RV6 - Posted - 11/16/2013:  06:01:26

I've got a JBalch 4 star goatskin head on the way.  I was going to put it on the Reiter Buckbee as it's my "stay at home" banjo and wouldn't be subject to humidity swings. The Buckbee is sounding pretty good right now which makes me reluctant to change anything.

Both banjos are set up with Renaissance heads, walnut bridges and tailpieces and Chris Sands medium strings.  Both banjos are similar in volume.  The Buckbee has a more complex sound than the RK,  I imagine it's a tone hoop vs wood rim thing. 

So the question is, which banjo would benefit the most from the hide head?  Any rule of thumb on skin heads on tone hoop banjos vs wood rims?  I know the obvious solution is to try the head on both banjos but that's  a lot of changing around and waiting for the head to settle in and I may well end up doing that.  But, if I "hit the nail on the head"  right off the bat, I'd leave the hide head on and experiment on the remaining banjo.  I've got a square flesh hoop coming with the head as I thought it would be fun to mount a hide head myself.

Bob

PGP - Posted - 11/16/2013:  06:31:25

I have a Reiter Regent (electric tone ring) with a Balch/Stern pre-mount. I have been lucky enough to own a number of nice banjos and this Regent is my favorite. It has the sweetest tone I have ever heard. Remember that it has a different tone ring than your Reiter. I have found in my experience, and read on BHO, that rolled brass tone rings tend to produce more overtones than other metal tone rings and frequently benefit from stuffing. In my opinion the skin head could help to reduce some of those overtones and produce a greater improvement on that banjo than on the RK. I also presently own an RK R25, which is the resonator version of the same banjo you have, so I am somewhat familiar with that banjo. I find the integral wood tone ring produces fewer overtones than metal tone rings.  That's my opinion. Good luck.

Peter

Edited by - PGP on 11/16/2013 06:33:05

Bart McNeil - Posted - 11/16/2013:  08:20:20

I have several banjos... two with Mylar heads and a maybe six with skin.... My home is not air conditioned nor climate controlled in any way. There is definitly a tonal difference between skin and plastic. I would change one of your fine banjos to skin just to experience the option tone-wise.

Which do I prefer??? It all depends on my tonal intentions at the moment. In general I would describe the skin head tone as a little quieter, but mainly it has a mellow quality which I very much like... Kind of perfect for playing at home.

Putting on or changing heads is really quite easy if you have done it once. In fact I kind of wonder why anyone would have invented pre-shaped skin head with flesh hoop.

The neat thing about banjos is that they are made to be futzed with.... changing heads, adjusting tension, even adjusting neck angle if possible and necessary. To me, that is part of the fun of banjo playing and owning.

RV6 - Posted - 11/16/2013:  08:53:54

quote:

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Originally posted by PGP

 

I have a Reiter Regent (electric tone ring) with a Balch/Stern pre-mount. I have been lucky enough to own a number of nice banjos and this Regent is my favorite. It has the sweetest tone I have ever heard. Remember that it has a different tone ring than your Reiter. I have found in my experience, and read on BHO, that rolled brass tone rings tend to produce more overtones than other metal tone rings and frequently benefit from stuffing. In my opinion the skin head could help to reduce some of those overtones and produce a greater improvement on that banjo than on the RK. I also presently own an RK R25, which is the resonator version of the same banjo you have, so I am somewhat familiar with that banjo. I find the integral wood tone ring produces fewer overtones than metal tone rings.  That's my opinion. Good luck.

Peter

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The Buckbee doesn't have near the overtone problem that my former Tradesman with a goatskin head had.  The Tradesman needed a lot of stuffing.  On the Buckbee, I have a 2 x 2 x 1.5 inch piece of foam, barely compressed between the head and dowel.  The nylon strings did a lot to reduce overtones.

Thanks for your comment.

Bob

RV6 - Posted - 11/16/2013:  09:06:31

quote:

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Originally posted by Bart McNeil

The neat thing about banjos is that they are made to be futzed with.... changing heads, adjusting tension, even adjusting neck angle if possible and necessary. To me, that is part of the fun of banjo playing and owning.

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Bart,  you've got my number  I like to tinker.  I made the walnut bridges and tailpieces on my banjos and changed a few heads in my short banjo career.  On the RK (and a Morgan Monroe that I changed to an openback and scooped),  I made some maple nuts for use with nylon strings and to experiment with string spacing.  On the RK,  I made a higher 5th string pip (so the nylon string would clear the spike that I installed at the 7th fret).

Thanks for the comments!      Bob

RV6 - Posted - 11/17/2013:  06:39:36

The JBalch 4 star goatskin head arrived yesterday. Very quick service from John and a first class job on the head. I put it on my RK.

I received a pm from a fellow Hangout member asking me to tell him how the head worked out if I put it on the RK OT25 so that's how I made a decision on which banjo would get the new head.

It was a big step up when I replaced the Fiberskyn with a Renaissance head. Replacing the Ren. with the hide head was another good upgrade.

The addition of the goatskin head and the Chris Sands medium nylon strings has turned this banjo into one that I'll keep.

Bob

RK OT25 /w JBalch 4 star goatskin head