PeterKSiegel - Posted - 07/13/2017:  15:18:42

At this point, almost all the banjos I play -- I think seven of them -- have hide heads. I've changed most of them to hide heads over the years. Most of the heads came from John Balch, one from Terry Bell, and a couple came with old banjos I bought.

I know hide heads are not for everyone. You do have to adjust them, although not as much as some people think. I play almost exclusively frailing style and I really love the way they sound on a good instrument. A lot of people do prefer the sound of plastic heads, which come in many different varieties. I'm hoping that other people who play hide heads will share their impressions of the sound.

While I have heard people praise hide heads as being more mellow or less harsh sounding, what I really treasure is their character and their many different and complex sounds. I want an instrument that evokes history: the Civil War, agrarian America's farms and factories, the Union rallies of the 1930s, all the American qualities that Woody Guthrie celebrated in his music and particularly in his prose writings. 

Every hide head seems to have its own voice. A lot of great traditional banjo players have made beautiful evocative sounds using plastic heads too. What do you think? (Click on the photo below for descriptions)

Edited by - PeterKSiegel on 07/13/2017 15:19:41

Hide Heads

 

Jim Shank - Posted - 07/13/2017:  16:42:45

A good hide head on a bluegrass banjo (what I play) can sound almost just as bright as a plastic head but with a lot more "character" and richer tone. Louder too. Has to be a good, thin, dry head. The best ones I've heard are the old Rogers 3 Star heads. I've broken some too trying to get that perfect tone.

revellfa - Posted - 07/13/2017:  17:12:28

Love my hide heads after they get "settled in."

CrackerJo - Posted - 07/13/2017:  17:49:04

I love my JD Balch goat skin head on my B. Reiter A scale. I have a JD Balch Stern's 4 star calf skin head I intend to put on my Reiter standard, when time allows.

arnie fleischer - Posted - 07/13/2017:  20:01:20

I have hide heads on my 1891 Cole's Eclipse and 1909 Whyte Laydie No. 2. I love the way they look, feel, and sound. Adjusting them for weather doesn't bother me - admittedly, and sadly, because I rarely play them. Although I started out my banjo life as a frailer, I've been primarily a bluegrass player for the last 40 years. My bluegrass banjos all have plastic heads.

AndrewD - Posted - 07/14/2017:  04:07:47

I have hide heads on both my main playing banjos - and a couple of others as I prefer the sound One I installed myself on a modern banjo that came with a Remo. The other has its original Josh Rogers. I hardly ever have to adjjust them after the first few days and I live in a maritime climate of very variable humidity. I'm a clawhammer player. Maybe if I was a Blugrasser with a Bluegrassers obsession about an Ab tap tone or a 92 drum dial setting things would be different. Main  banjo has a calfskin head from Clifford Essex. Others have goatskin that I believe I got from Andybanjo. The main job in installing a head is unscrewing all of the tension hooks , putting them back afterwards and slowly getting the head up to tension. So not really much difference in time and care required for a plastic head or a skin head - and none if it's pre mounted (though I've never used one of those).

carlb - Posted - 07/14/2017:  04:47:57

Love hide heads and they are on all my 5-string banjos: two Bacon Professional, a Bruno and a no-name fretless. I haven't tried one on my Enoch 12 inch banjo-guitar yet which has a frosted plastic head.

mbuk06 - Posted - 07/14/2017:  05:05:03

Ditto what Carl said and what Andy said about adjustment.

Skin heads aren't to everyone's taste; there is no 'better' in regard to plastic or skin - just different and personal preference.

Peter referred to the 'complex sounds' of skin heads. I completely agree although attempting to define what that complexity is in words is nigh on impossible.

davidppp - Posted - 07/14/2017:  06:49:08

In a recent thread ( banjohangout.org/topic/330226  ), I replied: Jim Mills did a great interview with J.D. Crowe in 2014: http://www.prewargibsonbanjos.com/crowe/ (or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4fxjdjYwwA).  J.D. talks about skin heads starting around the 21:30 mark.

darlo - Posted - 07/14/2017:  07:17:10

i have hide heads on four of my eight banjos soon to be 5 when i get round to it, they are two docs banjos set up scruggs style 11 & 13 inch gibson RB 250 recording king 75 elite,might be me but i think hide heads give a slightly follower sound, the reason all of them haven't been changed is when i travel its easier with a mylar head would love to try one on my hatfield special but thats my favourite and the one i travel with

Uncle Freddy - Posted - 07/14/2017:  12:16:42

When I started playing, some 45 years ago, the popular notion among the people around me then was that you needed to get rid of that old skin head...plastic was better, more reliable, less fragile, louder and so on.

It took me a little while to figure out how much more I like the sound of skin than plastic, but now I put skin on any banjo I get the chance to. I still do a bit of repair and restoration work, and I always recommend a skin head to my clients. To me skin is just so much more musical...it's sweeter, warmer, got more depth of tone. Of course there are banjos that sound pretty darn good with plastic heads, and the sound is very appropriate for a certain type of music, will let you cut through in a band situation and so on. But for any old-time style, skin just sounds so much better to me.

I have an old Bruno open back from 1910 or so; it has the original, calfskin head and I basically never have to adjust it; I think it's just got itself all stretched out after all that time. When I use a new skin these days I prefer goatskin, and I get fairly inexpensive goat drum skins. It's true each one is different...I love that part; being a guitar builder, I love being able to have some effect on the tone by the material I use, and to have variety available.

Fred

bluegrassboy - Posted - 07/14/2017:  13:46:01

i have a rogers head from a late 30s 00. it has been on every banjo i have owned, love the sound not the hassle