Swapping banjouke heads

I met a fellow who has bought several banjoukes, or banjoleles, if you will. His roommate said that he has replaced all the velum(?) heads on them with hide.

I never had a chance to ask him why. Is there an advantage to doing this? Will it give my banjouke a better tone?

And will it be expensive?

Nickie said:

I met a fellow who has bought several banjoukes, or banjoleles, if you will. His roommate said that he has replaced all the velum(?) heads on them with hide.

I never had a chance to ask him why. Is there an advantage to doing this? Will it give my banjouke a better tone?

And will it be expensive?

Click to expand...

Vellum is hide. I assume that he is replacing plastic heads (by far the most common on modern banjos) with a natural hide head (typically goatskin or calfskin). Skin heads range in price from around $9 for a basic goatskin head to around $50 for a premium calfskin head. This heads must be mounted, which can be a time-consuming process. An alternative is Fiberskyn, which is a synthetic head meant to be more like skin.

Whether or not skin heads are better than plastic heads is a matter of opinion. Skin reacts to changes in temperature and humidity, and may require more fiddling. Earl Scruggs, father of the bluegrass banjo, switched to plastic heads as soon as they were available, for better stability. Another potential advantage of skin heads is they can be fitted to virtually any size banjo pot, while plastic heads are made in specific sizes.

Ah, thank you. If plastic is good enough for Earl, it's good enough for me.