A fellow I play with pretty regularly gave me an old banjo that a relative built from a kit back in the 70s. I think that I posted pictures of it here at the time. It had friction tuners on it. I did everything I could to smooth them up, lubricated them with bee's wax, but I just didn't like them. It is really a good banjo, plays nicely and I like playing it. So, I happened to have a set of Golden Gate planetary tuners laying around. I pulled out the old friction tuners for the fourth and last time, drilled out the holes in the head to fit, and installed Golden Gate tuners. Much to the consternation of my brother, who likes old stuff and is willing to suffer whatever he has to in order to maintain the original design of whatever old thing he happens to come across. We had discussed it earlier and I texted him that I was going to do it. He arrived too late to stop me. I was stringing it back up already.
Too bad, the new tuners work nicely. Now comes the fifth string tuner. I have not installed a fifth string tuner before. Where tuner goes into the neck, the tuner appears to be tapered. Do I just drill the hole and push it until it is tight and secures itself? Is that the purpose of the taper. Or do I somehow try to match the taper? I think the former feels most logical, but I just want to be sure before I start drilling into the side of the neck. There seems to be the possibility of cracking something if I just go in there willy nilly and start pressing it in.
When I'm done with that, I'm going to install stakes for the 7th and the 9th. I haven't done that before either, so that too will be a learning experience. Then maybe a new head. The one on it is fine, but I think I might replace it anyway. I am locking the banjo up in the meantime to prevent my brother from stealing in during the night and rescuing the banjo from my Frankensteinesque operations. I really think this is going to be a fun banjo to play.
The fifth string hole needs to be tapered, otherwise you are likely to split the neck. There are instructions for that on line as well as information about how to cut a reamer to a shorter length for the fifth string peg. You can also find instructions about installing spikes. Google is your friend. There is likely information in the BH archive also
There is a tapered reamer normally used to shape the hole for the 5th string tuner. It is not just a drilled hole.
Frank Ford explains (with pix);
https://www.frets.com/pages/vlvnt9zk/Geared-5th-String-Peg
Edited by - Bill Rogers on 07/11/2026 17:26:13
quote:
Originally posted by Bill RogersFrank Ford explains (with pix);
https://www.frets.com/pages/vlvnt9zk/Geared-5th-String-Peg
Thank you. That is very helpful.
Stew-Mac sells one: Fifth string tuner hole reamer.
I bought a reamer for a few dollars at Harbor Freight years ago, intending to cut it off at the right point to be a fifth-string hole reamer. Finally got around to trying this year when I acquired a neck that no tuner would fit. So I put the reamer in a vise, took a Dremel cut-off wheel to it, and had to stop almost immediately. In my total lack of experience, I was not expecting the sound, sparks or smell. Maybe I'll take the reamer to a metal shop to be cut-off. Or maybe I'll do without because I may never really need it.
Plan B was to sand a taper into the end of a dowel (came out pretty good) onto which I would attach some sticky-back sandpaper. That didn't work, mostly because the sandpaper would not stay on the stick as I rotated it in the hole.
For Plan C I ended up enlarging the hole a little with a Dremel sanding cylinder used by hand. So far, so good. If needed down the road, I figure I can use small pieces of flat toothpick to fake a taper.
quote:
Originally posted by Old HickoryStew-Mac sells one: Fifth string tuner hole reamer.
I bought a reamer for a few dollars at Harbor Freight years ago, intending to cut it off at the right point to be a fifth-string hole reamer. Finally got around to trying this year when I acquired a neck that no tuner would fit. So I put the reamer in a vise, took a Dremel cut-off wheel to it, and had to stop almost immediately. In my total lack of experience, I was not expecting the sound, sparks or smell. Maybe I'll take the reamer to a metal shop to be cut-off. Or maybe I'll do without because I may never really need it.
Plan B was to sand a taper into the end of a dowel (came out pretty good) onto which I would attach some sticky-back sandpaper. That didn't work, mostly because the sandpaper would not stay on the stick as I rotated it in the hole.
For Plan C I ended up enlarging the hole a little with a Dremel sanding cylinder used by hand. So far, so good. If needed down the road, I figure I can use small pieces of flat toothpick to fake a taper.
I looked at the StewMac reamer. I'm not going to spend that much money for a one time use. I saw one somewhere else for something around $36. Maybe that one as a last resort. I am adverse to spending money on an old banjo that someone gave me and that I didn't even want in the first place, and is now luring me like a Siren into playing around with it. Leaving the old friction tuner for just the G string has been working okay the last couple days. But then I have that stray tuner laying around mocking me. Oh well, it isn't anything important, just something to do. I'm spinning it in my head as a learning experience.
Edited by - BG Banjo on 07/14/2026 07:30:25
An update, yesterday I pulled the old one. It popped right out. The existing hole was just a bit tight for the new tuner, so using Old Hickory's method, I went after it with a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a pencil. Somehow I got the hole to be a little too much of a perfect fit, the tuner just dropped in but wouldnt hold from twisting. At this point, frustrated with the whole thing, I took out the tuner, I filled the hole with Tightbond, positioned the tuner exactly where I wanted it and cleaned up the glue that squeezed out with a damp paper towel then propped it up to dry.
I got up this morning, ate breakfast, went for a bike ride with the grand kids, then came home and gave it a good once over. It looks like it was meant to be exactly the way it is. You can't even see a glue line. I strung it up, tuned it up, and I'm quite pleased with the banjo and myself. Wait til I tell my brother about it. Next week I'm going to stake the fifth string at the 7th and the 9th.
Edited by - BG Banjo on 07/15/2026 09:23:44
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