Disassembly, Part three of three!

So this is it. The final entry for the day. Here came most of the tedious and time consuming work.

So I had to grab that monkey wrench from the garage. I never thought my dad didnt have anything smaller in size. But let me cue you in on this picture. The lug that the tailpiece hook goes through was frozen on the end of the rod. I cant take the rod out since there's more nuts on the inside of the rim, so the only thing to do was to get it off somehow. Stupidly, I move the inside nut as far back as possible when i'm trying to unfreeze the lug. It comes off later with a bit of difficulty, but I will put it back on correctly.

So there is the lug between my fingers. The inside nut is still against the body and the lug wasnt easy to take off at first. I was rushing back and forth constantly trying to get the right size wrenches and tools.

So the coordinating rod is held in place by a series of nuts and stuff all over. One to keep it from sliding in, one to keep it from sliding out and one to hold it to the neck bolt. But eventually, nuts aside, I get the rod off ( you can see it resting on the resonator) and this is what the pot assembly pretty much is. A bent piece of ply wood and a whole bunch of wall lugs, screws, fishplates and washers.

Here's the tedious boring part. Make sure you're comfortable and have some good music on when you're doing this. I wasnt on planning on removing each lug nut in the first place, but I went ahead and did it so I could clean the pot throughly. My banjo involved several parts. First, remove each wall lug by unscrewing it from the inside and taking the plates and screws off.

Half an hour later and a very sore bottom, All the lugs and plates are off. Now for even more tedious work. Clean the pot and each little plate!

In the end, I didnt bother cleaning the little plates (the oval things) but I cleaned the tension hoop. Which after being cleaned, was relieved from a 1/8th inch layer of dirt, grime and shit. So now, it is all shiny and nice and clean.

Also, there's the pot which is sorta clean now. There's a bit of gunk left, but it's nothing but cosmetics. But since the thing is plywood, chunks come off occasionally when wiping the thing down.

Now, I have to work backwards slightly. I reassemble the whole thing by re screwing on the tailpiece lug.

So here, (bad photo. Sorry!) I'm taking a monkey wrench and leveling each lug so that way, the hooks wont be at awkward angles.

So with all the wall mount lugs in place for the hooks, I stick in the rod and from the tailpiece end, there should be a nut and washer on the inside.

Unfortunately, in the process of removing the tailpiece lug in the first place, I the inside nut stuck on the end of the threads. So I had to go down and grab the pliers and work it off. In the world of banjos, you cant let anything just sit in a stuck position. Everything must be able to move and adjust. That nut is crucial, it keeps the rod from falling out. and holds the thing in place.

I skipped alot in between, but I reinstalled the coordinator rod. First, feed the rod through the tailpiece hole, then fasten a washer and a nut, then the tailpiece lug. adjust the nut and it should sit against the lug. On the inside, there should already be a nut on the rod and tighten that so it rests against the body. Make sure the connecting nut is on, otherwise, you will have to loosen everything to put it on.

So stick the neck in the respective holes. Make sure the neck is the right way up. First, place a washer and nut on the top bolt and tighten that. Then take the coordinating rod nut and "slither" or work it onto the other neck bolt. Tighten that and we're in business.

So a real quick peek of what it should look like if I was going to reassemble it again, but I'm changing the head, so I cant do anything for now but wait.

So the assembly. Everything back in its place, probably better than before too ;)


Yes, i'm a cal fan. And that is a rugby ball. Here's a look at the neck. There's the mother of toilet seat inlays. I'd change it if I knew how.

The aftermath. My room is a mess. I just cleaned it too. Now I really have to vacuum it again with all those wood particles and metal filings all over. But anyways, that's how to disassemble a banjo and prep it for new parts.

Good luck to you all and happy strummin'