I have a Deering Artisan 19 fret, tuned to GDAE. It’s a pretty bright sounding banjo, and I was wondering if anyone has replaced the head with skin? I thought that might tone the sound down a bit. I already have a pair of socks under the bridge to dampen it somewhat.
Any idea where I could even get a skin head replacement?
Heavier bridge, less break angle over the bridge (adjust tailpiece so it is higher above the head).
Smakula Fretted Instruments sells skin heads.
I'd say first just lower the head tension and see where that gets you. I like my bluegrass banjos up at like 91, but seem to like my ITMs down at like 85-86ish on the drum dial. This make a much larger difference than the head type, in my opinion.
Head type does makes a difference, but I can't say myself I'd want to mess with a real skin head changing tension based on the weather. Remo makes a fiberskin type head that's supposed to sound similar to skin, but is mylar and doesn't have weather issues. Those get REALLY dark, maybe further than you want to go.
It looks like a goodtime artisan comes with a top frosted head. A renaissance (sort of cloudy translucent) or white suede or black suede head will knock the edge off the brightness. It seems the renaissance is the standard for ITM, but I'm beginning to like the suede heads as well.
Looks like a goodtime artisan comes with a presto type tailpiece. If it's adjustable, set it so it's further away from the surface of the head, almost to a straight line from the bridge to the edge of the banjo. This makes a large difference as well, and won't require swapping parts.
If you want to play with a real skin head, Smakula Fretted Instruments sells them (and usually has good prices on regular heads as well).
Edited by - jt80 on 09/21/2026 13:43:38
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