Sha-banjo!

After some undisclosed number of additional hours carving over the past few days, the peghead is very close to final form. I ramped the slots for strings #1 and #5 to final shape, largely cleaned up the walls of slots #2 and #4, and managed to locate and drill the #3 post hole and slot in the hull. All of this without destroying everything or getting in trouble with that oh-so-close template line at the bottom of the hull.

Huge sigh of relief!

I'm happy with the outcome of the ramped slots changeup after the through hole drilling problem. I'm amazed how close slot #2 came to through hole-slot #1. If you shine a light at slot #1 and look down through hole #2, you can see the light shining through. It may break through during the final cleanup phase, and it might even look cool, but I'm glad it worked out this way for now.

This marks the end of structural work on the peghead. All that's left is cosmetic. I need to clean up the ramps and slots with files and sandpaper, finish shaping the third string hull, scrape a few minor humps flat on the peghead profile perpendicular to the face, and sand or fill various surface dents and scrapes on the overlay and back. Oh, and fill that little marker hole on top in the vicinity of the third string slot; I've decided not going to drill it all the way through since that would be a deep hole removing a lot of wood for no real benefit. A million tiny steps.

I feel like I'm through the hard part and can bludgeon my way through the rest of the instrument without so much mental perspiration and long concentrated blocks of time. This is a good thing, considering the closing of this post.

Here's the shop and banjo in their current state. I've got tools, drawings, solvent, and carving chips everywhere, but I'm quite happy to leave everything just like this for a while...

Out having a baby. Backson!