Reskin a Banjo Ukulele

[Nene65]

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone is able to help out. My Dad has a Banjo Ukulele in New Zealand which is around 60 years old and needs the skin replacing. Not sure what brand it is but apparently in very good condition still as it has been in a case for many years. I'll get some pics and post when available but I'm in Australia and parents are in NZ.

Is there anyone in Auckland that were we could get it repaired?

[kiwigeo]

Welcome to the forum Nene65. Your post appeared in the buy and sell subforum so its been moved to the general subforum.

There are a few luthiers in New Zealand and some of them lurk on this forum. Hopefully someone will be able to point you in the right direction. If you cant find anybody in Auckland then there's Paddy Burgin in Wellington who might be able to help you.

[jeffhigh]

I did one 6 months ago, but I'm near Newcastle Australia.
Fiddly work unless you can find someone who is used to replacing real skin drumheads

[blackalex1952]

I did a banjo mandolin recently. These old instruments are not exactly standard sizes. There are some calf skin heads pre formed around wire hoop of different sizes available from places like Lamberties in Melbourne, or maybe Paytons in Sydney. Also Australis music, perhaps...
The instrument I worked on had a tone ring and a wire hoop. I used green kangaroo hide, stronger than the usual pig or calf skin, and more even along and across the grain. I wet the hide and stretched it on to the rim with the hoop in position, bolted the rim on, then pulled the soft wet hide as tight as I could with a pair of pliers while tensioning the rim down. Then I ran a knife around the greenhide that was sticking out of the rim and cut it flush.Easier to cut when wet.I then waited till the greenhide dried and shrank resulting in a nice tight drumhead.Hope that makes some kind of sense... the trick if you don't use a pre formed skin, is to wet the material so that it will stretch then shrink when dry.If you don't want to tackle the problem yourself, try a banjo maker.. there are a few around, freight for a small instrument via Aus Post pretty reasonable.

[simso]

Not hard, did one yesterday. Trick is getting right thickness for that instruments and then wet and stretch, djembes now they are a pain in the backside to do.

https://www.facebook.com/MusicalInstrum ... =bookmarks

Steve

[Nene65]

Thanks all for the replies much appreciated

[seeaxe]

Hi Nene
There are quite few options in Auckland.

Ash custom works, not sure where he is now but was off dominion road, does mostly electrics but a talented guy. He has a website. Might be able to help.

Mr glyn in onehunga, he also has a website. Very good rep.

Zettwitz in Birkenhead, company has been around for ever, now run by the son of, they should be in the white pages. Considered by some to be the best.

A bit of googling will get you there.

Good luck. Let me know if you get stuck.
Cheers
Richard ( in Auckland but about to jet off for a month or so)

[seeaxe]

On further googling myself, suggest you go to mr glyn or zettwitz depending on where in Auckland your folks are. Sounds like ash will be too busy and not really his thing anyway.

[lauburu]

Suggest Mr Glyn. Now at the top of Khyber Pass beside Bungalow Bill's.
Miguel