Hey folks I have a friends tenor banjo here & it was her fathers. The banjo was made about 1925 or so & has a for real hide banjo head. (This the first one I have ever actuallly seen in all my 45 years.)Any way I was wondering about maintaining the hide. How do you clean it? (it's got lots of years grime on it) How do you preserve it? Do you put wax on it or anything like that? How do you control it's tension in regards to the weather & all w/o constantly loosening & tightening the brackets. The brackets don't look like they have been touched since King Kong was a monkey. I would be afraid to try & turn the screws on it.
The banjo is really pretty nice. It's cool to know the owner was an Irish man who retired from the costguard on the greatlakes. He kept it with him in all his years of service. He had this banjo all my friends life & she is 51 years old.
I love hearing all these stories don't ya know
Thanks for the help Charcloth