Porter Claxton - Posted - 04/17/2023:  02:02:42

I recently reviewed a forum on calfskin head tension. I have had a calfskin head on my 1918 Oropheum Style 3 for many years and have had no problems except eventually running out of adjustment, i.e. running out of threads on the J hooks. For the first time I put a calfskin head on my 2005 Style 5 Gibson Mastertone. The difference was amazing. I've never had it sound so good - I'd put it up against any banjo out there for clarity, tone, balance and playability. It had "pop" like it never did before. Then after 3 months of amazing sound the head split. It was in the case so one would think that humidity was not the problem, but who knows? Was the heat in the room too high? Was it a defective head? Did the flesh hoop have a defect or a rough spot? Did I overtighten it?

I have now installed a new head. It's a mite thicker than the last. I gently went over the flesh hoop with a piece of 1000 grit sandpaper to remove any burs or sharp edges and cleaned it with a cleaner/ degreaser followed by wiping it down with acetone to remove any chemicals or residue. On my first head I waited about 36 hours before stringing it up, but that was too soon as it had a thumpy sound and the tuning would not "come up". In about another 24 hours it tightened way up and read out at about 96 on the drum dial. No, I don't use a drum dial on a calfskin head! I was just testing it to see about where it was. I was scared it would break so loosened it down to about 90. It sounded pretty good and I eventualy tightened it a couple of 1/8th turns. Then it sounded great so I let it be.

I would like some other opinions on this if you use calfskin heads on your banjo. I have heard about tap tuning, but those who do that give such vague directions and opinions that it leaves me wondering if they really know anything at all. Instructions like, "Tap it with a pencil or wood dowel stick and if it's off, tighten it or loosen it as needed" does NOT help. Please be more specific. Also how do you store it to keep the humidity and temperature even? Any other advise would also be greatly appreciated.

pfalzgrass - Posted - 04/17/2023:  04:39:36

I use them on my archtops, set to 92 with a drum dial. No special maintenance, my banjos are all wall hangers. In summer I need to adjust head tension weekly.

Edited by - pfalzgrass on 04/17/2023 04:40:44

hbick2 - Posted - 04/17/2023:  07:31:51

I've never used a drum dial or tap tuning, on plastic or skin. I press down on the head with both thumbs and, if it depresses slightly, it is close. I then adjust it up or down depending upon the sound I want. If your head is so tight that you can't depress it with your thumbs, I would say it is too tight. I've had a few heads split over the years, but not many. They were usually very old ones that I had left on the banjo when I got it.

The Old Timer - Posted - 04/17/2023:  07:40:38

I think for bluegrass banjos (I hope that's what you'e talking about), skin heads can sound wonderful in winter dryness. I don't know if your part of Washington state has dry winter air. I'm in the Catskill Mts of NY. Anyhoo, as spring rolls around and humidity rises, the calfskin head on my Mastertones tend to slacken a bit which affects tone. If you tighten the head up to sound better, you might better slack it off a bit come fall and the onset of winter dryness.

It's not house TEMPERATURE, it's house humidity.

The bluegrass founders had to tighten/loosen the skin heads all the time in the travels, based on local weather. Play one show in a rainstorm and tighten the head, you better loosen it before you pack it away to go to the next gig!

Spring is here, and I dread the change in tone of my Mastertone, it's always so "disappointing" after the wonderful tone in winter. And I don't want to tighten it, forget, and then find it busted later.

I don't use drum dials. I don't even find that tap tone works that well on a skin head. I just tighten it up slowly, til it sounds good.

Good luck.

dpgetman - Posted - 04/17/2023:  08:20:17

I live in Houston where humidity jumps up and down all day for nine months out of the year, and have hide heads on all of my banjos. I play openback, so making adjustments is very easy. I did put a hide head on a resonator banjo I had for a few years and having to remove the resonator to make adjustments was a pain...

The biggest issue with head tension comes when I move from playing inside to playing outside. I was setting up a new banjo for a customer last week and moved outside to the shop, which is an open garage, and the humidity depressed the head to the point of having the action, which was perfect inside, reduce until the strings were laying on the frets. One thing I do to all of the heads I put on new banjos is add a coat of oil finish with the head installed and taut, that seems to help.

Good luck and looking forward to other insights!

David

Porter Claxton - Posted - 04/17/2023:  11:43:49

quote:Thanks, very good advice.

