I have built two tackhead banjos that play wonderfully in a humidity free environment. But one little biit of humidity shift, and the heads on both banjos sink to unplayable. Both heads are of calfhide. I soaked them pretty well through before tacking them on, and stretched them while soaked. I stretched them very tightly, using a complicated system of clamping the heck out of them with those awesome blue hand clamps, tacking them down, then trimming the excess. Did I get them too wet? Using the wrong rawhide? Is there some tissue layer on the rawhide that should have been scraped off during the process?
I am building another tack head, and thought I would ask for advice this time (third time's a charm). Anybody out there know anything about which kinds of rawhide, or how wet to get it when stretching, or ANYTHING helpful?
thanks in advance
Poorboy