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Well after realizing that I did not have the experience to restore my newly acquired Requeña I decided to take on another project, re-finishing my CP’s. I figured that this would be a good place for me to start building my experience. I took the pictures with the hardware removed yesterday and today I made a little progress. Man I did not realize how labor some it would be to remove the factory finish. I have only gone as far as sanding the 10.0 conga with 60g corse Sand paper, I’m not quite sure what to use next so Ill go searching within the forum to try and gain some information. For now I have to stop working on these and start cutting the grass if not my wife will start complaining about me taking to much time with my congas. Anyways, I have attached some pictures to share my progress with all of you conga junkies.

go with finer paper 800 then 1000 then steel wool for silky smooth results.

Dam nice job! I thought i had to sand a lot. You couldn't take off the bage , Probably not worth it, it look's like it might bend. What's the next step? Maybe leave it natural, lot's of choice's, go with a waterbase polycrylic spray from Minwax. Doesn't smell so bad,or Watco it. If your going to used them as beater conga's either way. I used the water base spray on my drumset and it a clear hard finish. Maybe Watco it first & then if you want more shine & protection spray the polycrylic on it.

vinnieL wrote:go with finer paper 800 then 1000 then steel wool for silky smooth results.

Vinnie I ment to say that I used 60g corse for the first sanding, would you recomend a different grit sand paper to remove the factory finish? Please advise.

Bongobilly nice looking drum, great job. I do want the protection for the shell afterwards so I might go ahead and take your advise, thanks.

The factory finish is pure hell to get off with sandpaper. 60 grit is good for getting that finish off but as you know it's still a lot of work. After getting the bulk of the finish off I would go to 80 then 120 grit to start getting the wood smooth. then move into the really fine grits. If you lightly moisten the wood with water on a rag in between sandings it will bring up the grain and then sand again this methods yields an extremely smooth finish.

This is a nice project - those CP's are gonna look and sound great.

Ok finally got some free time and started working on them again. Man I tell you sanding these is no joke, Ithink that Im ready for some elbow replacements. Here they are ready for stain, they as as smothas a babe's bottom.
Any suggestions for stain color?

Looks like you've been slathering on the elbow grease KK.
Those are the more desirable older CP's correcto? Do the triangular side plates mean its a older high quality CP?

As far as stain, how about A transparent ebony like the AA Gon Bops,Order up the black heads to go with it.

Dangler wrote:Looks like you've been slathering on the elbow grease KK.
Those are the more desirable older CP's correcto? Do the triangular side plates mean its a older high quality CP?

As far as stain, how about A transparent ebony like the AA Gon Bops,Order up the black heads to go with it.

Thanks for the suggestion dangler. Yes these are definitely the more desired CP, Old School hardware, just as good as any in any of the modern higher end LP's and others. Do you have an image of a conga with this finish that you are mentioning, I would like to see one. Im really looking forward to the finished product, this is my first re finishing project, I have to say that in spite of how hard it was to sand these I am having fun with the project. Im keeping my eyes open for my next project.

Hey KK, you did an awesome job,
spending the elbow grease was definitely worth it.
I do know from own experience the strains from
sanding. Depending on how brittle the old lacquer layer
is, you can sometimes scratch it down carefully with a
sharp hunting knife - at a correct angle of course.

How are you going to finish the shells? i would recommend
waxing it with floorboard wax, after polishing it,
it brings out the smoothness and the wood grain, making the wood
color darker that the sanded tone for sure.
Personally I would not like the mahogany stain.

Just my two cents.

This is what I'm talking about,although flat sawn lumber would probably be a little more ideal to show more grain

Finally finished!!!!! I chickened out and decided not to stain so I went with 3 cotes of poly to bring out the natural wood grains, they came together very nice. I am very happy with the results and am glad I took this route. The hardware polished out very nice so I had no need to re-chrome. Here are some pictures for all of you conga junkies to enjoy. I would like to give a special thanks to my very good friend David Perez for blessing me with these great drums, no brother you can't have them back , and also all of those who encouraged and supported me in this project thank you very much fellow congueros, it was truly a labor of love as I had lot's of fun with this project. Oh I forgot to mention...they sound very nice too.
Blessings to all.
Juan

P.S.
Click on pictures to enlarge them.

Some more.

These look great KC.

I really like the old skool red though!

congamyk wrote:I really like the old skool red though!

Thanks congamyk. I would have kept them original red but they were pretty dinged up so I decided and figured it would be a good learning experience anyways. I’m glad I did it and am looking forward to my next project.