Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Don Thompson on July 29, 2010 at 10:33am

Andy, You want rawhide not finished leather. Any drum makers around you? Check out:
http://www.dhyatt.com/
a google search of gourd banjos will yield lots of ideas. With the salad bowl you can use tacks to hold the skin after soaking it. Drum building sites have lots of info.
good luck,Don

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Permalink Reply by Dan Haugh on July 29, 2010 at 10:33am

uff - that's a toughy. i was gonna suggest ordering some cow skins or something from mid-east.com ... worked great on my salad bowl project. i remember reading somewhere that someone was using some kinda big sheet of film.... i dunno.

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Permalink Reply by Grace Bowyer on July 29, 2010 at 11:18am

You could always use a drumhead; you can get them in all kinds of sizes relatively inexpensively. You should be able to find them at any music store.

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Permalink Reply by Chester Winowiecki on July 29, 2010 at 11:34am

Rawhide for sure...if you try to use a regular mounted plastic drum head, you'll also have to use brackets and hope to find one to fit the size of you salad bowl.
If you're near the county, check at some farms or slaughterhouses. They might be able to point you to someone who has hides. You'll have to clean it but it's an option.
Most music shops should be able to order rawhide heads for drums from their suppliers. Just be sure to get one at least a couple inches larger than the top of your bowl.

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Kennedy on July 29, 2010 at 1:31pm

Try a weather proof mailing envolope made of the Tyvek house wrap material.

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on July 29, 2010 at 4:23pm

I have been interested in banjos as well, you do not really have to make a skin top, even though the dfn. is skin top to be a banjo, but hey here their are no rules:
http://www.romerobanjos.com/08132/08132.html

http://www.harrisonbanjos.com/About_Me.php

rottenwoodbanjos.com

This last guy lives close to me and I visited him and his sound just like a banjo. Click around on his site he has a few sound samples and you can hear how it sounds.
Another option would be a metal top.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86q6iqcaXUM&feature=fvw
or just a cookie tin, tons of these around:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cookie+tin+banjo

Some good stuff here a little closer to home:
http://www.homemadebanjo.org.uk/
If you google it you can find a guy who builds a banjo head/skin with packing tape, very good/strong and easy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97EfvhFgRBY
Here is how far I have got with mine
Cheers Ron.
[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f333/mookie098/P1011052.jpg[/IMG]

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Permalink Reply by Ben on July 30, 2010 at 4:34am

I just rehabbed a hand drum with the Tyvek envelope method. It may transform into a banjo one day.

Tracy Kennedy said:

Try a weather proof mailing envolope made of the Tyvek house wrap material.

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Kennedy on July 30, 2010 at 5:30am

Did it work?

Ben said:

I just rehabbed a hand drum with the Tyvek envelope method. It may transform into a banjo one day.

Tracy Kennedy said:

Try a weather proof mailing envolope made of the Tyvek house wrap material.

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Permalink Reply by Bear on July 30, 2010 at 6:27am

On the homemadebanjo.org website posted by Mungo Park above, there is a link to "a really simple, robust banjo" which uses the plastic from a drink bottle for the head. He glues it on with epoxy, then heats the head to tighten it up. I've been meaning to try this method, just haven't got around to it yet. The sound sample is pretty good, too!

Mungo -- That's a fine looking banjo you've got going there!

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Permalink Reply by Ben on July 30, 2010 at 10:40pm

Yeah, it worked great as a hand drum! Its got nice tone. The only thing that worries me about using it for a banjo head is that if you press your thumb into it hard enough you'll leave an impression (that goes away in a few minutes). I would imagine a banjo bridge would do a number on it. That was just one layer though. I saw a guy do a double layer one on youtube. I'll have to see how it works with two.

Tracy Kennedy said:

Did it work?

Ben said:

I just rehabbed a hand drum with the Tyvek envelope method. It may transform into a banjo one day.

Tracy Kennedy said:

Try a weather proof mailing envolope made of the Tyvek house wrap material.

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on July 31, 2010 at 3:57am

That one guy with the square frame put on 3m packing tape in a few layers and it sounded nice.
Thanks for the kind words I have been scratching away at it for a few months now but it is getting close.
The guy with the brass plate sounded good as well, the thing with a real skin is it is a lot of work to tighten it and hold it tight. Keep at it you will find what works best for you. Cheers Ron.

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on July 31, 2010 at 7:11am

Hey, when you get your banjo build using the tambourine, please give me a shout. I always thought this would make a great build. African guitarists were noted for attaching bottlecaps to their guitars to add percussion. I play mainly in open tunings and open G is classic Bluegrass tuning (DGDgbd on guitar, gDgbd on banjo) sounds like a great way to take a cheap store bought tambourine and change it into a whole other instrument. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy.

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