TR Dockery - Posted - 01/14/2015:  11:16:12

'Having a tough time deciding which banjo I want to put a particular hide head on.  If I try it on a flat head banjo, can I later put it onto an archtop?  What about the other way around?  I'm thinking in the first case, I would not have the impression made on the head that showed it had been on another banjo, whereas in the latter case, there would be the impression of an archtop tone ring remaining when I transfer it to the flat head.  Opinions/experiences?

Thanks!

Happy trails,

Randy

Baltimonkey - Posted - 01/14/2015:  11:25:40

you can go flat head to archtop but you cannot go back.  At least that's what I hear (I have never personally tried it).

jbalch - Posted - 01/14/2015:  11:53:27

Consider the crown height too.  If you set a medium or high crown for an flathead - it might be tall for an arch top.

mijknahs - Posted - 01/14/2015:  12:24:50

I put an old archtop Rogers head on a flathead banjo and it works and sounds great. You can still see a ring around where it was on the archtop ring though. 

rupickin5 - Posted - 01/14/2015:  13:15:44

There was a way-cool, large promotional photo/poster, in a tavern on the west-side of Buffalo...this is when I went in there back in the mid/late '60's...the place eventually burned down...shoulda asked for the poster :-(

It was Jimmy Martin along w/ Paul Williams & a young JD Crowe...in the picture it looked like JD was playing an arch-top (hide-head) I asked Crowe about it years ago...& its the same scenario you ponder. It was his no-hole 3 (Banger) w/ a head from an arch-top.

rudy - Posted - 01/14/2015:  13:32:46

quote:

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Originally posted by TR Dockery

'Having a tough time deciding which banjo I want to put a particular hide head on.  If I try it on a flat head banjo, can I later put it onto an archtop?  What about the other way around?  I'm thinking in the first case, I would not have the impression made on the head that showed it had been on another banjo, whereas in the latter case, there would be the impression of an archtop tone ring remaining when I transfer it to the flat head.  Opinions/experiences?

Thanks!

Happy trails,

Randy

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Do both.  A hide is inexpensive compared to the labor and/or frustration of trying to re-use a single hide on multiple instruments.  Consider it as the price that we pay for experimentation.  It's a bit like re-using strings on another instrument, heads (and strings) are consumables.