Bluegrass and hide heads

Premier Sponsors

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue, we will assume that you agree to our privacy policy which includes details of cookie usage. Hide this notice

Hide Heads

Join This Group

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)

< Back to Home

From jimt on 8/3/2015 1:46:07 PM

I learned three finger style in 1968 right out of a first edition Scruggs book-I could tell it was a first edition because his name was spelled Sgruggs on both the cover and the dust jacket. Earl said plastic heads were the only thing to consider, and so for decades that was the Kool-aid I drank.. Then Jim Mills recorded Hide Head Blues and it got me to thinking. I started finding vintage Jos. Rogers heads on eBay and now I have them on everything. WAY MO' BETTAH. I cannot believe the tonal complexity compared to plastic. I play melodic and slow anyway so I don't need the "nail-gun" tone the hard core guys seem to prefer. My latest project even has the factory original Joe Rogers head on it, and it is a ball bearing to boot. Life is good.

2 Comments
	Tom Berghan says: 8/3/2015 2:11:53 PM Right on! I have a hide head on my Bluegrass Banjo as well. I like Mylar too but I live the feel of hide and just as you say, hide has more complexity. I think the maintenance issues are overblown and exaggerated. They exist, but it isn't a big deal I find.
	jimt says: 8/3/2015 2:43:44 PM The old skins seem more stable. When the weather gets moist they definitely stretch but they don't seem to move as much as new hides. When I was still performing I would keep desiccant packets on the top, in the case, and get it out just before playing on stage. Worked fine and we usually only did a set or two so it would go back in the case between sets. Nowadays I perform on my back porch alone and when it stretches it buzzes in G so I play stuff in A.
Post a Comment
You must be logged in and a member of this group to post a comment.

Forum Post: Drum dial settings for vellums Linked by jbalch 4 days ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 4 months ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 4 months ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 5 months ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 9 months ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 10 months ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 10 months ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 1 year ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 1 year ago
Forum Post: (untitled) Linked by jbalch 2 years ago