Q&A | Head Tension & Antique Banjos

[@garycowger9579]

That's why I like building them Myself I build them just the way I like it mostly fretless !

[@DavidD6969]

Very good information

[@baldpatch79]

beautiful banjo! just the video i needed, just fitted a calf skin head onto my 1900's windsor 5 string i'm restoring 😁

[@Popcorn_Kernel]

All of my old banjos were $100 the most expensive was my 1890 Orpheum Banjeaurine it was $300 needed lots of work but it sounds beautiful

[@geffreyjewell6546]

I always find git-fiddles and banjos at estate sales or general merchandise auctions. Mostly the folks running those types of sales are ignorant of value. You have to go armed with some knowledge of your own, but remember, if you make a mistake it's knowledge bought. You will be paying your tuition in the school of hard knocks until you graduate to a level where you don't make those mistakes any more. I bought my son's first Martin at an auction for just over $100. He still plays it these 20 years later, it made him a Martin fan, so 4 Martins later he still loves the first one. It was a happy accident that I bought that first one, but I'm no longer ignorant of Martins. Go spend some money, laugh at and learn from your mistakes, but most of all...have fun. Life is short, death is long, this is not a dressed rehearsal.

[@stevebaker1514]

Ever sing into the hoop to see what notes resonate? Thats my personal technique for finding the head pitch. Don't know if its right or not but seems to work.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Sure! I used to tune my heads to "F" but it's been years since I bothered.

[@michaelharvey5138]

I always go for plastic heads....less hassle !.....

[@guismth]

I have an a c fairbanks, Boston banjo from around 1900. Needing to put a skin head on it.

[@davestambaugh7282]

In 1921 Gibson came up with the idea that if you had springs under the tone ring that the skin head would stay tight. Unfortunatley it did not work so it was not advertised as the great improvement that they had hoped it to be.

[@clawhammer704]

Deer and goat meat taste the same cooked. Beats McDonalds any day of the week. My grandpa used to hold his banjo up next to a wood heater to tighten the heat. He'd also had a couple light bulbs inside head to keep it tight. But you had to have a place to plug your lights in.

[@marinevet7273]

Can you list some old banjos to look for one EBay, buy and sell sites etc.

[@veroldaley1]

Great advice as always Clifton,sure would serve the purpose when folks are looking for a good old banjo, and yes people in the UK still complain about the metric system.have you ever tried a moon bridge on your banjos and what is your opinion of them, best regards

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I've never tried those moon shaped bridges but I bet they work fine.

[@Chiaroscuro1991]

An antique banjo like the one you have there was designed for a lower tuning (not G) but also strung with gut strings. An over tightened head and steel strings can cause damage on the poor old gal … like a “warped neck.” 😮

[@maxheinrichliebow]

I see your bridge is quite far back towards the tail there.... does it help in any way? I go with the standard "measure to the 12th fret, then the same length from there to the point of where the bridge goes"... what do you do?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I do the same. That's just where the bridge sits on this banjo (common for the 1880s).

[@terryfinley7760]

Don’t sound muddy to me bro!

[@davestambaugh7282]

The worst junk that I have seen is when they saw how fast the sap wood would soak up the black dye. The sap wood did not fair so well as was to be expected. Better to use heart wood and be patient while the wood soaks.

[@whatposterman1222]

I’m weird, I like goat better than calf.