Don't You Hate It When Your Head Explodes?

[crookedtune]

Well, I've been playing 5-string banjo for 25 years, so few 'things-banjo' surprise me.

Yesterday I came home to find the nice skin head on my 1928 Tu-Ba-Phone split like Johnny Cash's pants. I keep it pretty tight, and I guess the humidity was down to 30% or so, but that's never been an issue before.

So.....if they make them in a size 11-13/16", I intend to try one of the new Remo Renaissance heads. Old-time players seem to love 'em. Has anyone here every tried one?

[Tim2723]

I haven't tried one on my five-banger, but I tried it on my Irish tenor. Didn't like it there. I still have it, and my five-string is the same size as my tenor, so I'll experiment someday. I prefer Fiberskyn. Don't know about the sizes, sorry. They get really high ratings on banjohangout though, so why not give it a shot. It's not a whole lot of money, and you might just love it. The great thing about banjos is that you can try so many things to get different sounds. Strings, heads, bridges, tensions, picks, tailpiece angles.....a real tinkerer's instrument.

[Thomaston]

I liked the sound of the ren head when I was playing clawhammer. I don't care so much for the jaundice look, though.

[Tim2723]

LOL! I never though of it as a jaundice look, but you're right. Of all the head choices out there, the Ren head is the one that actually looks to me like it's trying to be something it's not. The frosted heads look like you expect them to. Fiberskyn looks a bit like natural hide though you know right away it isn't. Even the clear and black ones have their charms. But to me the Ren head looks like a cheap copy of something it's not. I think they look a lot better in the pictures than real life.

For me though, I didn't like the response. In the Irish style I don't think the Ren heads make the grade tonally. For Irish I like a thick, chunky, not too loud sound with very clean, crisp attack and decay to articulate the notes cleanly, especially for triplets. The Fyberskyn does that for me best of all. The Ren head had too much ring and sustain and made my sound muddled.

All just personal opinion, of course, and only on my particular banjo. YMMV.

[Thomaston]

It is interesting, because I switched from a fiberskin to a ren head on my tenor with favorable results. It's all about personal preference. I'm actually about to drive out to banjo.com in Atlanta, and I'm thinking of picking up a clear head to try out. They've been spoken of highly among tenor players in the past, so I figure it's worth a shot!

[Tim2723]

Yeah, it's all personal choice. That's what's so nice about be able to tinker with a banjo, you get lots of choices.

[hyldemoer]

My Enoch Tradesman came with a Renaissance head. Perhaps the 12 inch pot et cetera is a factor but I've had teachers come up to me after workshops and ask if they can try it out. Nice sound.
No complaints here.

[Thomaston]

I put the clear head on, and it sounds great. Surprisingly, I'm a lot less fond of the aesthetics of it than I expected. It looks really nice on my friend's Framus, but not so much on mine. The inside of my rim has some unstained areas around the tone ring that kills the look. The wife likes it, but I'm thinking of getting a bottom-frosted white head to try out instead. A tinkerer's dream, indeed!

[Tim2723]

Years ago I had a Kay five string with a clear head. It had an American eagle decal on the inside of the resonator. Have you seen the jet black ones? That's an eye catching look. Exactly the opposite of what you'd expect a banjo to look like.

[crookedtune]

Thanks for the opinions. There is indeed an 11-13/16" Renaissance available. I was able to pick one up locally, from (big plug) Zepp Country Music, in Wendell, NC. http://www.zeppmusic.com/frameset.htm

Since it's being dismantled anyway, I'm having the frets dressed at (another big plug) Hanson & Crawford Stringed Instrument Repair, in Raleigh, NC. http://www.hansonandcrawford.com

Patronize your local music businesses when you can, and then plug their services. I do!