I am building a new neck for an old Ode archtop aluminum pot and have a bit of a puzzle. With a 2.5 degree neck angle and a 5/8 bridge, I have nice action over the fretboard. However the strings are very close to the head where they pass over the arch area, close to 1/8", which feels too close for comfortable playability. I use a rudy rod assembly with height adjustability, so I can raise the neck against the pot, but that reduces the action to unplayability.
My goal is to keep the bridge at 5/8 as it is the customer's preference and achieve comfortable playing distance of the strings over the arch while maintaining nice action. My banjo math brain is telling me I can get there by reducing the neck angle, which would raise the nut in relation to the head plane and level out the strings over the arched area of the head to accommodate the 5/8 bridge. However, my sense of standard neck angles (2.5-3 degrees) is telling me that dipping below 2.5 or even 2 degrees, which is what I would need to get that balance, is wrong headed.
I do not usually work on archtop rims, so new territory for me. I suppose my question is whether such a small neck angle is in fact perfectly reasonable or if I am missing something else completely.
Thanks!
David
I always run the plane of the neck to the edge of the tone ring. So strait edge over the frets meeting exactly to the plane of the head. Almost all the banjos I build are archtops. The area between the end of the neck and tone ring is like a mini scoop.
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Originally posted by martyjoeI always run the plane of the neck to the edge of the tone ring. So strait edge over the frets meeting exactly to the plane of the head. Almost all the banjos I build are archtops. The area between the end of the neck and tone ring is like a mini scoop.
Thanks, what neck angle do you usually use? I have a 25.5 scale neck and a 2.5° neck angle. When I raise the neck up To the head plane, the strings almost bottom out on the arch.
I usally shoot for 3 degrees. For 10” pots I add a little for 12” lessen a little. I vary the placement of the bridge a fair bit too so there are slight variations for that I make my bridges as well so the heights of those can vary a little. They usually come in at 5/8ths.
This is going to sound odd, but I think the wall of the banjo pot I am making the neck for is sloped. It is an old Ode aluminum pot and it looks like the original neck was cut at 90 degrees and the pot itself set the neck angle, so weird. Thought I was going crazy...
That shouldn’t be an issue it should be easy enough to measure the angle with a straight edge and protractor. Then add or minus whatever you need for heel cut. The nature of my banjo’s almost everything is complicated anyway. I’ve heard that some banjos have a flat spot on the rim for the heel. I don’t like that idea at all. Way too simple and way too easy to get wrong.
Thanks again for the responses martyjoe , I checked out a few of the banjos you have in your photos, real nice :).
To close the loop on this issue, and put some key words in this narrative so anyone searching for the same odd experience (I couldn't find anything on the Hangout), some of the older Ome or Ode aluminum archtop banjo rims are indeed sloped and the factory neck heels appear to be cut at 88-90 degrees to accommodate a slope of 1.5-2 degrees. When I recut the heel to close to 90 degrees and lined the plane of the fretboard with the raised portion of the head, the alignment and action were spot on with a 5/8 bridge.
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