Installing Miniature Railroad spikes for use as a 5th
string capo
More and more
people are removing sliding 5th string capos in favor of miniature HO size
railroad spikes. These do not add
any width or bulk to your banjo neck like the sliding capo and are pretty easy
to install. You may have to look
around for them in hobby stores in order to find a local source or purchase them
through a banjo supply place.
STANDARD
DISCLAIMER APPLIES
If you wish
to follow these instructions you do so at your own risk. These are techniques I
use and they work very well for me. They may not give you the same results and,
as always, when you work on anything you run the risk of error. Skill and
comfort levels should also be considered.
On a scale from 1 (changing your strings)
to 10 (repairing a broken headstock with some pieces missing), I give this job a
difficulty rating of 2 on the Richie scale. I hope this series is
most helpful to you.
This banjo has
a sliding 5th string capo that will need to be removed before we
start. By doing so we will leave
behind the holes (in this case two) where the capo was.
Fill these if you know how or leave them if you like.
Now for
the task at hand: Take a look at
the tools I use to perform the spike installation.
You
may substitute some things like needle nose pliers in place of the forceps, etc.
You will know if it works for you. I
do like the miniature hammer, however. I
use it only for this job. The small
hand drill and the very small bits are only used for spike installation also.
Click
onto the next page to continue.
Next Spike Page
| 
