Banjeaurine heads-where are they?

[Hal Allert]

Hello all. I am playing my banjeaurine again and want to experiment with a different head. Mine has a 13" skin head and sounds rather 'thumpy'. When I went to Elderly Instruments to look for another head, there was a jump from 12" to 14" but no 13". Besides wanting to experiment, I got to thinking that if this skin head were to break, I would be out of luck unless I replaced it with another skin head. Is there a place to get a fiberskyn or Rennaisance head in 12"?

Also, my banjeaurine has no markings on it and I was hoping to identify it. It is a spun-over rim with a tone ring. I have included some photos of it. Can anyone identify it?  Thanks.

[Shawn McSweeny]

Larger diam heads, especially skin heads, are harder to get really taut, and tend to ease more readily than smaller diam. heads. Your thumpy sounding banjeaurine will likely improve in tone dramatically with a good head tightening.

I suspect your replacement options are limited to skin heads. You will need an 18" diam skin head, available at Elderly, for your 13" rim ( head diam plus 2 inches min. all around = 13 +2 +2 =17 in. min diam.).

Can't ID your banjeaurine.

[Hal Allert]

Thanks, Shawn for the help. I have been reluctant to tighten it too much but I can still press it down so I expect it could be tauter.

Shawn McSweeny said:

Larger diam heads, especially skin heads, are harder to get really taut, and tend to ease more readily than smaller diam. heads. Your thumpy sounding banjeaurine will likely improve in tone dramatically with a good head tightening.

I suspect your replacement options are limited to skin heads. You will need an 18" diam skin head, available at Elderly, for your 13" rim ( head diam plus 2 inches min. all around = 13 +2 +2 =17 in. min diam.).

Can't ID your banjeaurine.

[Shawn McSweeny]

Ideally, remove the bridge so you can tighten the head with no string pressure on it.Tighten each nut in succession only a little bit, but keep going around the circle, watching that the tension hoop remains level and that the rim isn't going out of round. Go around as many times as you dare, but don't overdo it.  If well tensioned, the head should not dip when the bridge and strings are reintroduced.