refurbishing old mahogany congas from the 70's

[docarroyo]

Nice Job on what appears to be nice shells. I was wondering what the hardware looks like for these, any photos?

[salzfaas]

the hardware is very nice I have the rings They need shinning up, I will post when I put them back on the shells, not quite sure the best way to reattach the rings I remember they used to rattle and so were gaffer taped to the shell......lovely eh. They were pinned with what look like large chrome drawing pins.Any one got any suggestions?I will need to put them exactly where the red rings are.

[salzfaas]

here are some pics of the rings and hardware with the oiled shells, I used the nail polish remover from my daughters to get the lacquer off the bands.if any one knows how to tack on the bands that would be useful. the way it was done before was with upholstry tacks, but they rattled around a lot.

[pcastag]

Looks like you have a nice set of cahoba sonocs, cuban drums, Nice score.
PC

[salzfaas]

Are you sure about them being sonocs here are the drums with hardware now on and the bottom ring is not on cos i can"t find any upholstery tacks that are chrome to put it on.the other 2 rings are just resting!!I have given them a play and they sound very warm nice deep bass not much volume but then I think that might be because I put the old skins back on just to check to see if they would sound any good .The diameters are 11" and 12" does that sound right for sonocs? Also These were found in Uk so very unlikely they arrived from Cuba....be nice if they were.

[Omelenko1]

Cuban Caoba wood SONOCS 1980's for sure.

Dario

[KING CONGA]

Absolute SONOCS. Just awesome!!!!!
Congratulations

[salzfaas]

Thank you very much Dario and king for confirming what they are .I hope I have done them justice! loved putting them back together.Dario what kind of skin would you suggest to make them sound the best ,at the moment I have the old cow skins that I found on them.do you know any other examples i could look at?

[pcastag]

Thank you very much Dario and king for confirming what they are .I hope I have done them justice! loved putting them back together.Dario what kind of skin would you suggest to make them sound the best ,at the moment I have the old cow skins that I found on them.do you know any other examples i could look at?

What my opinion mean nothing?

Just kidding, enjoy them, some of the nicest sounding drums around. Heres my set of refurbed cedro sonocs, a bit older than yours with the more traditional hoops



IMG_0171 by pcastag, on Flickr


IMG_0172 by pcastag, on Flickr

[salzfaas]

now now !!!! yes thank you too I just couldn't believe it when you told me what had .but of course you have the same make conga so you know .Yours look bellisimo
are they particularly quiet ?I wasn't very impressed with the glue in mine but then maybe in Cuba what with the embargo they did not have access to real glue. I know glues have come on a bit since the 80's.What sort of skins do you reckon, the present ones could even be the originals very thick ,in my opinion too thick for the construction of the shells.When I got hold of the drums I knew they might be good because of the wood, but to come out with original sonocs is beyond my wildest dreams....didn't sleep much last night toooooo excited to finish them with new skins.This forum has come up with complete trumps in helping put them togeather and the Knoledge Thanks to ALL who have contributed I appreciate it big time, knowing there are other people out there who are as mad as me about CONGA....Inspirational!!

[pcastag]

Mine are actually pretty loud and a lot brighter than I expected, I would use some medium to thin cow on the mahogany drums, the best drum I ever played was a sonoc mahogany quinto, beautiful dry sound, head was pretty thin.

[ABAKUA]

Fekin nice man!

[salzfaas]

I have put a thin to medium mule on the conga.sounds like chocolate absolutely heavenly to play(also not quiet anymore).a very well balanced sound between bass slap and open with great harmonics.the bass has good attack and deep ,dosen't sustain like my volcanoes which is very useful.I feel like i might have found my ideal conga!!!I can see why you guys like this wood.Hope to do a recording soon. will post.

[torpedo tom]

Fantastic job! Was that the bearing edge or bottom that was really rough and what did you do about that?

[salzfaas]

bearing edges all quite good, the conga was thicker wood at the top than the tumba ,there was a triangle missing at the bottom of about 1.5 cm so I have a friend who restores grandfather clocks for a living and also has been playing drums for 15 years he masterfully cut a piece that it is almost impossible to noticeto slot in the gap.the next job is to attach rings properly with nice brass upholstery tacks and give support to the bottom of both tubs with a stainless ring on the outside and a an alma on the inside.I have noticed that someone who had a Junior fiberglassed inside at the bottom to give strength, but since i have ripped all the fiberglass out of these ,i am loathed to go back to putting some back in.