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tfaux - Posted - 02/03/2010: 16:23:23
Pickinchik's banjo looks great...
see: http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/169923
Why don't more banjos sport cool head designs? Plenty of vines, flowers, planets and mermaids on fingerboards, but there doesn't seem to be much interest in decorating the heads.
Seems like it should be a natural in the age of the universal tattoo...
Tom
timmo_1949 - Posted - 02/03/2010: 16:47:51
Yeah, if you can get the goat to hold still long enough to tatoo.
Sorry, I was being a dick. I enjoy seeing head decorations and have messed around with it a little (http://savethebanjos.com/Saga%20Kit...d%20Look.htm), scroll down.
One problem is that most methods will wear off unevenly over time. Another is that many are convinced that ink molecules will alter the tone of the banjo even if it was crappy before. The largest "problem" is that banjoists tend to be very conservative in their notion of what a banjo should look like, and that includes a white or near-white head.
Tim Smith
KANINJACK - Posted - 02/03/2010: 16:54:55
The Avett brothers sport some "unique" decorations on their banjo as well, with a skull and other markings. I definately enjoy their music, but they also probably do not fall under the conservative category. When I first saw it my first thought was wether or not it changed the sound of the banjo.
oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 02/03/2010: 17:02:54
I've seen that head here before and have to admit, i would have a hard time playing that instrument. I wouldn't want to spoil the painting!
I once wrote "This Machine Kills Fetishists" around the edge on a New Remo Weatherking Top frost (actually only about 60% of the edge). My wife made me replace the head and insisted I avoid such stuff in the future. I have.
Paul R - Posted - 02/03/2010: 17:17:11
Sorry, no photos (but after seeing the other pics, maybe it's better that I not show it). I put a basic vine pattern on my old Orpheum's head (not the original head). Just basic black with a black Pigma Brush, two vines coming from the bridge, one along the top and one along the bottom circle, defined by the line of the arch top. It worked out okay, I guess, but I kept wondering if I'd broken some unwritten, unspoken code that applies to everyone but Pete Seeger.
Back in the early seventies I used a black marker to do a pic of the Toronto Centre Island ferry and the words "Mariposa Belle", to honour the Mariposa Folk Festival. Not much of an honour - it was a really cheap, crappy banjo (but sounded all right at the time, to my untrained ear). It actually turned out well - full contrast pic of the ferry underneath and below the strings and cap lettering in western style in semicircle above.
You're right: Why don't we see more? It could become the musical equivalent of the contemporary goalie mask. Maybe we need a "study" showing that head art improves your tone!
ScottK - Posted - 02/04/2010: 10:50:06
I had an artist buddy do a pen and ink Sandhill Crane on the head of my first banjo. He did a great job. It was done in both brown and black ink and was 2-3 inches high, positioned below and slightly behind the bridge. That banjo's been out on an extended loan though, so I can't take a picture (and am not sure I have any old pictures of it).
Scott
gailg64 - Posted - 02/04/2010: 11:51:04
Good question!
Decorating banjo heads was once popular & you'll sometimes see 1920s era banjo ukes with slogans ("Oh you kid!") and cartoon drawings of people, palm trees & canoes. Since a banjo is half drum, it's no surprise, since drum heads were often decorated, usually with the name of the group. The Orange Grove Stringband of Gainesville, FL (20s & 30s) had the name of the band inscribed around the edge of one of the banjo's heads (a tenor).
As a kid, I copied the idea of flowers, bees & butterflies I saw in a picture of Samantha Bumgarner's banjo onto my banjo head. That skin split & the new owner ( ca 1968 or so) replaced it with a plain vanilla remo.
GG
PS I just remembered that Tom Jackson used to have a crazy optical illusion/spirograph design on his banjo head.
quote:
Originally posted by tfaux
Pickinchik's banjo looks great...
see: http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/169923
Why don't more banjos sport cool head designs? Plenty of vines, flowers, planets and mermaids on fingerboards, but there doesn't seem to be much interest in decorating the heads.
Seems like it should be a natural in the age of the universal tattoo...
Tom
5stringpicker2 - Posted - 02/04/2010: 12:46:52
Most folks don't do it cause it's not Banjoie.
(I )===='---<::)
5stringpicker2 - Posted - 02/04/2010: 12:48:43
Here's pickinchiks Banjo
(I )====='---<::)
marx - Posted - 02/04/2010: 18:02:53
My wife decorated my goodtime.....she remarked that it may give me that
plunky oldtimey sound.
vrteach - Posted - 02/04/2010: 18:27:19
A more commercial version, I bought my bicentennial banjo in (guess) 1976. I remember there were other such things in that year.
unclekurty - Posted - 02/04/2010: 18:47:50
OWC that is funny. I'd put it on an banjo case. Glad you listen to your wife.
