For all things related to the use of SKIN BANJO HEADS. Calf, goat, possum, hairy, shaved, stained, pre-mounted. You name it.

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What not to do with hide heads

From five-string fever on 1/7/2017 9:43:16 AM

I have had a Stern tanning 11" hide head on my Gibson copy banjo which is set up for bluegrass off and on for over a year. I say off because I took it off for a few months in late Summer early Fall when I was camping near a river for 2 weeks and it kept sucking up moisture. I live in Colorado which has a pretty dry climate most of the year and it is usually not a challenge to keep the tension right and the head sounding good. I recently cleaned it up the way I clean up my Mylar heads by wiping it down with a wet wipe. I saw a dark mark on the head that I rubbed with a little sandpaper instead of the fine grade steel wool, as had been suggested, which kind of roughed up the head a little. The next mistake I made was tightening my head up right after doing both of those things and not checking it with my tension gauge. I was awakened just before 4:00 AM this morning to what sounded like rusty hinges on Dracula's casket creaking open in a horror movie followed by a little popping noise. When I turned on the light I saw what you already guessed, my head had split.

   In hindsight I think my biggest mistake was tightening the head right after it got wet but that was not my only mistake. Since I keep it set-up for bluegrass I usually want the head as tight as it can handle but I should be using my tension gauge when I crank it up. Even though the sandpaper I used was not what I would consider coarse I could tell I roughed up the head more than I would have preferred. I'm lucky that I bought 2 of these heads back in 2015 but one of them is on a Top Tension banjo project that I've had for awhile and I'm about to, finally, get a neck for this week. So I'm back to Mylar until I can get it replaced but I believe I have learned a lesson that I hope ya'll can avoid. I will say this, tone-wise my banjo has never sounded better than with a JD Balch/Stern Tanning head.

2 Comments
	Dave1climber says: 1/7/2017 6:07:33 PM Thanks for sharing your learning experience. I have a original Rogers head on a 1925 TB4 Ball Bearing that is getting a five string neck. I would not like to have the same lesson.
	five-string fever says: 1/7/2017 7:23:43 PM I have a Rogers Daisy head myself that I never mounted on a banjo. I might give that a try until I get a replacement but it doesn't look nearly as smooth and good as the JD Balch/Stern Tanning head.
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