Hi folks,
I just won a banjo on abay after many attempts. ( gave up when bidding went overboard). It is a George Houghton made Reliance brand banjo.
What I would like to know is where do I get a new head/skin for the banjo (I don’t know the size of it yet), and what strings would you recommend?
I haven’t received the banjo yet, but when it gets here I will post a couple of detailed pic’s and see if anyone can give me some tips.
Thanks in advance.
Is it a 4-string or 5-string? I’m assuming 4-string, but you know what they say about assuming…
When I was a banjo player, these sites were typically regarded as the best online banjo store:
www.banjo.com
www.elderly.com
www.janetdavismusic.com
I’ve made several transactions with Elderly and never had a problem.
And these are the strings I used on my 17-fret tenor:
http://elderly.com/accessories/names/celtic-tenor-banjo-4-string-set--CTB.htm
EDIT: I just noticed your location. It may very well be that you’d be better off using someone a bit more local than what I listed. Good stores, regardless, though.
http://stewmac.com/
here’s another good website to buy a head
any way, you can find banjo head on ebay
I’ve seen there even calfskin heads
strings mentioned by Thomaston will be good for 17 frets banjo
but on a 19 frets banjo tuned in GDAE it might sound a little dull.
try a little bit thinner
if you’ll check the archives of thesession.org
there are couple of threads about that and folks there gives different sugestions - at first on mine I’ve tried heavy strings - didn’t like the sound and change them to thin and now is pretty ok.
Best of luck
Sorry people!! I was just a bit too quick in posting the description of the banjo, I didn’t include enough detail.
It is a four string. The finger board is 34cm long, the overall length of the banjo is 75cm. There are 18 frets, not including the nut.
According to the seller it is 28cm in diameter and 9cm deep. After remeasuring it he states it is 27cm in diameter.
Thanks for the sites given so far, I had already been to StewMac and Banjo.com, so now I will give the others a try too.
I have a friend in Adelaide, South Australia (four and a half hours away) who restores/repairs/collects banjos, and it was through borrowing a couple of his that I got the bug to buy one for myself. He has some fantastic banjos, but what he had on offer for me was a bit expensive for a first timer like me.
Thanks again,
Tom.
hmmm - replacing the skin? Do they have 'possums in the UK? 
Just kidding - Elderly and StewMac are great sites.
While our string calculator is set up for dulcimers, you can use it for any instrument. You need to measure from the nut to the bridge (it’s set up for the US, so it’s in inches - sorry) and the note you are tuning to. I think it tends to run a little on the light side, but you can go up or down a size or two with no problems.
http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.htm
One thing to be extra careful on is placing your bridge in the exact spot, and possibly compensating it by angling it. I’m sure some of the banjo players on here can chime in with better instructions on this than I can give you.
A good rule of thumb when placing a floating bridge:
the distance from the nut to the 12th fret should equal the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge. Then you can compensate by angling the bridge if needed. Just check the intonation with the string unfretted and at the 12th fret.
I have a banjo maker pal who buys all his heads from Bob Smakula in Elkins, WV. He’s a very knowledgable guy.
www.smakula.com
Yup, and Bob carries all the weird-sized heads, and can step you through the sorta tricky process of getting an accurate measurement. He’s a good guy.