Things I learned taking my banjo apart 3 Years, 10 Months ago
Karma: -3
Well my wife is up North visiting her sisters so I figured I would clean up my 1983 Stelling Sunflower for a polish and setup.
I talked to Geoff Stelling about the advisability of taking it totally apart and he said it would be fine even down to the tonering. This is in contrast to my Deering where they told me I would be bettter off leaving the tone ring and rim together since I might not get as good a fit. Anyway, I took it all apart and removed the neck. Cleaned it all up and it looks great.
It seems like this is a skill banjo players need and it was fun during my social downtime.
Re:Things I learned taking my banjo apart 3 Years, 10 Months ago
Karma: -3
Here's a few more things that I learned during my recent banjo setup:
To check the bow in the neck: The desired amount of bow is equal to somewhere between 1/64" and 1/32", or about the thickness of a heavy gauge fourth string. This distance is measured from the top of the 7th fret to a straight line going between the tops of the 1st and 22nd frets. You need the bow so strings don't buzz. If neneeded the truss rod can be adjusted. Go easy. some older truss rods apparently have a reverse thread.
Normal string height, or action, is about 1/8" above the 12th fret and 9/64" above the 22nd fret as measured from the top of each fret to the center of the strings. generally speaking you want to correct this height by selecting the proper bridge height. For small adjustments you can adjust the lower coordinator rod but this is usually not advised as it puts pressure on the rim and may effect the tone. More to come.
