Disassembling/Reassembling the Mountain Banjo

[knoxjl]

Has anyone disassembled and reassembled their mountain banjo? I want to show someone how it all goes together and specifically show them the tone ring. I might even try swapping the tone ring to another material to see how it affects the sound. My concern is whether taking it apart will mess up the head tension when it goes back together, even if I stick with the same tone ring. If anyone has tried opening it up, can you please reply about whether you needed to redo the head as a result?

[Carver Banjos]

In theory you could probably take the body apart and put it back together without losing the head tension, but it’s not something I would do unless prepared to completely replace the skin in the worst case. You’ll have to replace the skin if you use a different tone ring because the dimensions of the tone ring are what the original skin has been stretched on and dried on and therefore uniquely fitted to that original tone ring.

[knoxjl]

Thanks Brian.

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