Parts of a Banjo – Labeled Five-String Diagram

All 18 parts on the diagram

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Peghead and neck 8

Peghead The four long strings end here. Each is wound onto its own tuning peg.
Fingerboard The player presses a string against it to change the note. It is also called the fretboard.
Fifth string It starts at the fifth fret. It is three-quarters the length of the other four and is tuned higher than they could be.
Tuning pegs Each long string winds onto one. Banjos usually have friction pegs or planetary-geared pegs, not the machine heads used on guitars.
Nut The four long strings cross it. String length is measured from here to the bridge.
Frets Standard on banjos since the late 19th century. Fretless banjos are still made and played.
Fifth-string peg It tunes the short fifth string. That string starts here at the fifth fret.
Neck The fingerboard is fixed along its front. From the front only its edges show.

The pot 10

Head Like a drumhead. It was traditionally animal skin. Today it is usually a synthetic material.
Tension hoop It pulls the head tight over the pot. The hooks pull it down.
Bracket hooks Each grips the tension hoop. Each has a nut at its other end. Tightening the nuts a little at a time tightens the head.
Bridge It stands on the head and is not fixed. Moving it forward or back a little makes the octaves sound true.
Tailpiece The strings are fastened to it. They then run over the bridge and up the neck.
Armrest A rest for the picking arm. Fixed over the hooks at the edge of the pot.
Rim Usually wood, often several plies of maple. Metal rims were also common on older banjos.
Tone ring The head is stretched over it. Most modern banjos have one; many older banjos do not.
Flange It is fixed round the outside of the pot. The resonator fits against it.
Resonator It closes the back, projects the sound forward and adds volume. A banjo without one is an open-back banjo.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it for this part. (1) Wikipedia, text only: Banjo (pot, rim, head, tone ring, resonator, neck, fingerboard, frets, tuning pegs, friction and planetary pegs, the short fifth or drone string, tailpiece, open-back banjo). (2) Gibson, the maker's own catalogs, full text on archive.org: 1934 catalog, https://archive.org/details/gibson-1934-guitar-catalog (peghead, fifth string peg, pegs, fingerboard, fingerboard nut, neck, rim of three-ply maple, head, hooks and nuts, bridge, tailpiece, arm rest, resonator; tightening a head by turning every other nut round the rim; moving the bridge until the octaves are true); 1923 catalog, https://archive.org/details/gibson-1923-guitar-catalog (brackets). (3) Vega, a second maker's catalogs on archive.org: 1968, https://archive.org/details/vega-banjo-catalog-1968, and 1972, https://archive.org/details/vega-banjos-catalog-1972 (peghead, gear tuning pegs, tone ring under the head, tension hoop, ten-ply maple rim, flanges, arm rest, tailpiece, resonator, string scale measured nut to bridge, hook and nut). (4) A. A. Farland, 1902 price list, https://archive.org/details/a.-a.-farland-patent-wood-rim-banjo-1902 (peg head, pegs, finger board, frets, brackets, hoop, rim, head, tail piece, bridge). (5) Read as passages through archive.org full-text search: Popular Mechanics, March 2001, https://archive.org/details/sim_popular-mechanics_2001-03_178_3 (rim, tone ring, resonator flange, tension hoop, head, bracket hooks, nuts, armrest, tailpiece), and Frets, May 1984, https://archive.org/details/sim_frets_1984-05_6_5 (bracket hooks, bracket nuts, tone ring, rim, tailpiece). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain curves; no maker's banjo, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

A five-string resonator banjo from the front, lying as it is held, then its peghead and its pot enlarged. The last view cuts through the edge of the pot to show what is under the head.

Read the full guide

From the peghead to the pot

Numbers 1 to 4 are the whole banjo: the peghead, the fingerboard, the short fifth string and the head. Numbers 5 to 9 are the peghead end: four tuning pegs, the nut, the frets, the fifth-string peg on the side of the neck, and the neck itself. Numbers 10 to 14 are on the front of the pot: bracket hooks pull the tension hoop down to tighten the head, and the strings cross the bridge and end at the tailpiece, beside the armrest. Numbers 15 to 18 are in the cut: the wooden rim, the tone ring on top of it, the flange and the resonator.

The fifth string starts at the fifth fret, so it is three-quarters the length of the other four.
A banjo with no resonator is an open-back banjo. It weighs less and sounds mellower.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a banjo called?

From the top: peghead, tuning pegs, nut, neck, fingerboard and frets, with a fifth-string peg on the side of the neck. The round body is the pot: head, tension hoop, bracket hooks, rim, tone ring, bridge, tailpiece, armrest, flange and resonator.

What is the pot of a banjo?

The round body. It is a circular rim, usually wood, with a head stretched over it like a drumhead. Most modern banjos also have a metal tone ring between the rim and the head.

Why does a banjo have a short fifth string?

Because it starts at the fifth fret, it can be tuned higher than a full-length string could be. Players use it for quick drone notes that fill in around the melody.

What does the resonator do on a banjo?

It is a wooden plate on the back of the pot that projects the sound forward and gives the banjo more volume. Bluegrass players almost always use a resonator banjo.