It's possible that old head is cracked under the tension hoop.

I think it's OK to change the head, but if it is whole and not cracked, you need to be ultra careful taking the tension hoop off so that you don't create a crack and ruin a nice piece of history.

On the other hand a Fairbanks Electric shouldn't sound "muddled", either.

Measure your rim carefully in several places (old rims get out of round) and perhaps Mr. Smakula will have a head to fit.

Good luck.

“On the other hand a Fairbanks Electric shouldn't sound "muddled", either.“

I’m no expert but I suspect the sound is purely due to my fear of tightening down the head, I dunno if I’m being overly paranoid, I have cranked down on banjo heads without them ripping, but this one is nearly 140 years old and it concerns me.

I would not worry about cranking down on old skin heads.

I have a few original skin heads on Gibsons, I crank them down. Also have a a skin head on two early Whyte Ladies, they are also cranked down. Never an issue over the decades. I do have one skin head on an instrument that is late 1860’s, early 1870’s. I don’t keep that one tension too high, but it does not need it.

The only time I had a skin head bust on me was a new one I installed myself some years back on an old Dobson. That banjo hung in our bedroom for years and for some odd reason the head decided to PoP itself with the loudest bang in the dead of the night. Near killed us and the dog…

You should be good bringing that head to good tension if it is in solid shape. Nothing sounds as good on an old banjo as the original skin heads. They take some maintenance, lots of adjustment and don’t work too well outside at night if it’s damp out, but when they are on point, what a sound.

If you are looking to bring this banjo out to festivals and the like, a skin head may not be best, and you should go with a high quality synthetic head. As mentioned above, Smakula is the best source for any odd size banjo head.

What Alvin said. … I can’t imagine not keeping a functioning original head on an old Fairbanks. Before tightening the head, put a drop of 3-in-1 or similar light oil on the threads of each hook.

I respect that, like I said though my preference is to preserve the original head intact and I’m also not opposed to leaving it as it is. What I’d really like is to have two interchangeable heads, I simply don’t know whether that’s possible… ??

It’s just that personally, after decades of picking, I find I get more tonal clarity (at least in my head) using plastic heads.