Just my Luck Cracked Tumba

[smidogg]

I accidently posted this in another forum but I think that this is the one that I want.

So I just bought the third and final drum (quinto) to complete my 10 year project of owning a complete set of LP Classics. Completely stoked arriving at my studio I was admiring my beautiful instruments when I noticed it. My Tumba has a crack in it! It didn't really suprise me cause its about 10 years old and has seen alot of gigs and travel, but it still sucks.
I know that this is an easy fix with wood glue and a big hose clamp but my question is this. Have any of you ever done this before to an LP drum, and how did it turn out? What method did you use? What do you recomend to use as a clamp? Should I remove the head and/or the base ring? The crack is on the bottom end of the drum. Also any precautions that I can take to make the "scar" as minimal as possible both on the finish and the crack.
Thanks in Advance

[Berimbau]

Surprised to hear that an LP tumba cracked! Now I do not purport to be THE expert on this site, but I did just fix an LP quinto with a 5 inch stress crack RIGHT THROUGH the bottom of the shell. I think that drying wood was the cause. Wood is a bit elastic, especially in various climates and weather conditions. For that reason, I don't clamp for this type of repair. The wood DOES NOT want to come back together, it has seperated like a bitterly divorced couple!! In this case I say let it stay seperate, just fill in the crack! On my repair, I took the head off, sanded the shell around the crack, and gradually filled it with epoxy over several applications. I then refinished the shell INSIDE and OUT with polyurethane. The crack is now nearly undectable. Trust me I ain't no Junior or Jay, but my repair has held up.


Boa Sorte,


Berimbau

[smidogg]

Yeah I was suprised too. It appears to be cracked on a plane that would be stressed if the conga was set down using the handle.
Anyhow I would still like to clamp the conga as I feel that it can be done and I know that wood glue will create a bond stronger than the wood. Thanks for the Advice.
Any other suggestions?



Edited By smidogg on 1123113471

[ABAKUA]

A friend of mine dropped an old Matador quinto accidently down 2 flights of stairs once, the drum split completely open into 3 sections.

He took the pieces to a friends workshop who make furniture and repair furniture, a few days later, it was repaired professionally by woodworkers and sounds better than ever!
Can hardly tell it ever happened. A job well done.

[smidogg]

Yeah I was considering taking it to a furniture maker but I'm poor (I play way too much to work enough)
I will look into it though as I really want for my set of drums to be complete. For too long have I had two blonde drums and a red one.
Thanks for the replys

[yoni]

Hi smiddog,

Maybe try binding it with tightly wrapped rope or twine, that's what I do, the more you wrap, the tighter it gets, best vise there is. There are also tightening clamp belts one can buy (if available) with a little metal winch on them...
Good luck!

yoni



Edited By yoni on 1123179525

[smidogg]

I think that I have my solution. I think I can get a 2" wide strap of webbing with a ratchet puller on it. I think that this will do the trick. Would all of you here be interested in some before, during and after photos of the process? I would be happy to post some up when I do this next week.
Also If anyone else has advice please post up as I will not be doing this for a few days and my process is still impressionable.
Thanks
Smidogg

[Jongo]

My Matador conga has a small crack where the staves are beginning to seperate and I was wondering what glue would be the best to fix that?

[windhorse]

Yesterday a GIANT gust of wind knocked over two of my drums and one landed right on my shaker. It broke two large pieces off of the handle. I used Gorilla glue on the handle, and now it's as good as new.

For Gorilla glue you slightly wet all of the contact areas, then dab on the tiniest bit of the glue across the surfaces, then press together. You can use pressure on the surface or not. Either way it bonds with an amazing chemical process that involves heat and molecular motion where the glue enters the wood on both sides, grabs it and holds.
The glue will foam up when setting, and you can wipe off excess with alcohol. But, only while the glue is still not fully cured. It sets up hard in about 4 hours, and fully cures in about 24 hours.

I am now a believer in Gorilla glue, and highly recommend it for any drum repair.

Dave

[RLan]

I used gorilla glue and two nylon rachet type band clamps to repair a galaxy quinto with a seperation of staves. This was a long seperaton. The drum was glued and clamped for two days. Excess squeeze out was wiped off. The gorilla glue did the job. I believe if the drum were to seperate again it woulod be in a different place. Drum sounds great after the repair. I used two clamps with heavy cardboard under the clamps. I also put tape across the glued seam at strap locations just wide enough to prevent the straps from glueing to the drum.
Hope this helps,
Rlan

[GuruPimpi]

Hello!

I also bought the tumba that was cracked and I fixed it with my teacher. We used glue for wood that comes in 2 compounds, which you mixed it and stir it together. I remember that my teacher said that not all wood glues are good for fixing the tumba,cause not all the glues for wood have the structure (when dry) to resonate.

Before puting the glue, we removed the steel rings from the body and the steel ring from the bottom, skin. Then we scraped the inside with the scrap paper, clean it with a bit of a wet cloth, vacuum it with the vacuum cleaner to remove all of the dust. Extra cleaned the place between the staves, put a glue between and squeeze the tumba with the 2 nylon 6 cm wide and 2 m long strap, which is used by a truckers or other workers to hold the things. (it has a mechanism to sgueeze it, tghten it by a short pulls) Sorry for my english...) And leave the tumba to dry for a day in a room.

Tumba came out of a healing process awesome, healthy and Groovy.

Hope that helps!

Thank you guys for your advices a lot!

Pimpi