djangonut - Posted - 01/10/2012: 03:18:24
My first banjo, a Vega Little Wonder 19 fret tenor had a calf skin vellum when I first bought it. Later the head got swapped for the more trouble-free plastic heads in the early 1960s.
Last night I was reminded by a television programme what a faff I had to go through to change the vellum head - having to wet it, to stretch it, then worry that I had not over-tightened it.
The programme on BBC4 was entitled " The Private Lives of Mediaeval Kings". (I am sure that it will still be available on the BBC iplayer.)
Hand written books with fantastic ornamentation from the 8th century up to the 13th century, many of them in the British Library in London, were shown. Before paper was used in England all these books were on parchment vellum. According to the programme only two makers of vellum still exist in England. The parchment is still used for official documents like Acts of Parliament, and apparently the recent Royal wedding was recorded on the stuff.
The presenter went to see how it was produced. The animal skins were carefully selected with no imperfections from barbed wire or insect infestation; they were left to soak in a vile liquid to soften them, scraped to remove the hair, then stretched and dried - quite a lengthy process.
Praise the lord for plastic heads!
John
jbalch - Posted - 01/10/2012: 06:10:12
John:
I linked this thread to the Hide Heads group. banjohangout.org/group/hideheads
I hope those guys go easy on you. They can be a rough bunch ...always in a bad mood from constantly having to adjust head tension ...and a little deranged after breathing the residual fumes from all that "vile liquid."
carlb - Posted - 01/10/2012: 07:04:23
quote:
Originally posted by jbalch
I linked this thread to the Hide Heads group. banjohangout.org/group/hideheads
They can be a rough bunch ...always in a bad mood from constantly having to adjust head tension
No need to adjust tension; just have a few bridges of different heights. Bridge changing takes about a minute.
