Hi I play a resonably inexpensive shortscale tenor banjo
Worth about £350.
I was interested in getting a print of a trad session or something like that on the skin.
Is this possible, and how or will it affect the sound or tone.
enda thats a good idea;
however changing the skin type will also affect the sound alot.
i suggest investigating the stencil/graffiti technique, and spray painting your design on to your skin that way.
no doubt some paints will bleed, or even corrode the skin. assuming you can overcome this, i doubt a thin coat of spray would affect the tone much.
even simpler just get someone to draw on it with permanent marker pens
without hijacking; ive often thought that painting the back of a banjo skin would be a good way to deliberately dampen/alter the sound, you could even drop wax on the back of the skin etc.
i wonder if anyones tried this?
btw what you are trying to do is very common in the cheap bodran world, you might get some good tips on a bodran site.
I might try the clear skin and get a trad picture printed on to some white sticky plastic type media. Was thinkin of a copy of a canvas painting of Luke Kelly playing the banjo that I have.
I have a copy of it on my computer and get it printed in a sign writer factory.
Just thinkin playing it at some sessions the pubs can be dark so you might not even be able to see it. But I can try anyway.
Paint or silk screens affect the tone and volume quite a lot. It's like playing while resting your hand on the head. But the banjo will still play, even satisfactorily.
The following is only tangentially related but interesting: I met a man at a North Carolina art festival in 2001 who was tie-dyeing drum and banjo heads. They were absolutely wild! Of course it doesn't work with a synthetic head, and it's not exactly the austere look you'd expect to be toting around to sessions. The dye was fixed and wouldn't come off on your skin. I nearly bought one from him.
The vendor also rolled his own cigarettes and smelled like an incense shop.
"You can install a light bulb on the dowel stick."
I can't remember where I read this - possibly in a discussion on this site - but a few enterprising banjo manufacturers of the early C20th marketed banjos with a built-in light socket inside the pot, The idea was, if you were playing your banjo in a damp environment and the head went slack (before the advent of the synthetic head), you could simply plug your banjo into the wall and bring it up to tension with the heat of the light bulb - like the bodhran player's table lamp technique. I've never seen such a banjo - it could be that they all eventually blew up (along with their owners), when the wiring failed.
If you are really into art on goatskin, try a cheap bodhran to hang on the wall. I hate to compromise a good goatskin head on a banjo. I inherited by father's tenor banjo with a goatskin head and haven't wanted to go back to synthetic heads since then.
Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
Hi I play a resonably inexpensive shortscale tenor banjo
Worth about £350.
I was interested in getting a print of a trad session or something like that on the skin.
Is this possible, and how or will it affect the sound or tone.
# Posted on September 12th 2009 by Justdee
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
It will probably affect the tone a lot. Try putting a clear head (skin) on it and painting the inside of the resonator instead.
# Posted on September 12th 2009 by Enda Scahill
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
I agree with Enda, Try something like this:
http://bernunzio.com/pictures/0913351.jpg
# Posted on September 12th 2009 by tnoumarap
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
enda thats a good idea;
however changing the skin type will also affect the sound alot.
i suggest investigating the stencil/graffiti technique, and spray painting your design on to your skin that way.
no doubt some paints will bleed, or even corrode the skin. assuming you can overcome this, i doubt a thin coat of spray would affect the tone much.
even simpler just get someone to draw on it with permanent marker pens
without hijacking; ive often thought that painting the back of a banjo skin would be a good way to deliberately dampen/alter the sound, you could even drop wax on the back of the skin etc.
i wonder if anyones tried this?
btw what you are trying to do is very common in the cheap bodran world, you might get some good tips on a bodran site.
# Posted on September 12th 2009 by rumpole
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
I might try the clear skin and get a trad picture printed on to some white sticky plastic type media. Was thinkin of a copy of a canvas painting of Luke Kelly playing the banjo that I have.
I have a copy of it on my computer and get it printed in a sign writer factory.
Just thinkin playing it at some sessions the pubs can be dark so you might not even be able to see it. But I can try anyway.
# Posted on September 12th 2009 by Justdee
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
You can install a light bulb on the dowel stick.
# Posted on September 12th 2009 by Steve L
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
You could try leather dye.
# Posted on September 12th 2009 by gam
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
Paint or silk screens affect the tone and volume quite a lot. It's like playing while resting your hand on the head. But the banjo will still play, even satisfactorily.
The following is only tangentially related but interesting: I met a man at a North Carolina art festival in 2001 who was tie-dyeing drum and banjo heads. They were absolutely wild! Of course it doesn't work with a synthetic head, and it's not exactly the austere look you'd expect to be toting around to sessions. The dye was fixed and wouldn't come off on your skin. I nearly bought one from him.
The vendor also rolled his own cigarettes and smelled like an incense shop.
# Posted on September 13th 2009 by gravelwalks
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
Find a goat farmer. Pick out a suitable goat. Tattoo the goat with your preferred design. Make a head from the skin.
Or perhaps calf skin is a better sound, I'm not sure...
# Posted on September 13th 2009 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
"You can install a light bulb on the dowel stick."
I can't remember where I read this - possibly in a discussion on this site - but a few enterprising banjo manufacturers of the early C20th marketed banjos with a built-in light socket inside the pot, The idea was, if you were playing your banjo in a damp environment and the head went slack (before the advent of the synthetic head), you could simply plug your banjo into the wall and bring it up to tension with the heat of the light bulb - like the bodhran player's table lamp technique. I've never seen such a banjo - it could be that they all eventually blew up (along with their owners), when the wiring failed.
# Posted on September 13th 2009 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
Michael's portrait painted on the resonator might be just the thing; we know how much he likes the banjo.
# Posted on September 13th 2009 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
permanent marker WILL rub off,
tried it, don't do it unless you want it all over any
part of your hand that touches the head
# Posted on September 15th 2009 by Earl Cameron
Re: Paint or Print on a banjo skin.
If you are really into art on goatskin, try a cheap bodhran to hang on the wall. I hate to compromise a good goatskin head on a banjo. I inherited by father's tenor banjo with a goatskin head and haven't wanted to go back to synthetic heads since then.
# Posted on September 24th 2009 by Micheál