Strengthening A Repaired Banjo Neck

Glueing the heel

Glueing the broken heel on this banjo neck is the easy part. Thing is, the tensioning rod can put this glued-in section under a lot of strain so a simple glue-up’s not going to do the trick on its own.

I’ll need to help it out

Section showing how a dowel will be inserted to strengthen the repaired heel

So: Our old friend the spline. In a different form, this time.

I drilled two holes, at an angle, from the heel into the repaired section (being careful not to drill too far and out the bottom—that’d suck).

The dowel ends can be seen (the lighter ovals)

Then, I glued a couple of hardwood dowels in to the holes. The dowels protrude from the ‘good’ section to the repaired section, giving strength to help prevent that section shearing off under tension.

Back together and holding well. Time for tea. 

It's stayed in one piece under tension. Excellent.

Guitar RepairGerry Hayesrepair, neck, heel, broken heel, banjo, tension, spline, reinforcement