congaplace.com

I recently acquired this gem
My guess is that is was a tourist model...mostly for looks.
Others on this board might know otherwise, nevertheless...I'm liking it...it's yellow!

some more...

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

Congratulations on this acquisition, this is a very interesting drum indeed. I have no doubt that this drum is 100% Cuban as was constructed with good old wine barrel wood, notice the differences in the widths of the staves. What would be sad this about restoring this drum would be having to remove the "Habana" label, ofcourse unless you can work around it.

Looks like an old tambor de comparsa... Very nice find.

Yes, indeed, good call Abakua. Very light, painted and rough....for sure, a comparsa drum.

King, you are right, it would be a shame to lose the Habana label, but the same goes for the paint. IMO, all the decorations on this drum are part of its history and important to keep. The trick would be trying to hold it together while not damaging the paint and surface. So, I'm not sure this drum will ever be anything more than a showpiece. And, even at that, it will take some delicate craftsmanship to touch it up. Actually, to me, the ugliest thing on this drum is the new skin on the top

What I would do is... from the inside put some gorilla glue which expands and will seal the cracks, and what ever seeps out to the outside let it harden and cut with a blade, then match the color and paint with a small brush. On the hardware i would take all of the rust off , polish the metal and spray seal with some poly.
Peace
Olsongo

Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines, but the wood if so off, to the point of where the staves that have unbent the most are actually pushing up into the skin. And, the separation of staves makes the paint job uneven. But, I really don't think it can be bent back without messing it up. Bands need to be tightened as well but are painted black...tough call because all the rustic paint is part of what makes this piece nice. Regardless, I think it is safe to say that this drum will remain a display piece....

What are the dimensions? If it's for comparsa it's probably pretty small and might make a nice requinto. Someone else on here restored an old drum and left the paint on and it looked great. (Or maybe that was a cajón I am thinking about.)

But I can understand you wanting to leave it as-is, it will be a big investment to get it up to speed.

One thing I love about it though is that label - Monte 408, that's the address in Havana where the guy's (A. Blanco) shop was. The street is also known as Avenida Máximo Gómez. Would be cool to track it down. The only thing I've been able to find for Monte 408 is there was a hardware store there in 1898 owned by Antonio Rocha:

http://books.google.com/books?id=9DhqAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA182&ots=ZDou0K43jy&dq=monte%20408%20havana&pg=PA182#v=onepage&q=monte%20408%20havana&f=false

I could check it out for you when Im over there if you like.

Nope, Montes is Gomez...sorry for the confusion. Regime change is a bitch.

Requinto de comparsa, probably belonged to La Comparsa Del Alacran, Los Dandys o Las Bolleras. You got Cuban rumba history in your hands. It a job for Superman (Super congaman Matt Smith). Consider it!

Dario

YES Abakua, that would be great, thank you!!! When will you be there?

Dario, good advice, thank you, I will consider it...email sent to Matt...waiting for response.

deerskins wrote:YES Abakua, that would be great, thank you!!! When will you be there?

Dario, good advice, thank you, I will consider it...email sent to Matt...waiting for response.

I will be there for 2 months from mid Nov til mid Jan.

As for Matt, he is not the best with email, be patient, he aint too computer friendly and doesnt get behind a keyboard that often. Could be a while before you get a reply...
Always best to call him. Which reminds me I need to call him to see how my requinto is coming along....

Call him, send him the drum, forget about it for about a year, maybe longer. When it comes home you will not be disappointed.
PC