The neck of the banjo is made of maple with an 1/8in thick piece of ebony running down the center. This ebony creates an accent stripe that is visible at the back of the neck. So basically it’s a really expensive black line most people will ever see. But it’s there! Actually, I believe there is some stability gained from building a laminated neck.
Neck pieces glued and clamped
Here, the neck is being glued up. You can see a little bit of the ebony on the right end, but it’s difficult because the piece of ebony I bought was not as wide as the maple. There will be a slot cut in the neck where you see the gap running down the length of the blank for a truss rod. The truss rod will allow for some adjustment of the neck when the banjo is complete. The tension of the strings can bend the neck, and the truss rod can be tightened to help compensate.
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