Building a Segmented Conga

[KevBo]

Wondering if anyone has ever attempted building a segmented conga, or at least a sectional conga. The reason I ask is that I have a design idea for a conga in 3 sections, the top, belly and bottom. This way I can use solid straight cut staves but sill get the interior and exterior curve that steam bending gets.

Here are my initial thoughts.

More stable conga... Steam bent wood always has a tendency to straighten back out. Humidity changes can cause extra stress on the glue joints, especially in kiln dried woods that later get steam bent. Straight staves are happy and stable where they are. I wonder how steam bending, the compression and elongation of the wood fibers effects the tonal quality of the initial stave? I have two thoughts for attaching the 3 staved sections to each other. One is to use dowels as I do in my sectional djembes which I've never had a problem with. The other idea I've been toying with is to use splines between the sections. Not as invisible as a dowel, but could ad a cool, maybe even signature, design to the congas. Both are extremely stable and when matched with a good glue edge and the right glue its just as stable as a solid stave.

Doing this style I could add segmented "feature rings" to mimic the metal banding of traditional congas, or do a more modern type of design while still using solid hardwoods like I've done with this djembe, demonstrating both my sectional stave design and the bottom "feature ring"...



I have a lot of experience with djembes and ashiko drums, but none with the design and shape of the congas.

Some other questions I have about the conga is the shape of the bearing edge. What is preferred? I Know there is big debate over the bearing edge on djembes and what is "best" it really comes down to personal preference, but with a conga, unlike a djembe, so much of the sound resonates from the shell, and I'm guess a lot of that has to do with how the skin touches the bearing edge. Would love some input, or even some photos of bearing edge profile on congas you think sound great.

My next mater is wood. I love Black Walnut. It's got a beautiful mellow,richer, tone, where I find Ash and Oak to have more of a brighter and harsher tone. Yet I see congas sought after being in Oak and Ash, but the sound sought after being a more mellow with less attack. I'm wondering why people aren't building congas out of walnut?? Wood density plays a major roll in the projection and texture of sound for a djembe, I'd assume it's even more so with a conga. I guess my goal with a conga build is a fat mellow sound and to get a long, pure sustain with even tone while minimize any overtones. As with a djembe, it's the tones that make the drum. A good slap is more about technique and the skin/tension. The tone is all about the resonance and correlation of the skin/shell/tension.

One last thing. I'm hoping to get a quick rundown / overview of how the shape effects sound. It seems that a bigger head = lower pitch. A smaller sound hole = lower pitch and more inside volume = lower pitch. Anyone noticed a difference in sound whether the belly is higher up or lower down? I've seen both but wonder what the difference in sound would be. Maybe a little longer sustain with a lower belly? Seems like most higher end congas are similar in size, so I think for my first run I'll just mimic the dimensions of the LP Galaxy...

If I was to build one conga to get an overview of the sound, should it be the middle 11.75" conga? Thanks for bearing with me!

[Thebreeze]

KevBo....Looks like you just joined recently. On behalf of all the members I welcome you. Just an FYI....there was a nice discussions on Bearing Edges that was started by Bongosnotbombs on Tuesday Feb.05, 2008 in the Conga set and accessories section.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3320

In it I think you will find some good discussions about bearing edges. The Title of the post is called..

Vintage Gon Bops - a new project!


By the way...if you made that Djembe in the picture it is beautiful!

Will.

[dende]

Bro, do it. report back. absorb the love.
i think everyone here is in the corner of anyone who will strike out and do something new or interesting. ive thought for a while of doing like a mosaic conga, but dont (yet) have access to a lathe. is it a good idea? who cares! ittle b a fun time, go for it.

[burke]

Actually a similar idea popped into my head when I read this post a while back

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6353&p=64192&hilit=jamaican#p64192

The pdf on making a kete drum made me think of a kete type assembly for the bottom then a modified short one on top would give a rudimentary conga shape ... later I thought about adding a short straight middle section to make it even more conga like shape. Then planing/sanding to round off the edges...

