It is pretty straight forward. They key thing is to be sure you are ordering the right size. Many modern banjos have an 11-inch head, but older banjo may vary. Head diameter come in 1/16" increments and three different crown heights. Be sure to measure your diameter in several places with the old head removed.

The other tip I would offer is to work on a clear surface, like a tabletop and cover the area with a towel. It is surprising how easy it is to lose a nut or hook.

Do your best to keep the tension hoop level as you tighten the new head. It is easy to pull one area lower if not watching for it.

Watch the YouTube video on Elderly Instruments YouTube Channel on how to change a head.
I just changed mine for the first time after years of being too scared to do it.
The video was so helpful.
It isn’t hard.
Took me a couple of hours, taking my time.
Get a drum dial to measure the tightness if you can.
I rented one from my local music store for five bucks.

After fitting and aligning the head and tension hoop, I finger-tighten all the hooks until I just feel tension. When that’s done, I start with one of the hooks next to the neck and give it half a turn. Then I do the same with the hook catty=cornered from that one across the head. Then back to the hook next to the first one I tightened. Tighten that one until you feel tension and then a quarter turn more…and so on back and forth as you work your way around the head. You’ll feel the hooks and the head snub up. Tighten until it has little or no give, and emits a nice pop when you flick it. This method should keep the head evenly tight. I’ve never used a drum-dial or anything else to measure head tension, and I’ve changed plenty of heads, both hide and plastic. I learned to do it before the internet and based on my own common sense. Never have had a problem. You should do fine. Remember to trust what you see and feel even if it contradicts anything I or others might have said here. And I don't know how Fred Bacon got here, and I'm not spending the time to try and get rid of him. 

Hi Laurence

Is this a wind up? I've admired your playing for ages, your rendition of 'Little Rock Getaway' is inspirational. Your profile informs us you've been playing since 1968 and it certainly shows! In all these years, you've never changed a head? Let me know what brand you've been using all this time and I'll buy one. With a use time like that, I'll never need another!

Harry

Remember to tighten the head incrementally and that the head will continue to stretch. Some head like the old Stew-Mac 5-Star(no longer available) and the Ludwig, a similar head, are pretty stretchy. The Remo Weather King(my choice) tends to snap and crackle around the edges when first tightening, and may tear out of the hoop if tightened too much, too quickly, so "slow-and-sho'" is my rule when tightening. I use tap-tuning, followed by a Drum-Dial to verify the numbers for the record.

I would urge to get a Drum dial. It will allow you to achieve the same amount of tension in each of the tension hooks. The general consensus seems to be that that condition yields optimal tone. It also gives you a measurable value that is functionally related to the actual tension of the head and to the tone that you will achieve.

Most materials are susceptible to the phenomenon of mechanical "creep", and it's certainly true with the Mylar material that banjo heads are made from. It's a form of slow mechanical deformation that occurs when a material is exposed to high stress levels for a period of time. Put simply, the head will loosen up after you tighten it. When I put a new head on a banjo, I usually have to re-tighten it three or four times over a period of 3- 6 months. The drum dial is particularly useful for this process. After you've done your initial head-tension setup and achieved the tone you desire, you can record the associated drum dial reading. Then, when you re-tighten the head, you can use that initial drum dial reading as a reference.

Check for any sharp edges on the tension hoop before reinstalling. Rarely a problem, but...

In addition to all the great advice provided, I'll add that when I do change the head, I take the opportunity to do a complete cleaning and string change while the banjo is disassembled.

Take your time and don't rush the process; I have in the past and gotten myself extremely frustrated and ended up just putting the old head back on for a few weeks until I was ready to try it again.

I also use a drum dial, mostly for my natural hide head. Not so much to get it to an exact tone but mostly just to ball park the head tension. We get a lot of humidity changes where I live so it's very helpful to have some external help with that.

quote:

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Originally posted by HSmith

Hi Laurence

Is this a wind up? I've admired your playing for ages, your rendition of 'Little Rock Getaway' is inspirational. Your profile informs us you've been playing since 1968 and it certainly shows! In all these years, you've never changed a head? Let me know what brand you've been using all this time and I'll buy one. With a use time like that, I'll never need another!

Harry

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Exactly!  A great player never changed a head?   Actually, his mind is on straight.  A buddy/fiddler said to me a long time ago 'banjo players are tinkerers'.  He's right so many of us get caught up in fooling with our instruments and never get around to playing.

clearly not the case with Lawrence.

quote:

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Originally posted by Gallaher

quote:

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Originally posted by HSmith

Hi Laurence

Is this a wind up? I've admired your playing for ages, your rendition of 'Little Rock Getaway' is inspirational. Your profile informs us you've been playing since 1968 and it certainly shows! In all these years, you've never changed a head? Let me know what brand you've been using all this time and I'll buy one. With a use time like that, I'll never need another!

Harry

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Exactly!  A great player never changed a head?   Actually, his mind is on straight.  A buddy/fiddler said to me a long time ago 'banjo players are tinkerers'.  He's right so many of us get caught up in fooling with our instruments and never get around to playing.

clearly not the case with Lawrence.

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Haha! Well with all my money, I just throw out the banjo and get a new one when the head looks dodgy 

I broke and replaced the head on my first aluminum rimmed rimmed banjo before I started taking lessons in 72. Have changed countless heads since.

