would the center stripe be in relation to the groove for the truss rod?

Hi Alex, I guess the truss rod would be right at the center stripe. The rod emerges behind the exact middle of the nut. I have never seen a banjoneck with the end hexagon nut of the truss rod off center. But I have never measured it.

Hi Martin, why did you make the trossrod slot at the heel off center? It seems to be on the right side a little.
And another, general question: is it true that a banjoneck is not dead square attached to the banjorim but a little swayed to the right (looking at the peghead) to compensate the pull of the fifth string? This pull would otherwise make the bridge slide off the center, towards the fifth string line. If don't think I need to sway the neck by removing a hair extra on the heelcut on the right side. But I am not sure.

Theoretically you could probably get away with the truss rod off centre at the nut end if you were to make it adjustable from the heel end.

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Originally posted by Berend

Hi Martin, why did you make the trossrod slot at the heel off center? It seems to be on the right side a little.
And another, general question: is it true that a banjoneck is not dead square attached to the banjorim but a little swayed to the right (looking at the peghead) to compensate the pull of the fifth string? This pull would otherwise make the bridge slide off the center, towards the fifth string line. If don't think I need to sway the neck by removing a hair extra on the heelcut on the right side. But I am not sure.

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The line of the 3rd string is square to the rim. 
Even though I always offset the neck to accommodate the fan-frets, the line of the 3rd string is still parallel to the center line which is square. 

Thank you Martyjoe for your explanation. I love your neck alignment. I couldbplay quarter tones of that banjo! Lol...

No quarter tones. It plays like any regular banjo, it just has different scale lengths for each string. The shorter top string sounds a little sweeter and the longer bottom string has a little more power.

I say this is an awesome banjo! A masterpiece of innovativeness. Never seen anything like it!

There’s always a few lying around the place. Be sure to drop in for a tune if you’re ever in the area. We have some great Irish style jams here of course. You may even want to copy them once you've done a few. 

quote:

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Originally posted by Berend

Hi Martin, why did you make the trossrod slot at the heel off center? It seems to be on the right side a little.
And another, general question: is it true that a banjoneck is not dead square attached to the banjorim but a little swayed to the right (looking at the peghead) to compensate the pull of the fifth string? This pull would otherwise make the bridge slide off the center, towards the fifth string line. If don't think I need to sway the neck by removing a hair extra on the heelcut on the right side. But I am not sure.

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Hi Berend,

Not on purpose, I had some alignment issues with the dremel, that's why you see some routing ditches in the first picture too. But as the rod will be adjustable from the heel, I have a perfect center definition/middle of the heel. Just need to shape the neck accordingly. 

I always aim for dead center attachment of the heel to the rim. With 2 coordinator rods I don't see that the tension of the 5th string would set things off. As I shape the heel by hand sanding, there might be little variations, just has to be good enough for my eye. I consider a handmade banjo neck a piece of art, if I would want perfect measurement, I'd use the CNC at our local maker space. But that's just not the same compared to handmade. 

O yes, a visit to Ireland is on my bucketlist. I love the Irish way of playing the tenor. Great stuff to listen to on Youtube!