Hi
Does anyone know how to repair a split snakeskin banjo head?
or find the snakeskin material to build another one?
I was thinking of using a narrow backing piece of leather to stick it back on to.
But would welcome any ideas or suggestions..( Jamie I'm not going snake hunting! )
Best regards
BUG
Replies
You were right about the fretting its all over the place...Metal strips poking up!
This is a lash up using masking tape to hold it together and old parlour tail (reduce the tension on the head)
Cheap tuners resting in place and a bolt as a nut and an old rosewood parlour bridge to spread load as far as possible.. and a piece of copper tubing as the bridge... Snake skin is till tight and would sound great if the fretting was right...(they need to learn the rule of 18ths!!)
Might refret this if I can find a head?...well I managed to get a tune out of it just!
You don't need to muddle you brain trying to figure out the rule of 18ths, or any other method of calculating fret positions using math or geometry. There are plenty of fret calculators out there on the Internet which produce great results without all the mental exercise. I like the fret calculators that allow you to print out the fret positions, which you can cut and tape together to form your own fret ruler. I'm talking about wfret.com (wfret.zip) and FindFret2D. Both of these (to my recollection) produce only chromatic fret scales, but since the diatonic scale used on mountain dulcimers and stick dulcimers is a subset, it's just a matter of crossing-out which fret positions you don't want with a red pencil. The Stewart-McDonald (Stewmac) fret position calculator has an option fo selecting instruments (a drop down selection box), and if you choose "Dulcimer", it will produce a printout for diatonic fet layout. If you use the same scale length for both the wfret (or FretFind2D) program and the StewMac calculator, then you can compare the two results and easily figure out which ones are not used on the fret scale printout. There have been some articles on CBN which map these differences, but I'm too lazy to dig it up for you. Good luck on you project, and let us know how it works out.
P.S. Youtube & most other wester video servers are blocked in China, so I couldn't see your earlier posting.
-Rand.
Click on the image to view it at a larger size.
-Rand.
Many thanks for your help, I may try removing the head and see if I can repair it.
I have a more traditional goats skin on order to try until I can find some more snakeskin.
Any idea how they would stretch it, as goat skin you put on wet and then it dries?
Do they use a special oil on snakeskin then to stretch it ?
Hi 407bug,
I went down town (Shenzhen) today to visit another musical instrument shop that sells Qinqins. The only one they had in stock had a small "guitar-shaped body" with a python skin drum head. I started trying to play with it and a sales lady came over and adjusted the bridge position and tuned it for me. She positioned the bridge at twice the distance between the nut and fret 7 just as I thought was the case. And she tuned it to G-D-G'. She played a bit on it, but I did not recognize the tune. I then played on it like I would on one of my stick dulcimers, and although you could kind of hear the tune, many of the notes were "off". She agreed with me when I said the fret spacing was very strange and much different from a guitar. I then explained to her that we had 3-string guitars in America based on the 7 notes (Do, Re, Mi, Fa So, La Ti, Do) and that these notes are much different from what I was hearing on the Qinqin. It seems the most accurate notes are open string and fret 7 (the octave). The others seem to be off by half a semitone (either too sharp or too flat). I need to experiment more with the instrument to more thoroughly document its unique scale. But, that means I'll have to buy another one.
While there I told her my friend hand wan with a broke snakeskin drum head and I asked her if she could order a replacement. She said they were not available, and that you should send the instrument back to the factory for repair. This seems to be the stock answer for repairing an instrument in China.
In the mean time, I came across a Shanghai based maker (or distributor) of a more traditionally made Qinqin, but from the photo, it appears to have the fret layout of a 12TET instrument. I emailed them to confirm this, but have not heard back. A photo can be seen at their website. Unfortunately, they don't provide any specs other than the photo.
Well, that's all for now.
-Rand.
The project arrived today should have some better idea of
damage etc
Will add some pics later
Or a vid I'd I can get it going
I found this in Wikipedia regarding the export of snakeskin stringed instruments (specifically the erhu, but probably also applies to the sanxian and the qinqin).
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Use of python skin
In 1988, China passed its Law on the Protection of Endangered Species after ratifying the UN Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), making it illegal to use and trade unlicensed pythons. To regulate the use of python skins, China's State Forestry Administration introduced a certification scheme between python skin sellers in Southeast Asia and musical instrument makers in China. From January 1, 2005, new regulations also require erhus to have a certificate from the State Forestry Administration, which certify that the erhu python skin is not made with wild pythons, but from farm-raised pythons. Individuals are allowed to take up to two erhus out of China when traveling; commercial buyers need additional export certificates.
Outside China, manufacturers of erhu are able to issue their own CITES licenses with approval by governments of their respective countries. Such exports are legal as they have been made from legal skin sources.
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So, it might be possible to get python skin if it comes from a farm raised source, and if your own country's regulations don't prohibit its importation.
-Rand.
I think we arn't allowed ,unless you have an export permit, see my ealier link..http://www.sosrhino.com/news/rhinonews070602.php
So may have to be the other type
Thanks Bug
Shame but true
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