The only thing I can add to the discussion is my real-world experience of tightening the nuts in the criss-cross fashion described above as well as tightening going around in order from the first nut to the 24th: I detected no difference in the outcome.

I've also done a criss-cross pattern in pairs: the two nuts on either side of the neck, followed by the two nuts on either side of the tailpiece, then the pairs at 3 and 9 o'clock. Not sure how I proceeded from there. I've only used this pattern on new heads, to achieve stability pretty quickly.

quote:

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Originally posted by Laurence Diehl

quote:

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Originally posted by Gallaher

quote:

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Originally posted by HSmith

Hi Laurence

Is this a wind up? I've admired your playing for ages, your rendition of 'Little Rock Getaway' is inspirational. Your profile informs us you've been playing since 1968 and it certainly shows! In all these years, you've never changed a head? Let me know what brand you've been using all this time and I'll buy one. With a use time like that, I'll never need another!

Harry

---

Exactly!  A great player never changed a head?   Actually, his mind is on straight.  A buddy/fiddler said to me a long time ago 'banjo players are tinkerers'.  He's right so many of us get caught up in fooling with our instruments and never get around to playing.

clearly not the case with Lawrence.

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Haha! Well with all my money, I just throw out the banjo and get a new one when the head looks dodgy 

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Let me know when you are going to take the trash out again.

So far no one has mentioned using any type of lubricant on the mating surfaces. From a "common sense" standpoint, it would seem that eliminating any type of friction would allow the mating surfaces to seat better. Anyone do this? Any more knowledgeable that have tested for this? I know that the Drum Dial folks have a product specifically for this purpose. Comments?

One thing I didn't see mentioned...

Can you get the tension hoop off without having to loosen the neck?
On some banjos, you can. Many others, no.

I wouldn't loosen the neck unless it was required to do so.

Haha! Well with all my money, I just throw out the banjo and get a new one when the head looks dodgy 

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My uncle Howard used to say he bought a new car whenever the ashtray filled up in the old one. 

+1 on the drum dial.

I pooh-poohed the idea of buying one for ages, assuming because I liked the sound I had, I didn't really need to spend the money. When one turned up used for what I considered an affordable price (cheapskate that I am), I thought "What the heck," and splurged.

Improved the sound on every banjo I used it on, some only slightly but others quite dramatically. For me the magic number is 87.5. I first tried it at 91, as that was what I'd seen recommended, but didn't like the feel or the sound. Maybe the higher tensioned head is for bluegrass players?

quote:

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Originally posted by Realbluegrassfan

So far no one has mentioned using any type of lubricant on the mating surfaces. From a "common sense" standpoint, it would seem that eliminating any type of friction would allow the mating surfaces to seat better. Anyone do this? Any more knowledgeable that have tested for this? I know that the Drum Dial folks have a product specifically for this purpose. Comments?

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In the days of skin heads it was the practice of some people to rub a tiny amount of beeswax on the top of the rim before installing a new head. That practice seems to have been left behind with synthetic heads.

I would not use any kind of petroleum based lubricant, even with a plastic head, in case of a chemical reaction.

I have changed many heads on tenor banjos over the last 60 years plus. It is easy. If you do not use a drum dial, just look at each tension look to observe if they have been tightened equally by observing the hooks, and use the ruler and coin method used by Steve Davis to set tension closely. Many tenors do not appear to need the neck even loosened to change a head.. In the early 1960's, I had a Ludwig tenor that had a very dead tone. My friend had a Paramount high end tenor with great tone. I decided to change the calfskin head on mine, but had no money. One day driving along I saw a large old drum in a garbage with a torn head along the edge.The head was plastic. I thought wow! I heard about plastic heads being great. I took the drum home, cut the head to about 16" round, salvaged the metal ring from the old head, and attempted to mount the head. Now believe me that is the only nightmare head replacement I do not ever recommend or attempt. I finally did it, believe or not, but the banjo still sounded terrible. I thought you might enjoy the humour in this post. My wife laughed quite hard at my youthful stupidity. Jim

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Originally posted by lightgauge

Do your best to keep the tension hoop level as you tighten the new head. It is easy to pull one area lower if not watching for it.

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If you start with a level hoop and all nuts making contact with the flange the easiest way to maintain level as you tighten is to turn all nuts in order from heel to heel and turn each nut the same amount on each complete circuit such as 1/4 turns.

quote:

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Originally posted by Realbluegrassfan

So far no one has mentioned using any type of lubricant on the mating surfaces. From a "common sense" standpoint, it would seem that eliminating any type of friction would allow the mating surfaces to seat better. Anyone do this? Any more knowledgeable that have tested for this? I know that the Drum Dial folks have a product specifically for this purpose. Comments?

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small amount of talcum powder on inside edge of head  , then blow out inside the rim w/ air compressor when done

Hello,

Talcum powder. If the banjo develops skin cancer, will it sue you like for millions of dollars?

sciencedirect.com/science/arti...213005874

Hello,

Johnson & Johnson was sued by mothers stricken with cancer from using their product.

Bees wax has no press. Talcum powder has that press.

I don’t doubt that it works.

quote:

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Originally posted by Aradobanjo

Hello,

Talcum powder. If the banjo develops skin cancer, will it sue you like for millions of dollars?

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You can sue but j&j will just spin up a bogus subsidiary then declare bankruptcy. 
**completely off topic