Adjusting, removing and installing the neck of your Heli-Mount Banjo.
Featuring Tom Nechville, shot at the Nechville shop located at
Nechville Intergalactic Headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Nechville Heli-Mount Head Adjustment
and changing
Tom Nechville demonstrates how to adjust and replace the head on a
Heli-Mount banjo. Little tips that make the job even easier.
Installing
Spikes
First find a drill bit as small as possible, I have
used bits as big as 1/16" and ground them down while they are spinning
in the drill. you can make a nice tapered hole that the spike will stay
in, but you will not crack the fingerboard or bend the spike when
tapping it in if the drill is sized right.
Try a practice spike and continue to thin the drill
bit until it's a little thinner than the spike itself.
Drill the hole about 1/3 of the way back behind the
fret you are capoing to leave room for fretting that string with your
finger.
Aim the hole just to the outside of the 5th string
and be sure to only go in as deep as you need (just through
fingerboard). The head of the spike should be directly under the 5th
string when done.
You'll have to move the 5th string out of the way
after starting the hole as to not accidentally cut through the string.
Use a thin hacksaw blade as a spacer under the head
of the spike while tapping it down.
Again it is helpful to slightly grind one end of the
blade flat so it's not too thick and doesn't scratch the fingerboard. A
thin pocket ruler works well for this also.
When the spikes are down, adjust them straight with a
needle nose pliers and then carefully file down the tops of the spikes
until there is no buzzing from the previous fretted note.
Last step is polishing off the top of spikes with
fine sandpaper, 400 or 600 and possibly a little fine steel wool or oil,
to revive the fretboard appearance.
