Banjo-mandolin rim stuck in the bowl...

[Happy gnome]

I just picked up another fixer-up-er banjo-mando which really needs a neck angle reset, but I can't get the rim out to get to the neck bolts.

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It's REALLY wedged in - the metal seems to have warped with the wood so that it's narrower at the top than the bottom.... I tried lubricating it, I tried massaging the wood slowly back out to round to get the ends free, I tried levering it (nearly breaking the bowl...)

Does anyone have any idea how I could get it out short of cutting it?

Annoyingly it's actually doing a really good job of keeping the bowl reasonably round, but I can't see a way to getting the neck off without removing it.

[ProfChris]

Perhaps using cold to shrink the metal away from the rim? A few pack of frozen peas might do it.

[Graham McDonald]

From the close up it looks as if the wooden bowl structure is delaminating and that is at least some part of the problem. They will go out of shape, and often it will be the section where the neck is attached that will bend inwards and put the rest of it out of whack. You really have to think about how much work you want to put into something which will sound pretty horrible even when it is playable. Good luck with it.

cheers

[bmac]

It would seem to me that removing the back might give you access. Or is the back not removable with the neck on?

[Graham McDonald]

The wooden pot structure includes a glued on back. The only way you can get at these beasties is from the top.

[Pete Jenner]

Yes - even the good ones sound pretty 'orrible. It might be good for special effects.
Try a rubber mallet.

[Phil Goodson]

What's that little brad thinggy in the middle? Is that holding anything?

[Greg Mirken]

I see a pot assembly that is cracking in the way typical of Zamac, a zinc-aluminum alloy "pot metal" known for losing integrity and literally crumbling with age.
I think it would make a lovely clock.

[Ray(T)]

"That little brad thingy" will be an ornamental button on the back of the resonator, held in place by two bits of bent metal, which really demonstrates how "high tech" these things really were. Can you not devise a way of getting it out by inertia - the reverse of tightening a hammer or axe head - without destroying it? Failing that, could you devise some way of holding the metal ring whilst you pull off the wooden hoop; rather than pulling the ring out of the hoop, i.e. swing on it!

[Happy gnome]

Heh, the poor banjo-mando; a hassle to fix, only to sound terrible.

In seriousness though, after fixing the last one I can understand the hesitation, but I'm here for the learnin' and with a project like this I'll get some ok hardware and a bit of fretting practice at the least.

I like the idea of freezing the metal component. Might defrost tomorrows dinner in the banjo-bowl...

[ProfChris]

Also, it looks like you could bolt two pieces of timber together in an X, with blocks resting on the rim, and then use 4 G cramps to pull on the bowl (assuming you can get the tongue of each cramp under the internal flange of that bowl).

[Happy gnome]

I had that thought previously too, but didn't have clamps thin enough to fit more than one in (those banjo-mando pots are really tiny).

Regarding the delaminating aluminium alloy tone ring; it occurs to me I could easily cast another from a good part taken from a good instrument (again, I know, more work than it's worth, but humour me?) but would pewter be too soft? I have a couple of sculptor friends who do a lot of casting, and there seems to be an endless supply of the stuff, but it is kinda soft