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ARCHIVED TOPIC: Head ID

Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/291855

csacwp - Posted - 09/25/2014: 20:52:35

How can I tell the difference between goatskin and calfskin heads? Do they have different textures?

banjonz - Posted - 09/25/2014: 21:31:28

I have found that goatskin ( at least the ones I got from the US) had too much 'white' stuff in it and when wet it swelled up too much. The calfskin ( there are different grades) tend to be more even. This is just my opinion!

jbalch - Posted - 09/26/2014: 05:00:23

In my experience, you can't always tell the species by the appearance of the hide. The truth is that goat skins and calf skins all vary widely in terms of color, translucence, thickness, and texture.

Generally, the fleshy parts of natural (unbleached) goat hide may be more yellow than calf.

A good bit of the calfskin that is available these days is mostly translucent. On these hides, the fleshy spots are more white than typical goat.

Here are six examples from my archives. The first three are natural goat. The last three are calf.

September 8 2013 - 4-star goat hide	natural beauty #285	September 12 2013	Stern Tanning hide on 1929 Gibson TB-1 conversion
Menzies non-bleached calfskin on Sagmoen banjo	Menzies Calfskin head on banjo Uke