My banjo broke its neck

Subject: My banjo broke its neck
From: Franz S.
Date: 19 May 07 - 09:08 PM

My banjo got hit by a truck yesterday (well, a hand truck) and its neck is well and truly broken. Shattered. So I need to replace the neck. I've googled "banjo necks" and found partially finished or graphite necks available, but I don't want to spend $1200 and I'm not going to do the finish work myself. I've also searched the forum and checked out the suggestions in the thread on building a banjo, but they didn't quite meet my needs.

The banjo has no identifying marks whatsoever, but I've been told that the pot was probably made by Stewart for Sears between 1890 and 1925 or thereabouts. The neck that got broke was probably not the original neck; the matchup was well-done but has the look of a kludge.

Any helpful ideas or advice?

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 20 May 07 - 01:15 AM

Ah, the Frankenbanjo!

Not that hard to make a neck. I've done several. The first IS the hardest tho'.

Look for a basket case and pick up a spare neck. Buy a kit from Saga or Stewart MacDonald.


Don

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 May 07 - 06:16 AM

Take up bodhran?

G.

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: gnu
Date: 20 May 07 - 06:22 AM

Giok! Never kick a man when he is down!

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Mark H.
Date: 20 May 07 - 09:25 AM

Leave it with an expert and give him/her a budget?

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: breezy
Date: 20 May 07 - 09:48 AM

no jokes then

If you could read our minds

really sorry

thought the last post said 'bucket' not 'budget'

dont all banjos sound like stones ina bucket any way?

cruel is not my style so i will withdraw

for now now

sorry

no hard feelings

just a hard truck

sorry

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: GUEST,Puck
Date: 20 May 07 - 09:58 AM

Banjo suicide!! ..... hopefully pandemic...
Was it a red lorry or a yellow lorry....What? Can't make up your mind??

P

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: GUEST,Post Scriptum
Date: 20 May 07 - 10:04 AM

Don't take up the Bodhran....!!
P

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 May 07 - 11:14 AM

Franz-

Really sad to hear another story of banjo abuse, and I hope that the hand truck driver is appropriately punished. What is the case law in California for such felonious assault and battery? Does this fall under "three strikes and you're out" or in for life?

I'm forwarding you digital images of a $1200 replacement Stewart that is cluttering up my office. I know you're not interested in investing that amount of money but it's really less expensive than the therapy you might be considering to deal with the grieving process.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, your old partner in crime

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 20 May 07 - 11:55 AM

Try contacting First Quality Music Supplies. If you have good finishing skills you can either buy a neck blank. If not, you can ship the pot and salvagable parts to them and they will fit a new neck to it.

Apparently they supply the necks to Gibson for the Mastertone line of banjos.

First Quality Music Supplies

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Franz S.
Date: 20 May 07 - 11:57 AM

It was a red truck running amok in the back of a white truck. The banjo neck protruded just slightly back of the driving compartment, but that was enough.

The first luthier I took it to didn't want the job; he was too backed up to take it on, he said. Yesterday I went on a 200-mile four-city odyssey looking for something to play NOW (playing being the only appropriate therapy. The Thin Man in Alameda happened to have the sister or brother or at least first cousin of my shattered beauty: same pockmarked old pot, same absolute lack of identifying marks, similar ingenious mating of neck and pot. So I bought it for $400. They even threw in a gig bag identical to the one I already have. It's like having twin banjos, or will be someday.

I think what I'll probably do is order up parts somewhere and see if I can get a luthier to put them together for me. I did build a mountain dulcimer twenty years ago, but these days my level of craftsmanship offends me, so I won't try to do it myself.

I did play drums in my grade school orchestra some 54 years ago, but I didn't care for it even then. So no bodhran.

Some day, Charley....

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 May 07 - 12:12 PM

Franz-

Excellent!

There is no better therapy for banjo withdrawal than a new banjo.

Dare I recommend that you purchase a hardshell case? Well, apparently I does dare.

Thank the gods that you don't have to go back to your old Silvertone banjo, the one with the black plastic pot.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: GUEST,banjoman
Date: 20 May 07 - 12:38 PM

Dont despair - fitting a new neck is really quite a simple job - the hard part is finding the neck that you want. There are lots of new and seconhand bits & piesce on ebay and other places. Just make sure that whatever you buy is not warped or bowed.
I have built several banjos from bits scavenged from broken instruments and it really is worth that final sense of acheivment when you play the first tune on the new banjo.
Best of luck & ignore all the pprats who have nothing better to do than continue the hackneyed jokes & banter about banjos
Good luck

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Franz S.
Date: 20 May 07 - 02:47 PM

Charlie, that black plastic pot died in 1965. For the next 25 years I used a $49 Harmony which a friend pronounced unplayable. (And all that time I just thought I had no ability to play.) Then I saw that old banjo for sale at a festival...

Banjoman, thanks for the encouragement. I've never bought anything on ebay, never even looked for anything on ebay. How can I be sure something Ican't se or touch isn't warped or bowed?

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 20 May 07 - 04:29 PM

Hello Franz,

If your luthier isn't interested...find another one! One who cares!