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Originally posted by hbick2

I've never used a drum dial or tap tuning, on plastic or skin. I press down on the head with both thumbs and, if it depresses slightly, it is close. I then adjust it up or down depending upon the sound I want. If your head is so tight that you can't depress it with your thumbs, I would say it is too tight. I've had a few heads split over the years, but not many. They were usually very old ones that I had left on the banjo when I got it.

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Porter Claxton - Posted - 04/17/2023:  11:52:55

quote:Yes, Bluegrass banjo; I should have included that. Excellent information, thank you. I am in western Washington so pretty wet in winter and spring, dryer in summer and fall. I don't play in rains storms but sometimes at summer festivals under dry cover with light rain on the roof. Would you loosen it after playing under those conditions or more generally as the seasons change?

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Originally posted by The Old Timer

I think for bluegrass banjos (I hope that's what you'e talking about), skin heads can sound wonderful in winter dryness. I don't know if your part of Washington state has dry winter air. I'm in the Catskill Mts of NY. Anyhoo, as spring rolls around and humidity rises, the calfskin head on my Mastertones tend to slacken a bit which affects tone. If you tighten the head up to sound better, you might better slack it off a bit come fall and the onset of winter dryness.



It's not house TEMPERATURE, it's house humidity.



The bluegrass founders had to tighten/loosen the skin heads all the time in the travels, based on local weather. Play one show in a rainstorm and tighten the head, you better loosen it before you pack it away to go to the next gig!



Spring is here, and I dread the change in tone of my Mastertone, it's always so "disappointing" after the wonderful tone in winter. And I don't want to tighten it, forget, and then find it busted later.



I don't use drum dials. I don't even find that tap tone works that well on a skin head. I just tighten it up slowly, til it sounds good.



Good luck.

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Porter Claxton - Posted - 04/17/2023:  11:54:54

quote:Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Good suggestions! I will take those to heart.

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Originally posted by hbick2

I've never used a drum dial or tap tuning, on plastic or skin. I press down on the head with both thumbs and, if it depresses slightly, it is close. I then adjust it up or down depending upon the sound I want. If your head is so tight that you can't depress it with your thumbs, I would say it is too tight. I've had a few heads split over the years, but not many. They were usually very old ones that I had left on the banjo when I got it.

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Porter Claxton - Posted - 04/17/2023:  11:58:45

quote:

Ausgezeichnet meine Freund. Sehr gut und Danke Schon.

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Originally posted by Porter Claxton

I recently reviewed a forum on calfskin head tension. I have had a calfskin head on my 1918 Oropheum Style 3 for many years and have had no problems except eventually running out of adjustment, i.e. running out of threads on the J hooks. For the first time I put a calfskin head on my 2005 Style 5 Gibson Mastertone. The difference was amazing. I've never had it sound so good - I'd put it up against any banjo out there for clarity, tone, balance and playability. It had "pop" like it never did before. Then after 3 months of amazing sound the head split. It was in the case so one would think that humidity was not the problem, but who knows? Was the heat in the room too high? Was it a defective head? Did the flesh hoop have a defect or a rough spot? Did I overtighten it?



I have now installed a new head. It's a mite thicker than the last. I gently went over the flesh hoop with a piece of 1000 grit sandpaper to remove any burs or sharp edges and cleaned it with a cleaner/ degreaser followed by wiping it down with acetone to remove any chemicals or residue. On my first head I waited about 36 hours before stringing it up, but that was too soon as it had a thumpy sound and the tuning would not "come up". In about another 24 hours it tightened way up and read out at about 96 on the drum dial. No, I don't use a drum dial on a calfskin head! I was just testing it to see about where it was. I was scared it would break so loosened it down to about 90. It sounded pretty good and I eventualy tightened it a couple of 1/8th turns. Then it sounded great so I let it be.



I would like some other opinions on this if you use calfskin heads on your banjo. I have heard about tap tuning, but those who do that give such vague directions and opinions that it leaves me wondering if they really know anything at all. Instructions like, "Tap it with a pencil or wood dowel stick and if it's off, tighten it or loosen it as needed" does NOT help. Please be more specific. Also how do you store it to keep the humidity and temperature even? Any other advise would also be greatly appreciated.

