First, I'll try to make a long story short...
I had been in a quandary about modifying my Deering Goodtime Special (openback) for clawhammer -- I start clawhammer lessons in May. Two options I was considering were a cutaway on the upper edge of the fretboard (a la Nechvile) or a scoop. Grant McNeil, a luthier who owns and operates The Twelfth Fret in Toronto, could easily do the cutaway for me -- he does about 70 of those a year, but his shop is always backlogged, so I might be without a banjo for, say, three weeks. I called the largest renter of musical instruments in town -- Long and McQuade. They have not banjos to rent. After posting a request to rent one here on BHO, I nosed around and found that Donald Zepp modifies Goodtimes. I emailed back and forth with his store manager Marc Miller today, and Marc is shipping me a scooped neck -- a New Old Time with a Gumby headstock. He said the switch is fairly easy to accomplish with the basic tools.
I've swapped out tuners on guitars before. The assembly of the neck to pot looks pretty straight forward. This video link shows the disassembly of the neck, starting with the coordinator rods (my instrument has only one co rod) at approximately 5:30: http://youtu.be/B9SG_uyyKvc
Now, I do know to take the strings off before disconnecting the neck.
What surprises await me? Any advice?