Best wishes,

Peter

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Gurney
Date: 20 May 07 - 05:40 PM

Never kick a man when he's down, Gnu?

Is there a better time to do it, then?

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 May 07 - 07:07 PM

Franz-

Nothing is for sure on eBay but there are reliability indicators on each seller. What you're judging are the images they provide and the accuracy of their descriptions. You can query them for more detail and if they don't respond, don't bid.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Franz S.
Date: 20 May 07 - 07:27 PM

In the old movies they used to kick guys when they were bent over, smelling flowers or something. A more innocent age?

Question: The neck I broke and the neck on the banjo I bought yesterday, and the neck on Charlie's Stewart, all have a wooden rod that extends through the pot. None of the ones I see on eBay or at other net sites have that; I assume one uses a steel rod of some sort with those. The wooden rod says something about the age of the neck doesn't it? Or are there necks with wooden rods available that I just haven't found yet?

I still agree with Snoopy: the world would be a much better place if all babies were issued banjos at birth.

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 May 07 - 09:13 PM

Franz-

Avoid the pots without wooden rods; they are likely from the 1920's and are remotely related to the classic Stewards, 1890's to the early 1900's.                                                                           

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Franz S.
Date: 20 May 07 - 09:26 PM

You mean the necks without wooden rods?

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 20 May 07 - 11:27 PM

Jeepers Charlie if you have any mid 60's Odes or Muse banjos with wooden rods you'd like to avoid in my direction I'll take em. They are exceptional banjos. As are most Bacon and Day banjos with wooden rods. from the 30's and 40's.

I think you maybe a little to critical here.

Also, I have a Harmony Sovereign Banjo witha Bakelite Pot I won't be trading off or parting with anytime soon.

BTW, I like the CD's your principle squeeze sent in my direction. Good stuff.

Don

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 May 07 - 09:38 AM

Don-

My remark about the presence or absence of wooden dowels connecting the neck to the pot was only in reference to S. S. Stewart banjos. Their presence is one essential element in accessing the age of such banjos. The wooden rod was replaced with metal rods some time in the early 1900's, along with many other structural changes which make the resulting banjos of less interest to me. I do admire other brands of banjos but I'm addicted to the pre-1900 Stewarts.

Glad you've enjoyed my recordings!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: DonMeixner
Date: 21 May 07 - 11:28 AM

Hi Charley,

I clearly need to read these posts earlier in the evening. Thanks for the history and correction.

I have a friend who created a fine retirement for himself with fine collection of S.S. Stewart Confetti banjos that he sold over the last 15 years.

BTW, any relation to the Charlie Noble that use to spin over the cabin top of my friend Bill's 24 foot Jay Benford designed ferro-cement gaffed topsail sloop?

Don

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Franz S.
Date: 21 May 07 - 12:56 PM

so I'm looking for a neck with a wooden rod, which may only be available as part of a banjo at least 90 years old. Have I got that right?

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 May 07 - 02:37 PM

Franz-

Spot on!

Although you are probably only looking for the neck, unless the wooden rod was broke as well. It's typically glued into an appropriate cavity at the base of the neck at one end and fixed with a fancy screw through the pot at the other end.

Necks with veneer layers under the ebony fingerboard are of higher quality, and carved heels are nice, along with inlay on the fingerboard.

However, look over the images carefully. I once purchased a neck on eBay that was described as belonging to a 4-string Stewart of the classic period. Well, it turned out to be a 5-string neck with part of its side planed off, where the 5th string peg would have fitted, and it was a pretty sorry sight. I had my favorite craftsman create a new neck, based on the original, for about $750. So there is a happy ending to the story.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Franz S.
Date: 21 May 07 - 04:56 PM

if I had a digital camera I'd send you a photo of this setup. The dowel ends about an inch shot of the pot. A brass plate is affixed to the bottom of the dowel and a brass flange to the pot. Though the flange goes a machine screw which touched the plate on the dowel, thus allowing   the dowel to be adjusted toward or away from the head. This neck has an ebony fingerboard , which the other didn't, but it has already been repaired at least once; there are visible cracks as it nears the pot. It's playable, though. I am searching for a local luthier who will take on the job.

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Stringsinger
Date: 21 May 07 - 04:57 PM

I'm just happy someone didn't say "don't fret".

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 May 07 - 09:48 PM

Franz-

At this point a picture would be worth a thousand words!

Borrow a digital camera. Point it at said whatever and shoot. Then send me a JPG attachment via regular e-mail, as you have my address.

I am assuming that you computer has some way to process a digital image. If not, bug some friend to do that dirty work too. That's what friends are for!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, who has made it into the 21st century by the skin of his teeth

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 21 May 07 - 11:38 PM

Cole used a screw-adjustment as described on at least some of their Eclipse models. Always intrigued me.

Subject: RE: My banjo broke its neck
From: Franz S.
Date: 22 May 07 - 07:09 PM

Well, a luthier near Santa Cruz CA has taken on the task of rebuilding the broken neck, with perhaps a few improvements. This is not an economic propostion; I will end up having invested over $1000 in a $500 banjo. But love never counts the cost, and I never was much of a capitalist. And in the end I will have twin banjos. Cool!