Jimbeaux - Posted - 02/12/2018:  04:19:59

In this interview: camerondewhitt.com/getupinthec...oksmasten

Brooks Masten (a talented banjo builder) says that he recommends tightening a goat skin head very tight, and never messing with it again – no matter what your local climate is like. I recently ordered a new banjo with a vintage (late 1800s) Dobson pot that has 39 (!) tension hooks. You can imagine how attractive this idea is to me... I really don't want to be messing around with so many hooks every time the humidity goes up or down. 

Anyone have the same experience? Also, why the heck would they have used so many tension hooks? Marketing ploy?

The picture is a progress picture. I don't actually have the banjo yet. It's being made by David Prat in Barcelona. It's been great dealing with him, and I look forward to the results.

Edited by - Jimbeaux on 02/12/2018 04:23:47

Dobson restoration in progress

 

Parker135 - Posted - 02/12/2018:  05:12:07

I think he also runs his heads through several cycles, over days, of wetting, stretching, and drying until they don't stretch any more. That sounds extreme, so better look it up to see exactly what he's doing. He offered to do that for my Brooks, but it was a pricey endeavor to ship my banjo back and forth to him. I bought a Balch head at that point, but now that I've learned to mount skins, I'd like to try that.

rudy - Posted - 02/12/2018:  05:16:25

Brooks outlined his installation procedure and how he sets them on his website a few years back.  You can find it fairly easily by using the Internet Archive Project version of his website if you're interested.

I wrote a bit about hook numbers vs. actual numbers necessary on my Open Back Banjo Design Primer here:

bluestemstrings.com/pageBanjoDesign.html#9">web.archive.org/web/20160328213135/bluestemstrings.com/pageBanjoDesign.html#9

Edited by - rudy on 02/12/2018 05:20:19

link-o-sausages - Posted - 02/12/2018:  06:55:37

An old drum builder told me that goat skin is preferred over cow in dejimbes because it had a better tensile strength and better resistance to moisture and hand oils. No clue if it's true but on a muggy day my goat heads do stay tighter than the calfs. 39 brackets can help your banjo look cool and make tensioning it a nightmare.