How to install a skin banjo head 

Gotta love a master luthier who has style, panache AND a wonderful sense of humor. You da man Dan.

I deeply resent the videographer cutting Dan off when he started to sing and dance :-) The gift of the tuners knocked me out! Thanks for the great video.

Dan you are a gift to the world

Amazing how simple the construction is. What geniuses thought of these things. People were clever back in those days. I liked the end.

Another teaching moment. She will be able to service the instrument 100% now that she has had it disassembled and she put it back together. Way to go Dan!

Dan, this tutorial brought tears to my eyes! I've been watching many of your video's in preparation to restore some very interesting antique guitars and Philadelphia Mummers Banjolyn from 1918-23 era, and I must say I truly consider your skill and many years of wisdom a real blessing to learn from! I hope I can call upon you for some more great tips when I start the actual process on the oldest! Many thanks Dave Levinson, Philadelphia

In 1990, Henry Lay of Lay's Guitar Repair in Akron, Ohio (my home town), gave me my first Stew-Mac catalog. Now, 27 years later, I still feel grateful to Henry and to Stew-Mac (and Dan!) for all that I have learned and continue to learn about repair and lutherie.

I don't play guitar, own a guitar, or know much about them other than Fenders and Gibsons are great ones. I just have a love of music and great guitar players. Despite that, I have been binging on these videos for a few days. There is something really cool and calming about watching this master at work. It makes me want to buy a cheap beat up old guitar, open it up and see what I could do with it.

Just watching Dan working and listening to his calm Godly voice have a calming and therapeutic affect on me. It’s so meditative and it almost like it heals your emotional wounds. Dan is a true national treasure.

Funny enough, I'm here looking to replace a 1923 banjolele skin! Definitely buying through you guys.

God bless Dan. This young lady will forever remember learning from you.

Dan, my name is Bob Lerma, and I think you are a true master! I want to thank you for everything you have taught me! You are an inspiration to all of us! I wish I could meet you some day!

This was great, letting her do it by herself. She looks like she really enjoyed learning a new taks for upkeeping her instrument. As always, every video in this channel is a JOY to watch.

That was so much fun to watch! Dan Erlewine is my new Bob Ross!

Dan, you rock. To pass that knowledge and tuners on is an act of a great person. Her smile was genuine and warm.

Best of the best channels right here. I remember your catalog from when I was a kid. Binge watched all of this channel's videos over the weekend. Subbed.

Really cool technique! Those pegs look amazing!

Awesome video, lol. Everyone was having fun. The lady is very talented. I remember seeing her on another video. I enjoy watching her. thanks for sharing your video.

Omg this just becamemy favorite stew mac video! Lol now he can became a banjo singer! Btw these tuners really do look like jewellery! I mean wow

Dan Erlewine is Mike Ehrmantraut in a parallel universe where he got heavy into luthiery instead of organized crime.

This is awesome - thanks Dan and Lauren!

Great vid! Love that your teaching all the tricks and tips!

I've been watching these vids for as long as I can remember...but this one really made me laugh...Dan's dancing is...way too much..

How lovely. Being an Englishman from Kent, now living in E Sussex, I love your accent too! Great stuff. Thank you very much for the video. Hey' whilst typing this I just remembered that my grandad was a banjo player! Approx 100 years ago and had a band in the Royal Navy. I have a very very distant memory of holding a banjo when I was a little boy.

What an AWESOME feel-good video!!!

The end of this video is so wholesome, unscripted, love it.

So positive vibes in this one :) gotta love it!

I absolutely adore this lady.

reaaalllllyyyyy nice family work . dug it !❤️

Nice video. Sometimes if the top hoop has a ledge on it, you can rest the scalpel on it whilst cutting so you get a nice even trim all round.

That was fun to watch and educational.

Wonderful video - Thank you!

This is a great video and it turns out great. I wish you use banjo tuners but the ones you did use are beautiful.

This man is a wizard thank goodness for his powers

I love it when young people are smart enough to show respect to those that have lived long enough to help them. Most think they are too important to listen. Take my kid for instance. NADA. This girl is great.

