Vega style k mandolin banjo

[Ken Berner]

I just acquired a Style K, probably the third I have owned. For the most part it is intact, but I will replace the neck with one I have had sitting around needing a pot. My neck is freshly re-fretted and has new Schaller tuning machines. I have a couple of Fiberskyn heads, an assortment of dowel sticks and plenty of D'Addario J-74 strings, so I am pretty well set. All I will need is three shoes, hooks and nuts; if anyone has extras I can buy, please let me know. Thanks!

[Ken Berner]

I need assistance from those of you who may have had difficulty in mounting a new head. The aforementioned Style K Vega has a 10-1/16" diameter (measured in various places) vs. the 10-1/8" I have previously found on early '20s Style K mandolin banjos. Trying to mount a slightly larger 10-1/8" Fiberskyn head is giving me heartburn; it will pull down over the top of the pot just fine, but the additional 1/16" wants to "bunch up" as I near the end of installation of the hooks. This will not allow the last few hooks to fit over the aluminum ring to reach the tension hoop.I have mounted new heads before with no problem and I wonder if anyone else has had this problem. I doubt that I can buy a 1-1/16" Fiberskyn head.

[mandroid]

Ken, I think Elderly has the best inventory, for head diameters.

seems longer [temporary] installation hooks are made for wet flesh head installations, perhaps if standard synthetic
ones are not a good fit for you , Skin will.

the banjohangout guys will have a skin head replacement
thread going, perhaps? I've never done that job.


I may have had the luck of ignorance, my 'little wonder' 1.125"[renaissance] was OK.
balding top frosted synth one was on that.

another, a 10.0" top frosted, stew mac sourced, synthetic one replaced a split skin head on a thin frame pot.

Used no installation hooks with synthetic. I just re installed the bracket hooks, , brought them up equally,
like building a bicycle wheel or torquing a cylinder head
on an engine overhaul.

2 and 0 so far..

You would think 1/16" or .0625" out of 10+ inches,
would distribute itself evenly with out wrinkling.

[Ken Berner]

I finally got it done by filing shallow grooves in the aluminum head ring, so that the hooks could reach the tension hoop. It is a little unsightly, but this is more of a beater project anyway. A pal of mine suggested four cuts in the aluminum rim to prevent it from "bunching"; I'll try that should I have to replace this head. Just as a note of interest here; I am going to get Red Henry to make a bridge for this mandolin banjo.

[Ken Berner]

Thanks mandroid; here it is just waiting for strings and a new bridge.

[GMeyer]

Allenhopkins -- thanks for the kind words about the mandolin banjo article.

Can you send me a link to your article? The one on the Cafe is broken.
Thanks
G

[HonketyHank]

Can you send me a link to your article? The one on the Cafe is broken.
Thanks
G

I'd like to have that article also, please post the new link here. Thanks.

[Woodrow Wilson]

http://web.archive.org/web/200709200...MBs%20text.htm

You won't get all the images, but at least you can read the article. Perhaps the author will chime in with an up to date link (assuming still available somewhere, which is unlikely since I did a web search of a copy/paste of one of the sentences and nothing turned up).

[HonketyHank]

Thanks WW. I have a Little Wonder that sounds pretty good to my ear. I had to replace the head when I bought it, so it is a modern Remo. The main big deal was getting the right size - mine is 10 1/16 inches and I think I got the last one Elderly had at the time with the proper shoulder height. Some day I will probably try installing a skin head.

[pops1]

Thanks WW. I have a Little Wonder that sounds pretty good to my ear. I had to replace the head when I bought it, so it is a modern Remo. The main big deal was getting the right size - mine is 10 1/16 inches and I think I got the last one Elderly had at the time with the proper shoulder height. Some day I will probably try installing a skin head.

Hank, I have had skin heads on banjo's, when it is humid they are nearly impossible to play in tune. With the tension on a mando banjo I would leave the plastic or find a fiberskyn for something that sounds in between skin and plastic, but will stay in tune.

[HonketyHank]

Thanks Pops. The head is currently a Fiberskyn and it does sound and look good.

My first banjo, back in 1962, was a Kay with skin head. And you just reminded me of the adventures with tuning and sound with variations in humidity. I now remember also how happy I was when I changed it out for a 'plastic' head.

Maybe I'll just hold those thoughts and grin.