Here’s an alternative solution: buy a 12” silent mesh drum head and some flesh hoop stock (or steal the hoop from a donor head) and mount your own mesh head.

I’ve done this with an 11” Rickard little wonder. It’s incredibly quiet but still “sounds” like a banjo. I can really dig in and the banjo will do nothing more than whisper.

No help with a banjo conversion, but I sometimes just put a 5/8" X 5/8" X 3" piece of foam under the strings [next to the bridge.... away from the tailpiece].  It makes it "pretty quiet," although a noticeable "plunk" remains. YMMV??

I would just like to thank the Almighty that I live out in the country !! The place you describe sounds like Hades to me . Neighbors that don’t like being bothered and not to mention a silent banjo.?! It sounds like you’re a good neighbor. Best of luck . I am curious as to what you come up with . Will you keep us posted ? Obliged

I think what you're aspiring to can be accomplished by what is called technique. A working musician needs to learn to control the dynamic range of the instrument. This includes playing at different levels of pianissimo. Try practicing at p, pp & ppp. ...Not easy , but easy on the neighbors.

What? No one has recommended mikes mute? OK, I won't either but for the curious you can go to the reviews under "more" to the left of this page.... banjered

Well, there is the rolled up towel between the rod and head.

Thin Birch plywood is readily available at Home Depot and other outlets. I had a customer who is a self-employed machinist here and he asked me to hold up on installing a head. He showed up with a perfect circle and dropped in a fine wooden banjo head.

Keeping the bridge from vibrating can be done with clothespins but please, no alligator clips. Wood needs wood.
A clothespin with reversed halves makes a model airplane clamp from the '30s. 

I've never stretched mesh, but I made the fine ukulele head from a bird seed bag. Mesh would be much easier because there's no need to have much tension in it -- just enough to hold the bridge.

Even simpler than the foam under the strings right next to the bridge on the picking side is some rolled up paper towel or tissue. It mutes like a charm.

I built my own ~silent banjo to play at work. Starting with a Goodtime, a thick round of plywood would work as a ~silent head. I'd cut it to 11"D and chisel out enough around the edge from the bottom so that it slips inside the rim but hangs over with the right height on top.

I second the mesh head idea. I have a Tranjo with the mesh “silent practice” head installed. It’s as quiet as an unplugged electric guitar, maybe quieter if that’s possible. I like the idea of making your own with a larger mesh drum head and a flesh hoop.

+1 on a Mikes mute. It makes your banjo sound quite similar to an unplugged solid body guitar.

But a word of caution. Killing the sound of your banjo does kind of ruin your touch because technique relies on the feedback between the tone/dynamics you are hearing and the pressure/attack etc. of your right hand. 

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Originally posted by agibson258

Here’s an alternative solution: buy a 12” silent mesh drum head and some flesh hoop stock (or steal the hoop from a donor head) and mount your own mesh head.

I’ve done this with an 11” Rickard little wonder. It’s incredibly quiet but still “sounds” like a banjo. I can really dig in and the banjo will do nothing more than whisper.

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Plus 1 for the mesh drum head. While you're at it put a pickup onto it. The perfect solution to a feedback free banjo on stage. I make them with 10" pots. 

I remember when I started out learning, to keep rythm I was told to "always tap your feet". I stuffed the banjo with t-shirts but still the neighbours from below complained about that mysterious tapping sound. So I took off my shoes as well when practising.

As mentioned research the Tranjo, yes its been done

I shove a towel in my pot. That seems to muffle it enough for me.
Someone told me they put clothespins on their bridge and that worked for them, but I can’t say I’ve tried that.

>...And to be clear, the sound I'm going for is as close to silence as possible...<

Remove the 5th and 6th string from your electric guitar. Replace the 5th string with a .010 string and tune to high g. I’ve been using my telecaster as a practice banjo for many years. I like to run the 5th string through the 6th slot at the nut, to get it away from the other 4 strings, and closer resemble the feel of the banjo open positions. It works fantastic, can be done in a couple minutes, there are no mods required, and only takes a few minutes to reverse.

I can see I'm going to have to have a serious talk with my neighbours.  Some summer evenings I "play/sing" out on the back deck [until the mosquitoes take over], usually with the mute taken off, and though the neighbours don't comment very often, it's always positive*.   

* which is a bit perplexing; nonetheless I thank them and remain undeterred.  

I use Mike's Mute on all my flat necked banjos when needed. I wish he made one for the radiused neck however. Mike's Mute makes all my playing quite pleasant. The bonus is that if you're working on training your ear, you'll find you can hear the note changes better, and you'll pay more attention to how cleanly you are picking because you can hear any odd attack angles/strikes.

Anybody made/tried one, in this style, on a banjo?  

I've considered making one, but haven't found anything suitable in my stash and I'm too much of a cheapskate to go buy one of these:

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Originally posted by Owen

Anybody made/tried one, in this style, on a banjo?  

I've considered making one, but haven't found anything suitable in my stash and I'm too much of a cheapskate to go buy one of these:

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The fiddle player from my band gave me one of those. I trimmed some of the inside "legs", so it would fit a 5-string banjo rather than a 4-string fiddle; works surprisingly well, but it's so tall that it touches my palm when picking close to the bridge; also, the black rubber leaves smudges on the unfinished maple of the bridge.

BTW, the other day the neighbor from the apartment next to ours rang on our door when I was practicing (I usually work afternoons and evenings, so I usually practice from 10 AM to noon, and didn't expect anyone else to be home). I thought he might complain about the "noise" - but he said he liked the music, and asked when he could see my band live (I was practicing along to recordings from our band) - I invited him to our upcoming gig. He makes music, too - EDM!

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Originally posted by tdennis

I think what you're aspiring to can be accomplished by what is called technique. A working musician needs to learn to control the dynamic range of the instrument. This includes playing at different levels of pianissimo. Try practicing at p, pp & ppp. ...Not easy , but easy on the neighbors.

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I play both finger-style and down-picking, and agree with you 100% in regard to technique and fingerstyle. Learning to vary dynamics, particularly at the quiet end of the range is a significant element of this playing style.

In practice I'm less convinced in regard to down-picking simply because of the nature of the acceleration and percussive contact between nail and string. Also that varied dynamics don't really feature in OT except the mantra to 'play quieter' when accompanying a vocal part. 
Playing with less volume shouldn't distort the basic technique so that feeds back into normal playing. With fingerstyle it doesn't. But I think there is more scope for that happening with downpicking. When down-picking I would stuff my banjo to the point it's not audible to the neighbours. That leaves the finger and strings part of the process free to function.

The cheapest option is to stuff a folded towel inside the rim. That mutes it down quite a lot.

What others have said: a towel under the head. A clothes pin on either side of the bridge will also do.
Failing that you can give your neighbours some earplugs :)

Here's another vote for Mikes Mute. It keeps me practicing in the office.

DLR777: "I wish he made one for radiussed.... ."

Dunno if this site is current, but it shows a radiussed one:   https://mikesbanjomute.com/collections/all

Thanks everyone. To be clear, I have a clothespin style mute on the bridge and I keep a thick piece of dense foam cut to fit inside the pot. I'm looking to go quieter.

I think Davidppp has the right idea. Solid plywood, nowhere for sound to go.

Though Helix has a good thought, too. I've seen someone who sells a plastic insert that converts a banjo into an electric.

Where are folks getting mesh drum heads? Also worth exploring.

For the record, I have a couple other banjos that I play inside or at jams. This is my first banjo, kind of a beater, that I'm willing to sacrifice in the name of courtesy.