Someone make the bumper sticker. Please.
quote:
Originally posted by oldwoodchuckb
[I once wrote "This Machine Kills Fetishists" around the edge on a New Remo Weatherking Top frost (actually only about 60% of the edge). My wife made me replace the head and insisted I avoid such stuff in the future. I have.
Paul R - Posted - 02/05/2010: 05:42:07
Good observation that decorating banjo heads was once popular.
My sister-in-law gave me a tenor banjo that was stored in her garage (!). It was an old Imperial (I wonder how many companies used that name) with a painting on the head. It showed three black jazz musicians wailing away. The stereotypical poses they struck caused me to refer to it as my "racist" banjo. You couldn't get away with such an illustration today. Sadly, the head split (the parts were so seized up that adjustements were impossibe) and the banjo later went missing.
tfaux - Posted - 02/05/2010: 06:01:49
quote:
Originally posted by Paul R
Good observation that decorating banjo heads was once popular.
I agree. Also, thanks Gail for pointing out that ukuleles have often been objects of enhancement (but not guitars very much, Woody Guthrie notwithstanding.)
There are at least a few (among the 34,000 BHO account holders) making cool head designs Still, why do most NOT decorate?
pickinchik - Posted - 02/05/2010: 07:20:21
I didn't realize my banjo would spark this much discussion. Wow. Anyway I am the type of person who likes to really take ownership of the things I like. Call me weird, I do a bunch of weird things. I had vinyl letters made up for my bicycles, I am a real bike nut. (Yes that is plural I have multiple bikes) Our cycling friends saw it and remarked on it and probably thought we were weird too. LOL I had my husband put a design on my guitar years ago when I started to learn it too. My other banjo has a design on it also and myself and my husband are marked up with tattoos. I just really like to customize everything I guess. Some people tinker with parts and others with designs I guess. I put stickers all over my stereo case as a teen too because I loved it so much. I also drew designs all over my roller skates 
I just see that blank white canvas that needs some customization. I can't do the art, but luckily I have a talented hubby. Every banjo I ever have will have something on it. When we had our home built we looked at the plans and said what can we change? We ended up adding tons of cool stuff to it to make it our own. Same with everything we do. I would love it if more people would do this because it just makes it their own.
I like the temporary tatt idea above those are pretty neat and are changeable too. The bullet holes were cool, the guy who did a design to match his tatt was cool too. The bird, the snake, all of em. I like em all. Show me more!!
Mandy
E_S_Morgan - Posted - 02/05/2010: 08:24:37
It's funny this topic came up, I am a screenprinter by trade and am about to start adorning some heads, just waiting for some ink samples to arrive, will post the results as I go, was going to do some recordings before and after to see how much the tone, if at all is altered.
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 02/05/2010: 08:27:54
Almost every one of my banjo heads is decorated. Always have been. (I'd post pictures, but I don't have any, and I'm not in a place where I can get any at the moment).
My long neck Pete Seeger model (top picture in my avatar) has an abstract design that I have copied every time I have changed heads over the years...drawn with a crow quill pen and Indian Ink.
My old Fairbanks has a flying bird (also done in pen and Indian Ink) and the head itself is coloured with high quality coloured pencils to resemble a skin head.
My older Dobson has a picture of the devil playing a fiddle.
My tiny hybrid fretless (bottom picture in my avatar) has a scaled down version of the design on the long neck, this time done in sepia ink on a real skin head.
I have two more banjos that are undecorated so far...but now that I've responded here, I'm itching to draw on them as well.
Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 02/05/2010 08:31:23
BobCu - Posted - 02/05/2010: 09:12:25
I'm really enjoying the head art. A number of years ago they had a "Christmas Banjo" at the Gibson site. The head had a Xmas wreath around the entire edge. It really looked beautiful. Pls keep the pix coming. Some great ideas here.
rinemb - Posted - 02/10/2010: 08:43:13
Here is the goat skin tackhead that Eric Prust Made and I painted it to use on my teufelsgeige, a german percussion instrument. (see how on topic: Painted head-how I did it in Banjo Building Forum)
Brad
Edited by - rinemb on 02/10/2010 08:44:56
brokenstrings - Posted - 02/10/2010: 23:16:33
Brad, I see you got your Teufelsgeige!
rinemb - Posted - 02/11/2010: 07:56:57
Jessy said: "Brad, I see you got your Teufelsgeige!"
Jessy, I ended up building this teufelsgeige. I had to buy the hardware, and Eric Prust provided the banjo pot. It was going to be too expensive to ship this 6-ft item from Germany. I woodcarver who does santa head ornaments, made the devils head by adding horns and Marilyn painted the beard black. If I ever brought this "beast" to an old time festival I would probably be strung up in the nearest limb. but for our traditional Austrian/Bavarian music its great.
BTW, Jessy, Thanks for the translation and pronunciation help.
Brad
Edited by - rinemb on 02/11/2010 07:57:50
JackJack - Posted - 02/11/2010: 11:02:32
Here's mine.
Subtle and sweet.
