1980 A.E. Smith Maple Leaf

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

380 Members, Created 3/28/2011 -

Administrators: jbalch (owner)

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From Silvio Ferretti on 11/28/2011 12:53:12 PM

I installed a skin head on it that came with a 1931 TB-1 I got off of eBay. Kinda thick head, no marks, surely not a Rogers. The TB-1 was hardly ever played so the head has few pick marks and is not stretched out at all. Following John's suggestion I installed it dry and tightened it slowly in the course of a few days. "Tight" to me means I get rid of too much hollowness and steely overtones (coming from the Bacon doughnut tone ring, I guess), I hope I can keep it that way as humidity - in the past few weeks - has been consistently around 50 - 55%. Going to use it in the studio a couple weeks from now, hope it will be settled nicely by then. I've been wanting to try a skin head on one of my openbacks forever, and now I did it! I'll let you know.

6 Comments
	jbalch says: 11/28/2011 1:07:56 PM That sounds great Silvio. I have natural skin heads on my Reiter Internal Resonator banjo and my Bacophone-plus. I love the way they sound for recording with this set-up. I hope your new set-up works out well.
	carlb says: 11/28/2011 4:19:26 PM The tone ring in the A.E. Smith Bacon look-a-like is not at all like the Bacon tone ring in the originals. Mounted a skin head on one many years ago and discovered why it was so much heavier then my Bacon Professional #3. Confirmed this different design with one of the original owners, Kate Spencer, about 6 weeks ago when I met her for the first time.
	vintagewells says: 12/19/2011 12:10:40 PM A bacon doughnut ring sounds like breakfast! How the hide head work out?
	jbalch says: 12/19/2011 1:45:11 PM bacon donut ... breakfast. that is funny
	Silvio Ferretti says: 12/21/2011 3:41:30 AM The donut rings in my Maple Leaf and Shelburne I are different, the former being larger and I guess also heavier. This may explain the extra ring that my Maple Leaf has (not sure I really like it) and the brightness it retained with the hide head. Please notice the past tense: the tone of the ML with the hide head was really sweet, bright, elegant, but response (pop, crack, whatever you wanna call it) was killed by the thickness of the head, I believe. So I put the Ren back on... But I WANT to have a hide head on that banjo, precisely because I want to tame the excessive brightness that it has with the meat and fat of the skin (ugghh...). Any advice about a pre-mounted hide head that's thin enough to give great response and short decay without thinning the tone? I play clawhammer on my openbacks 99% of the times, almost no finger-picking, and I'd really like to have that poppiness... Thanks!
	jbalch says: 12/21/2011 4:29:08 AM Silvio: My favorite heads from Bill Miller are his vellum-processed type. I always ask him for a medium thickness skin (not too thin). His thinnedt hides are just too thin for me. These skins are stiffer and have a little brighter response. hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...32011.jpg Otherwise, I'd probably consider bleached goatskin (again not too thin). I have bleached goat on my fancy grand concert. It is beautiful white and has a warm tone. hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...82009.jpg Best of all would be a hide from Stern tanning. But Jeff does nor offer pre-mounts for banjo. Best Wishes!
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