Banjo disassembly and test cleaning

I had a free half-hour this evening, so I took the Stewart banjo apart and did some test cleaning. Warning - the pictures are graphic representations of filth - this thing was beyond disgusting.

Ready for dis-assembly.

Hmm - the nut is wedge-shaped, and slides in from the bass side. I really don't think this can be original, but I'll hold judgement.

The hole for the dowel-stick. Filthy.

That joint isn't as tidy as I thought it was. There was also an enormous dust bunny in there.

The angle of the peghead is extra steep. I like the fact that the carving is in a 90 degree angle from the neck itself.

Dowel stick hold from the outside. So nice and shiny.

The neck is off, the hooks are off, and the tension ring is off. The skin is ready to pop off.

The skin is off, and there is the writing. There is still a metal hoop inside the edges of the skin, which I will remove next.

Throwing the skin in a bucket of water.

While the skin soaks, I can show you the nice shiny area under the skin, and the filth everywhere else.

Here's a cool detail - the underside of the dowel stick has the number 229 stamped on it, and the number 229 is etched under the dowel stick hole. These pieces DO actually go together!

I tried a quick scrub, and it looks like a lot of this gunk will come off.

The skin is done soaking, and just falls off of the flesh hoop.

A lot of the finger gunk came off the skin as well. I can't put this back on this banjo, but it's a good quality skin, and will work well for a smaller banjo in the future.

All the hardware is packed up.

Here's a dumb idea - soaking the tension hoop in Simple Green. Not effective, and may have caused tarnish.

After some cleaning, things are looking much better.

Much better.

I then cleaned the fretboard and neck with naphtha. I used steel wool with the grain on the fretboard, and a rag on the rest of the neck. I didn't finish the job, but a lot of dirt came off.

Looking MUCH better.

Still needs more cleaning, but the bulk of the grime is gone.

This is looking good. The finish on the back of the neck is a bit shot, and there are several frets that are loose and need to be set back in place, but overall, things are looking good!