Official Luthiers Forum!

We recently discovered an old Banjo, circa 1920's when cleaning out things my grandmother had been hoarding for years.
Amongst them was this old 4 string banjo that belonged to my great grandfather. It's not a brand name thing and there is nothing valuable about it other than family nostalgia. The only thing wrong with it is that the neck has been bent by being left strung for goodness knows how many years (the strings rusted and broke at some point which was probably a relief for it). It's actually playable as long as you don't go below the third fret, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas about how I might be able to straighten the neck, which as far as I can tell is mahogany with an ebony finger board. Someone suggested steam bending like you would on a boat plank, I'm not sure about that. Any suggestions about the glue that would have been used to attach the finger board might help? Was hide glue used universally back then, if so I could probably get the fingerboard off which would simplify things. I know I could replace the neck, but then it wouldn't be my great grandfathers banjo, if you know what I mean. I'd rather keep it as is than replace too much of it.

No steam bending!! we are not building boats....

Most likely a casien based glue at that point in time, very difficult to get apart as it is very water resistant. Plus pulling the FB would be a last resort.

Re-fretting with compression technique would be the proper fix.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/