I so needed this video. I have an old banjo-mandolin that needs a new head. It needs an overall restoration actually

Amazing and clear instructions

That was an awesome feel-good video.

That's an awesome tutorial.

sending love from california dan and fam :)

This is a most excellent video I also have a banjo uke that needs a new skin . I have not been able to find anyone who do it, for some reason people seem to turn up their nose at this job . With this video I have no doubt I can do it myself, thank you 👍😄🎩

I think I'd rather have those vintage Grover tuners, but the lady is happy and the sound is great.

Thank you ! That made my day !

I love this so much

Thanks! This video was exactly what I needed to know!

I wanna be Dan if I ever get the feeling to grow up.

4:53 We could restring this Banjolele but those friction Tuners are really shot. As a Bonus we're going to upgrade to Geared Tuners cause it'll hold tune longer, make tuning easier, & they're the best upgrade a Ukulele can get.

Terrific fun video...I'm wondering if this technique would be good for that Orpheum? It has a non original drum head on it

Dan you are amazing :-)

Thank You!

Great like ever with Dan.. but: Don't cut it from the middle and you have a spare left over for the future.

you are great!!

Dan is the world's greatest treasure

5:33 The great thing about the Banjolele is that you can actually use Steel Strings

So awesome

My hero Dan!!!

Great fun!

Thank you for posting this I just got a banjo and I don't like the look of the old skin I'm going to change it as well.. or try too..

Wonderful man :) x

Hey Dan, I just wondered why the Video for your Foldable Spraybooth is now private or down. I loved the idea with the magnets and saved it to rewatch it when i build one later this year. Do they want to sell it as a kit?

Most Excellent ! I have an early 1900's Concertone that looks very close to this one except it has a separate resonator attached. Mine has the same exact tear in the head as hers. Now I feel confident to replace the head on my restoration project. Can you tell me where I can get a bridge that fits this style banjo or provide dimensions to make a new one? Thank you, this video helped me tremendously!

Maybe there's a way to install the head without leaving any trace of the unattractive frill around the edges. (See the beginning of the video compared with the very end.) A factory drum head of course already has that problem addressed in the manufacturing process, and that looks to be the case here originally. Might be nigh impossible to achieve with a retrofit where the skin is separate from the ring. Waverly makes reproductions of those elegant Grover barrel tuners found as well on a lot of early Martin ukes. Some luthier (forget his name without looking it up) was at one time making those tuners one-off for his fantastic Martin repro's and was being hounded to make them for others, but he declined. That was before Waverly got on board. I would've installed those (available from Stewmac with _improved_ ivoroid buttons over the bland original buttons) in order to pay historical deference to the original setup. But one thing I think we can all agree on - Dan is a national treasure. What a great attitude - much more important than tuners and banjo heads.

Dang it! I used a tortilla. Didn’t work.

Dan the coolest grandad I never had.

hey, great job! whats the tune she plays at the end?

Those tuners look fantastic

Awesome

Eu realmente gostaria muito de trabalhar aí. Dá uma força, Rodrigo!

Fabulous

I love dan

One of the things I've discovered doing these is that all skin heads are not created equal. Some are actually goat and come from Afghanistan. The only problem is that they vary quite a bit in thickness, and when the fit of the tension hoop is snug, some skins may be too thick to pass through twice. Also, they are all different in appearance, with different shades and streaks, some almost transparent in places. Thanks again, Dan for great info.

I'd have Dan sign it inside the hoop so in a hundred years someone will change the skin and see his name and research and see him sighing it on a video NOW THAT WOULD BE COOL !

I was a first-timer doing a very similar job. It's not as easy as it looks. Getting the ring on was quite hard -- I had to pound it with a hammer. It was not clear how far to tighten the hooks down. I did make it, though.

Nice student

Dan knows the way to a woman's heart with new tuners. 😎

Steel strings on a uke?

What, no rendition of "When I'm Cleanin' Windows" by Dan?

Did they install the ring upside down?

Dan..... you so funny.

whats the song at the end please?

Do "When I'm Cleaning Windows"!

thought he said cat skin... mentally went like "ya i could see that it was the 20's" haha...