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Uncle Freddy - Posted - 04/17/2023:  19:14:14

I've been using skin heads for many years, both on heads with tension hoops and J-hooks (adjustable heads) as well as tack-heads (non-adjustable). Currently I prefer goatskin to calfskin; I can get it cheaper and I love the way it looks and sounds. I don't have any magic solutions to keep skins from splitting, but I've learned a few tricks over the years that help me. First, the main reasons I've seen for skins splitting have been 1) leaving the instrument in the sun, or too close to the woodstove, so it gets too hot too quickly 2) rust develops on the flesh hoop, bleeds into the skin and weakens it 3) rough spots on the flesh hoop.
One of the things about skin (calf or goat) is that as it ages it seems to become less hydroscopic...it doesn't stretch or shrink as much with humidity changes. I have a 110-year-old Bruno open-backed 5-string with what I imagine is the original calfskin, and it rarely changes tension throughout the seasons, whereas a new skin will seem to change radically with every temperature/humidity fluctuation.
I do several things to try to mediate water absorption: 1) I add some Titebond lll waterproof glue to the soaking water when preparing the skin. I let it soak in a good long time (an hour at least...longer is better) and I repeatedly squeeze the skin in the soaking fluid to get it well absorbed. 2) when mounting the skin I apply more of that Titebond lll, full strength, to both sides of the skin; while the skin is still damp, I just smear some around with my fingers, rubbing it in, then wipe off an excess.
Then I let it dry well before tightening things up. That's not a perfect solution...I notice new skins will still be somewhat reactive to humidity/temperature changes, but definitely less than with an untreated skin. I also sometimes add a bit of paste wax on the surfaces, once it's well dried.
One more thing: before mounting a new skin, I always clean the hardware (flesh and tension hoops), with steel wool and if necessary a fine sandpaper; and after cleaning I apply a bit of paraffin wax to the flesh hoop, to help prevent rusting. An even better solution is to make a new, non-metallic flesh hoop: I use heavy plastic weed-trimmer cord, which I join into a hoop of the proper size using electrician's heat-shrink tubing. That works great and is guaranteed not to rust!

Bart Veerman - Posted - 04/17/2023:  20:18:07

Food for thought:

Once I have my head installed and brought up to the tension I'm happy with, I re-wet the head, let it dry over night and then re-check the tension. Usually it needs to be re-tensioned.

I repeat the wetting & drying thing for about a week to 10 days and by then the head's tension is nice and stable and way less susceptable to humidity changes. Of course, I have no idea how that would work out in a sauna bath state like Arkansas...

Uncle Freddy - Posted - 04/17/2023:  20:36:10

quote:

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Originally posted by Uncle Freddy

I've been using skin heads for many years, both on heads with tension hoops and J-hooks (adjustable heads) as well as tack-heads (non-adjustable). Currently I prefer goatskin to calfskin; I can get it cheaper and I love the way it looks and sounds. I don't have any magic solutions to keep skins from splitting, but I've learned a few tricks over the years that help me. First, the main reasons I've seen for skins splitting have been 1) leaving the instrument in the sun, or too close to the woodstove, so it gets too hot too quickly 2) rust develops on the flesh hoop, bleeds into the skin and weakens it 3) rough spots on the flesh hoop.

One of the things about skin (calf or goat) is that as it ages it seems to become less hydroscopic...it doesn't stretch or shrink as much with humidity changes. I have a 110-year-old Bruno open-backed 5-string with what I imagine is the original calfskin, and it rarely changes tension throughout the seasons, whereas a new skin will seem to change radically with every temperature/humidity fluctuation.

I do several things to try to mediate water absorption: 1) I add some Titebond lll waterproof glue to the soaking water when preparing the skin. I let it soak in a good long time (an hour at least...longer is better) and I repeatedly squeeze the skin in the soaking fluid to get it well absorbed. 2) when mounting the skin I apply more of that Titebond lll, full strength, to both sides of the skin; while the skin is still damp, I just smear some around with my fingers, rubbing it in, then wipe off an excess.

Then I let it dry well before tightening things up. That's not a perfect solution...I notice new skins will still be somewhat reactive to humidity/temperature changes, but definitely less than with an untreated skin. I also sometimes add a bit of paste wax on the surfaces, once it's well dried.

One more thing: before mounting a new skin, I always clean the hardware (flesh and tension hoops), with steel wool and if necessary a fine sandpaper; and after cleaning I apply a bit of paraffin wax to the flesh hoop, to help prevent rusting. An even better solution is to make a new, non-metallic flesh hoop: I use heavy plastic weed-trimmer cord, which I join into a hoop of the proper size using electrician's heat-shrink tubing. That works great and is guaranteed not to rust!

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