Parts of a Banjo Body

Video Transcript

"The first part of your banjo I want to tell you about is the pot of your banjo. Which is this wooden piece right here. Banjos are, I mean it's made, it's a circle. If it was a square, a triangle obviously it wouldn't sound as good. Traditionally made out of wood. Some banjos have a resonator made out of wood or some other material that covers like this. This is an open back banjo so the back of the pot is open. It doesn't have a resonator. This is your coordinator rod which attached to the heel of your neck. It holds your banjo in alignment as the strings pull on the neck. This part of your banjo is the head. Traditionally it was made out of animal skin, sometimes you can still find those, but more often now it's made out of plastic with a coating. This metal ring running around the edge holds the head onto the pot. It can be tightened by tightening these tension screws."