Back to work on a project I should have completed in the summer. The magnolia bench project took up much of my attention in August and September and so progress on this banjo slowed right down.

Today I completed the basic shaping of the neck.

On the neck itself I need to do the finishing work, and as well I have to drill and ream 5 holes for the pegs. I’m using violin pegs. I’ll have to shape those some, and I have a handy-dandy device which resembles a swanky pencil sharper and quickly sizes and shapes the ebony pegs. The holes have to be shaped as well to match the taper of the pegs, and to do that I have another handy device called a reamer.

The other thing missing on the neck is the nut. This is a piece of bone which I’ll shape to fit at the top of the the fingerboard and slot for the strings with tiny files. After that, the next step is to fit the “dowel stick” portion of the neck construction through the salad bowl. After that, all that’s left to do is stretch the skin on the salad bowl, fit the tail-piece and finally string it up.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. This banjo is one of a pair of banjos for which my friend Jamie is turning the salad bowls and shaping the tail-pieces.