You must first loosen and remove the strings before changing the banjo head. Remove the resonator from the banjo, as well as loosening the neck and removing the bridge. When changing a banjo head, the tailpiece is also removed. To change a banjo head, you must first remove the armrest before removing the tone ring.
The banjo head is similar to a drum head in that it controls the instrument’s sound. The sounds produced by an old head will be dull and less bright. Although it is not a difficult task, changing your banjo head must be done in a specific order.
The process begins by loosening and removing all of the banjo’s strings. If your banjo has one, you’ll need to remove the resonator once this is done. The four thumb screws around the edge of the resonator body are commonly removed to remove the resonator.
With the resonator out of the way, you can focus on the neck. To change the banjo head, loosen the nuts on the coordinator rods a few turns and loosen the neck of the banjo. The neck only needs to be loosened enough to allow clearance between the tone ring and the neck, not removed. You can now start loosening the J-bolt nuts that hold the retaining ring over the banjo head. Begin by loosening each nut in quarter-turn increments until they are completely loose, starting at the neck and working your way around the ring.
After removing all of the J-bolts, the old head can be removed and the new head installed. The retaining ring is then replaced, followed by the J-bolts, until the ring is finger-tight all the way around. Once the ring is finger-tight, tighten the bolts one-quarter turn at a time, working your way around the ring until it is completely tight. Once the banjo is restrung and tuned, the final adjustment is made. Replace the components in the same order as they were removed, followed by the strings.
You can tune the banjo and listen to the tone once it’s been re-stringed. If the sound is flat or dull, tighten the banjo head in quarter-turn increments until you achieve the desired sound. If the sound is too high or tinny, loosen the banjo head retaining bolts one-quarter turn at a time until you get the desired sound.