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Hide Heads

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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 darlo on 1/1/2015 5:50:07 PM

hello my name is mark darlington aka darlo and I joined this group initially because I wanted to tinker with my bluegrass banjos and try a skin head because I had read good things about them but with the drawbacks of humidity etc my question is really quite simple the weather conditions where I live in the uk Manchester it's mainly overcast most of the time,so is this good or bad for skin banjo heads not that I am planning on practicing outside and what are the best preventative measures if this is a problem many thanks darlo

2 Comments
	Tom Berghan says: 1/1/2015 7:21:47 PM Hi Mark, I live in Seattle Washington. where our weather is very similar to yours. Getting straight to the point - you will not have a problem. The problem for hide heads is rapid (radical) changes in heat and humidity. For an example of the kind of change I am talking about is playing at an outdoor concert in Barcelona Spain one day, then flying the very next day for another outdoor concert in Stockholm Sweden. If you are not a touring banjoist, and you are going to stay around Manchester, and, as you said mosty stay indoors then the head will be in a comparitively stabile environment. I have a friend in Tennessee who like to keep his hide heads really tight. One night in Winter he left the banjo on his sofa about 8 feet from a roaring fire in the fire place. He went to bed and forgot about the banjo. The next morning he discovered the head had tightened with al that rapid dry heat and "POP" it ripped. So, you just need to be aware of rapid changes is all. At the most, you may make very minor adjusts just a couple times a year (or maybe not all). In the first year they keep stretching a little. After that they stop and you might go a long long long time before you have to make any adjustments. In summer you want to aware that it isn't too loose. In winter you want to check that it isn't getting too tight. When you adjust you will find that it only takes tightening or loosening just 1/16th or maybe 1/8th turns all the way around (very small adjustments. So get one! We all love them! Great for Bluegrass as well as Old Time and everything inbetween.
	darlo says: 1/1/2015 7:43:23 PM Tom thank you very much that is greatly appreciated,can't play very well but got doc huff building me a bluegrass banjo with internal resonator picking that up in September when I go to the banjo camp in Seattle and I think that will also have a skin head on it now that I have a little more knowledge many thanks again Darlo
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