Banjolele Head Replacement

	This nice Gibson UB-1 Banjolele had a hole in the calf skin head.
	To begin I disassembled the banjolele and took the opportunity to tighten some lugs which were loose.
	I put the the replacement head in a pan full of water. The head got soft pretty quickly. I used room temperature tap water and let it soak for about 5 min. From what I have read the soaking time will vary.
	Here I have placed the head over the banjo body and placed the flesh hood over the head.
	This step was by far the trickiest. I brought excess part of the head up through the metal hoop. The trick is to pull the edge of the head through until the head sits smoothly on the rim of the body without pulling the rings off the body. Having a lot of extra material was very useful here.
	Here I have smoothed out all the wrinkles. The head should be sitting high on the body. You want to leave enough room for the head to be tightened when dry.
	Here I have replaced the hooks and begun at tension to the head. Working in a star pattern I tightened the head until it produced a clear low tone when tapped. The head will shrink considerably while drying so it is important not to tighten it down too tight.
	I waited till the following day to trim off the excess material. I wedged multiple layers of paper between my knife and the rim so I wouldn’t leave scratches on the rim. It is likely there will already be scratches from previous head changes.
	Here is the banjolele with a nice new head. It is a good idea to let the head dry for several days before adding more tension. The area around the hoop will take longer to dry than the center of the head.
	All done. Here are some other sites with helpful demonstrations: http://banjoist.tripod.com/head.html http://www.banjoseen.com/calfskin%20banjohead.html

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