Tightening a banjo head to the proper tension is a key component to proper setup and tone. I am up in Toronto, Ca and I visited the 12th fret music shop. They had lots of cool stuff including the regular Gibsons, Gold Tones, etc. The Nechville they had was pretty cool (all Nechvilles can tune the head with a simple turn)as the new Deering with the 06 tonering werealso quite nice.
Anyway, usually the head is tuned to a G or G# but hearing the pitch of a banjo head is pretty frustrating, too tight and you choke off the bass, too loose and the treble is dull.
I had a discussion with The person who I talked to (owner and banjo setup) and he told me about the way he hears the tone. He also said he learned this from Jens Kruger, "don't use a finger "thump" this produces the wrong tone that you are trying to match. He said the proper tone is acheived by scratching the head which normally yields a pitch that is about an octave higher than the note on the banjo.
Looking forward to trying it when I get home.