Now she just needs to learn When i'm Cleaning Windows and Leaning on a Lamppost and we'll have the next George Formby.

5:07 - and for wearing that shirt.

did they also put uke strings on them ?

Hey Rod! Where'd you come from?

Hi

Stewart, You're a Class Act! Don't let anybody tell you different!

I never realized that a banjo is basically a drum with a neck

E o Rodrigo fazendo um "ponta".....

why did they put metal strings on that old Banjo ukulele :O WHHYYYYY

What a beautiful girl. I'm in love.

No mention of whether the rough or smooth side of the vellum goes up and wrong type of machine heads fitted

Lauren is Uber cute. The two of you made a cool video. Thanks for sharing. Did I mention that Lauren is cute?

Spoiler - they all sing at the end!

If I were you I'd change that out to a Plastic Head

If I were you I'd change that Skin Head to a Plastic Head as it'll hold up better & last many times as long

I thought he said cat skin

great..but the geared side tuners..hmmm..not on vintage instrument

No! No! No! This wasn't done correctly! The jig to hold the rim is OK but it really isn't necessary. If you only own one banjo uke then you'll almost certainly never use it again. Just remove the tension hooks rather than take the time to make the jig. Add 2 1/2" all around to the size of the rim or just measure the rim and add 5" to the diameter for a good size skin to work with. Bigger than that would be harder to work with and smaller you wont be able to pull up the edge of the skin like you see at 3:52 in the video.. Where they went wrong here is that they didn't tell you that doing this correctly and accurately is tedious and takes some practice to get it right. You'll need to know at what height above the skin head you want the tension hoop to end up at when the head is finished being installed and totally dry. A good gauge is that the top edge of the wide cut out notch in the tension hoop should end up sitting just a hair below the top edge of the end of the fretboard so it doesn't get in the way of the strings so you'll need to make note of how high the tension hoops sits above the top edge of the rim BEFORE you take everything apart and remove the old skin. After getting the skin on the flesh hoop and getting the tension hoop positioned on the skin and flesh hoop with the edge of the skin folded over the flesh hoop and then pulled through all around between the two hoops, nice and tight, like you see being done at 3:52, the tension hoop should be positioned about 1/8" higher on the flesh hoop then where you want it to end up when it's dry and finished. THAT IS THE HARDEST PART! If you don't do it correctly the tension hoop will end up being too high or too low on the rim! Too high and it will hit the strings and too low and the edge of the head will be exposed and your hand will muffle the head and you wont get a good sound out of the instrument. Getting the head in the proper position and as tight as possible while it's wet so it can be tightened later another 1/8" AFTER it is dry is maddening. The very last thing you do before installing strings is trim the excess edge of the head. Don't do it before that like in the video because if you don't position everything correctly you'll have to remove it and start all over again. If you trim it like in the video and you don't get it positioned correctly you'll have to start again using a new head because the one you trimmed will be too small to work with and you'll have to throw it away. PLUS, the way they trim it in the video leaves too much skin remaining and that excess looks like hell and very sloppy on the instrument. When the head is installed and DRY, the tension hooks then need to be tightened to lower the tension hoop that last 1/8" to get the head nice and tight for a good sharp tone and to get the tension hoop at the proper height. Only then do you trim the head. Trim the head with a brand new Exacto blade like the pointy one in the video. You might even need two blades. Trim it by cutting against the inside edge of the tension hoop with the point of the blade at a slight downward angle and just about 1/8" below the top surface of the head. Do this very slowly and carefully so you don't cut the remaining surface of the head. You should not expect to cut all the way through the head on the first cut. Take your time and do it in 2 or 3 cuts along the same line. Don't push hard against the blade while cutting. Dan is very good but I don't think he pays much attention to banjo ukes and StewMac sells almost no banjo uke stuff which is probably why he got this one wrong. They are a serious instrument but most people aren't interested. Go through and read and understand what I wrote here and picture the procedure in your head before you attempt it because it's a bit tedious and annoying to get it right. If you rush this and don't think it through you will get the head installed but it won't be positioned correctly and you'll have to do it again. ... and DON'T trim the head until you're 100% sure you got it right. Good Luck and Sorry Dan!