Bought a Banjolin and was horribly disappointed. So I fixed it:-)

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

Thomastik Precision Mandolin Strings would sound great on this

[@bricecook1680]

I would first cut 2 pieces of wood that matches the inside radius one for the damaged area and one for the opposite side.... then cut a piece of wood for the damaged area that matches the good area outside radius... then using c-clamps on the 2 pieces for the damaged inside and outside clamp together... gently ..... just to see what it will do..... then sand the left and right ends of the inside radius.... and sand the center of the outside clamp wood...(this is to allow for spring back after all sets) then I would wax heavily any areas I don't want any adhesives to stick being careful not to get any into the damaged areas.... then mix some thin 24 hour set epoxy resin and drip it into the cracked areas.... then apply the inner and outer radius wood clamps with c-clamps .... tighten and loosen those c-clamps multiple times which will draw the epoxy into the damaged areas hopefully deep down..... until im satisfied it has drawn in all the epoxy possible... then wait until the pot time of the epoxy is near to clamp down fully.... then using a spreader clamp inside the circumference spread it slightly more than it should be guessing for spring back after all is set..... then check the c-clamps and snug up if possible..... then let it sit for several days with a heating blanket or heat lamp to cure the epoxy fully..... this would very likely make it just as strong as new....I might apply a thin layer of carbon fiber to the inside ... and maybe shave a thin area off the outside to add a layer of carbon fiber .... could be done in a decorative pattern... or take off a little extra to have room to apply a thin 1/64th laminate stained to match... Another possibility instead of carbon laminate is after epoxy sets is to drill diagonal holes thru the repaired area and insert carbon fiber rods or dowels thru and epoxy in place.... Carbon fiber dowel are available at many radio control airplane stores or online....carbon fiber is stronger than steel yet lighter than aluminum.... the dowels would be less obvious and tiny disks of wood or pearl could be put where the rods exit the outer surface to make it decorative

[@keenday2382]

Looks pretty!

[@scotty2tone]

I feel like the banjolin was the result of someone thinking “what if we made the most obnoxious instrument possible”

[@WalterCombsLCSW]

How can we make this louder and sound like it’s playing though and tin can??? LOL 😂

[@scotty2tone]

@@WalterCombsLCSW hahah exactly. Great work though!

[@chrislewis4830]

ITS a good simple fix I've had to do that on many vintage Keech banjoleles except I made the wedges out of brass it is a problem with all the mech inside the pot banjos and variant's so well done buddy

[@ianofliverpool7701]

I'm guessing the adjustable bar connecting the pot to the neck is there to adjust the neck.

[@WalterCombsLCSW]

I found it did a great job of securing the neck to the pot, but it did not give room for adjusting the pitch of the neck. Also the Pot had some damage to the rim there and would not hold tight allowing the neck to pitch forward. I have it set aside at this time completely dissembled. A friend gave me some advice to rotate the pot 180° and drill new holes. But it’s not high on my to-do list so it sits in its case at the back of the instrument pile. Someday will come. But not this year.

[@davestambaugh7282]

The problem with these mandolin banjo's is that they use the very high tension of standard mandolin strings. This goes against the grain because banjo's are low tension instruments and mandolins are high tension instruments. If you simply put lower tension strings on a mandolin, you will have intonation so bad that it would be unplayable. If you use a multi scale fret board. Like a fourteen inch E and a fifteen inch G string all of the intonation problems dissapear .

[@WalterCombsLCSW]

This is great information and I will be looking into it further. Probably next year. All my hobbies are on hold as I focus on my career. I have this instrument in parts again. My plan is to spin the pot 180° and redrill the holes and reset the neck. Basically, start over. And I will be certainly looking into modifying the strings. 👍

[@mikelisacarb]

Thank you for the details! Any update on whether it has held?

[@SH-gu2vm]

Might be a stupid question, but was it possible to attach the nek on the other side of the pot. May be the nek has been on the wrong side of the pot since it left the factory. Just shooting off some idea's here

[@WalterCombsLCSW]

Mind blown 🤯 Even if it did not, maybe pulling everything and rotating the pot 180 degrees... thank you for the cool idea 💡

[@SH-gu2vm]

@@WalterCombsLCSW No problemo. Hope it works out for ya

[@chrislewis4830]

been there done that didn't it just crushed the other side of the pot it will and has always has been a problem with this design of pot. you cant even strengthen the area because there would be no room for the internal mech. so he's done the right thing. in saying that once I even had the internal mech crush on me once after putting a wedge in. It must of been cheap brass i guess

[@banjoman6616]

Buttalo!!

[@granddad1954]

all you had to do was extend the jack rod

[@WalterCombsLCSW]

Explain. And use non-luthier explanations. I’m still new to instrument repair (3 years now) and find “Jack rod” on auto repair sites, but not so much with banjo 🪕 mandolin sites.

[@granddad1954]

hi walter , i wasn't being criticaljust trying to help. the jack rod is the matal rod between the neck and tail of the instrument with the big nut in the midle one end of it has a right hand thread the other end a left hand thread so as u turn the large nut it will ethier expand or contract the length of rod there fore if you expand the rod it will push the walls of the pot out, stopping the collapse hope that helps or at least explains my comment

[@WalterCombsLCSW]

@@granddad1954 Thank you for your feed back. I pulled this instrument down and will look at it again this week. If I can adjust the neck pitch with those adjustments I might play this instrument more. I really like the way it sounds but before I did my fix the string height was impossible, and now its just difficult past the 5th fret. I sanded down the foot of the bridge as far as I dare. Any more and I would be concerned it might break under the string tension. Sorry for my "tone" in my communication over the weekend. It was a difficult weekend and I wrote and sent the message without much proof reading. :-)

[@alfsmith4936]

Extending the rod would push the neck forward. It's below the centreline.. It looks to me like it's had a knock that's broken the plywood at the weak spot.. It needs a new pot really, but shimming at the heel is his only quick 'bodge' option as far as I see.