Jenes Cottrel Banjo: Cutting the heel angle and radius + dowel stick installation

Hey Folks!
Well this post comes about 3 or 4 weeks after the work has been done.  I have been kinda horrible at posting updates in a timely manner.

Anyway this post will cover the cutting of the heel angle, its radius, and installing the dowel stick.  This part of the process, quite honestly, is what worried me the most about completing the banjo.  If we messed this up, we could fix it, but in my eyes the project would have been a failure.  Luckily everything went fine.

When cutting the heel of the banjo neck to fit the banjo pot, there are two things that really need to be spot on.   First, one needs to cut the proper angle of relief to get the desired action (how high or low the strings are on the fretboard) and proper down pressure from the strings to the bridge to the banjo head.  For a banjo that has a rim that is perpendicular to a flat surface this angle is generally between 3 degrees and 3.5 degrees.  However in the old Vega factory, a 2.5 degree angle was used.

Well this banjo rim proved to be more difficult, because there is a 3 degree bevel on the rim itself.  So, we had to add  the 3 degree bevel to the 3ish degree to the neck relief.  To cut the angle, we rigged up the contraction pictured below and used the radial arm saw to give both the angle and the radius at the same time.

Radial Arm saw set up to cut the heel angle + radius

Jig set to cut the angles

Cutting the with the radial arm saw

After cutting the heel angle, we lined it up to the banjo rim and attached the strings and bridge to check the action.  We soon found out that a 6 degree and was too steep and that the strings were flat against the frets, even with a 5/8″ bridge.  So, it was back to the drawing board. We then re-cut the angle to a 5 degree and went through the same process to check the action.  We found that a 4.5-5 degree angle was best.  For myself, I think a 4 degree may be better, just because of how hard I hammer the banjo!

Heel angle

From this, Dad and I now needed the cut the dowel stick hole and then install the dowel stick.  To do this, we first found the center of the neck and lined it up with the hole that we already had cut in the banjo rim.  Once everything was lined up and center was found, we then moved the banjo neck up, so that the fretboard would be flush with the banjo head.  This part took the longest, only because we wanted to make sure we go it right.  So there was a bunch of trials on other pieces of wood, before we drill the holes for the dowel stick.

Lining up the neck

After this, we then drilled for the 5th string tuner.  This was a quick and simple part to do.  Below are the pics of us doing this with the drill press.

Once we finished all of this, we dry fit the banjo together to check everything.  Once everything check out we used titebond to glue the neck together.  I then let the neck sit to cure for 24 hours.

Test fitting

After sitting 24 hours, I assembled the banjo.  I was too excited about it to wait until I had stained, finished, and polish it.  I played on it for about two weeks.  During this time I was waiting for the aniline dye to come in.  I also had to wait for enough time to work on it some more.  Here are the pics of it put together. (before satining)

For my next post, I will be showing the final finishing stages for this banjo.  I will go over my staining method, sanding method, and final finishing procedures.  Hopefully I can get the next post finished this afternoon.

Thanks again for tuning in!

-Chris

~ by C.W. Dean on April 20, 2011.