OK, just a few things left to do.

Finishing Up (click image to enlarge)

hell work

Drill holes in the heel for the lag screws.  Drill them about 1/8" BELOW the old holes and parallel to the fingerboard.  This will raise the neck 1/8" higher on the rim.  This is to accomodate the tone ring raising the head, preserving the stock fingerboard-head vertical relationship.  Also, since the neck is moving up, remove a little wood from the heel to give room for the head collar.

tp-head

Reassemble the rim and neck using the stock hardware.  I reused the stock tailpiece but you can use another one if you like. I elongated the tailpiece mounting hole a bit so it clears the head.  Leave everthing a little bit loose at this time.

tuners

Mount the tuners.  I have retained the stock 5th string tuner and mounted a set of 1st - 5th string tuners to match.  They have no brand name.  I bought them on eBay a while back for about $45 as I recall.

jont

mounting

OK, now put the strings.  I reused the 1/2" bridge which was on the banjo when I got it.  I have always used a 1/2" bridge myself.  Check the action and the fingerboard-head vertical relationship.  On this one, the fingerboard needed to move up a little less that 1/8".  I simply elongated the holes in the rim to allow the fingerboard/neck to come up.

Good Lisa

Set the action as you like it, tighten everything up, and procede with your normal set up routine (which is well beyond the scope of this article).

Ground Hog

Ol' Molly Hare

Here are two short sound clip of the banjo.  Excuse my lousy playing.

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