This was mainly because I don't have the skills or equipment for steam-bending or cutting the stave shape directly.

Never went any further but would love to see what an attempt by a real drum maker would look like.

Cheers

Darrell

[KevBo]

Thanks for the feedback. I've found some hardware I'm going with and am going to start on a conga as soon as I finish up some other drums I'm working on. I enjoyed that discussion on the bearing edge. I have lots of scrap walnut left over from a recent order so I'm going to use that. I might throw in some maple or yellow heart accents, but dont want to get too fancy on my first conga.

As far as not having a lathe... I only got a lathe in the past 2 years. It's awesome, no doubt.. but not needed. I've built lots of djembes / ashiko / dunun without one. Just plane down the glue joints, hit it with a belt sander to round it out as good as you can, then sand it down with a random orbit. It may not be perfectly round, but using more staves will keep it more round and you'll have less work when sanding.

Steam Bending is actually a lot easier than doing segmented staves. And they are cheap to build. In short, build a box out of some 2x6, buy a wallpaper remover (the kind that forces steam out) and hook the hose into the box. You dont want it air tight. Plane your wood down to 1/2" or so (not sure how thick congas are) and you should be good to bend in about 45 min. Make a form or 3, and bend the staves one at a time.

I'll post photos and progress reports here for sure! The more suggestions the better.

Also, have a few more questions... What is the standard wall thickness for a conga? I'm guessing between 1/2" an 3/4" I might just have to go to guitar center with a cloth ruler and take measurements of different congas to see what I can come up with

Something I thought about just now.. I looked at the inside of a few congas and the hardware wasn't really centered on the staves? Looks like the drums used 20 staves, but 6 lugs.. If I used 24 staves I'd put a lug centered on every 4th stave, that way the hardware will sit flat and not be between slats.

I'm excited to build this thing! I'm open to any and all suggestions / comments. I love hearing ideas.

[KevBo]

BTW, I did build the djembe in the photo... A friend of mine played it while I recorded.. It sounds as good as it looks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ektelnAB6Lg

I really like what I see on this forum and am becoming more interested in the 'conga scene' I'll do a proper introduction when I have a min.

[dende]

As far as not having a lathe... I only got a lathe in the past 2 years. It's awesome, no doubt.. but not needed. I've built lots of djembes / ashiko / dunun without one. Just plane down the glue joints, hit it with a belt sander to round it out as good as you can, then sand it down with a random orbit. It may not be perfectly round, but using more staves will keep it more round and you'll have less work when sanding.

i know, ive made a few congas/atabaques, taking the joints down with a hand plane, but i was talking about a mosaic drum, where the entire shell is made of tons of cubes and rectangles. but at the same time, ive built some bongo shells out of waterfall bubinga, and ive found it impossible to plane, it rips out. i wish i had a belt sander.....ide have been done a while ago. they've just been sitting there...

Steam Bending is actually a lot easier than doing segmented staves.

hell yeah, and im looking forward to you trying the latter

Also, have a few more questions... What is the standard wall thickness for a conga? I'm guessing between 1/2" an 3/4" I might just have to go to guitar center with a cloth ruler and take measurements of different congas to see what I can come up with

ide say right between the two, but the thinnest ive made was 1/2" (maple), and the thickest completed was 13/16"(mahogany)

Something I thought about just now.. I looked at the inside of a few congas and the hardware wasn't really centered on the staves? Looks like the drums used 20 staves, but 6 lugs.. If I used 24 staves I'd put a lug centered on every 4th stave, that way the hardware will sit flat and not be between slats.

ive had a problem with this fact. that solution will make it much better because many crack at the point when a bolt for the plates land on a glue line. 20 is good for 5 lugs, but why do i also see some with 22 staves? it makes more sense for the amount of staves to be divisible by the amount of lugs.