depscribe's photos with the keyword: during

This is entirely unnecessary, but I do it to make sure that there's nothing obviously wrong. All was well. The pot was then put aside to dry. I've found that a good way to dry a new head is to do a load of laundry -- socks and underwear -- and dry it in the dryer, then put the pot in a drawer with the still-warm, very dry laundry. Only after it is thoroughly dry can the head be tightened. This takes at least a day, but two or three days is better. Master banjowright Vinnie Mondello recommends lightly spraying the head with water and redrying it many times before tightening it; I took his advice with this instrument and was pleased with the results.

The edges of the new head are pulled inside the tension hoop and carefully pulled to make sure there are no wrinkles. Then a few long tension hooks are added to hold it all in place.

. . . to trim away the excess head material. A single-edge razor blade (actually, a couple of them -- they get dull fast) is used. The excess is in back. The ragged edge will disappear as the head dries.

The banjo was this much longer than the case. Needed to build a middle part.

I made a strip of very thin plywood the width of the inside of the case neck and long enough to overlap a bit on the inside, to where the sides of the accessory compartment were. Then I glued and clamped it.

The top and bottom fit together. I would like to attribute this fact to skill. It was luck.

As I'm going along, I'm thinking how I'll finish this, whether to re-cover it with something or just what.

The lip glued in place, I thought to put the banjo inside and put the top on -- and I discovered that the case was not high enough. But I'd accidentally left enough overlap in the lip that I was able to add 1/4-inch-square, kerfed strips. Here they're glued in.

This was actually a little tougher, because the top was slightly arched, and my plywood . . . wasn't!

The top and bottom of the case were very thin plywood, so I needed to use plywood designed for inserts in cabinet doors -- three pieces of veneer glued up, really.

This was all done with Titebond II, a favorite with luthiers.

but this is just the start of the start!

I'd looked all over for an appropriate piece of metal to use to make the overlapping lip that seals the top and bottom together. I didn't find anything I liked, but I did have some very nice rock maple that I usually employ when making banjo bridges. I cut and soaked some thin strips and glued them into place around the outside of the top. Binder clips are very, very good clamps for this and other instrument repair projects. Get a lot of them in many sizes if you undertake a job like this.

These were made and glued to the sides.

I really lucked out here!

Where the lip strips met at top and bottom, i glued and faired in additional strips. Because the modifications couldn't ever be completely hidden, I decided to accent them by doing the lip strip in a lighter shade.

Pop rivets and gold paint are our friends. It turned out that I had to replace all the hardware except the handle and its attachments; even so, the handle had to be reupholstered, which I did with suede leather, padded on the inside with silicon sealer (yes, it works, if you're careful).