refurbishing old mahogany congas from the 70's

[bongosnotbombs]

I would recommend not putting fiberglass on the inside of the drum. Fiberglass is not strong in compression, which would be the force working on fiberglass inside the drum. You would be better served to place it on the outside of the drum, like Gon Bops used to.

I recommend simply refinishing the drum without superfluous materials and reinforcements and see how it performs first. It looks like you did an excellent job restoring the shells.

[salzfaas]

I agree with you.I just want to protect the delicate bottom of the tumba.I have seen nicely finished bottoms that matt smith does with the clear pvc coating right on the edge.I am not quite sure how to attach that yet. any ideas out there?

[bongosnotbombs]

I haven't really found the bottoms of drums to be all that delicate. Matt and Jay use clear hosing tacked onto the bottom of their drums. My Valjes and Resolutions are just wood on the bottom. I play the Valjes outside, they get scratched on asphalt and such but have held up to a lot of use.

Jay and Matt's method along with a bottom band are probably all the protection you need if playing outside or on concrete floors. If the drum does crack again just glue it up again. No biggie unless it's cracking everyday!

[salzfaas]

here is yet another Sonoc it's a quinto 10". The wood is very light and has been stained darker with some horrid
purple stuff. the hardware is not as good as the last lot, chrome is peeling There are lots of cracks,i have split it in two so far and reglued might have to do that a few times.it had bathroom sealer in the cracks!!!(Very resonant) and of course the terrible glue that doesn't work for too long.

[pcastag]

Love me some sonocs, I wonder what kind of wood that is? It would be really cool so see a historical pcitofile of some sonocs. Does anyone know when they first started making them?
PC

[pcastag]

PS, what sizes are your other two drums? Do you have a whole set for rumbeando now? Jealous.

[salzfaas]

Yes now have the whole set ,the other 2 are 11 3/4 and 12/12.this one is according to Dario a later version as it is the lighter wood probably cedro.Also it is only 12 mm thick which is really thin, when I get to the skin part I will consult the oracle here!when I got it, it had a very thin skin probably calf, almost like a djembe skin, so I have to put something on it more beefy, but due to its thinness and lightness got to be careful, It did have an alma which I think I might put back to protect it.lots more cracks to mend before then and I am going to be patient.The staves are very fine 2cm at the top.

[salzfaas]

Here is an update for anyone interested
the staves are all glued up and i started wire wooling the outside to take off the purple dye this is what the wood looks like with other brown stain and then rubbed it back to bare wood is it cedro?

[salzfaas]

have now taken off all purple covering and old polyurethane brown covering back to bare wood ,not sanded yet.notice the green coloring in some of the wood any body know what that is? it is in the structure of the wood .
the dog is happy to watch!..... or not.

[KING CONGA]

Here is an update for anyone interested

Are you kidding? who would not be intereasted
I can assure you that we are ALL Conga junkies here , we are always interested and excited about your project, un like that labradore in the picture who can obiously care less
Congratulations on the progress, it's no doubt looking better. Please continue to keep us posted on the progress, cant wait to see the finished product.
By the way, wher the heck is hastings?
Cheers.
K.C.

[Mike]

By the way, wher the heck is hastings?
Cheers.
K.C.

You know, 1066 and all that
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/bat ... stings.htm

Hastings is the place in merry old England where King Harold got a decent arrow stuck in his eye
Although this might be a myth? http://socyberty.com/history/good-king-harolds-eye/

[roberthelpus]

My four legged guy is indifferent when I play acoustic guitar. Not to crazy about loud electric guitar. He likes when I play congas and lays down in front of them. Bongos, he keeps a bit of distance when I'm playing but gets real interested when I stop and still have them between my legs right at his eye level. "Hey, wait a minute. That's the same stuff that my chew bones are made of. Let me give that a little lick."

[Mike]

My four legged guy is indifferent..

And why are you indifferent to the topic of this thread?

[salzfaas]

ok already you wanna talk dog not conga ,Is this conga a dog or is gonna turn out a real tiger, one never knows when you start a project......is the labour gonna be worth it .This time at least I know that it's a sonoc to start with.But did they sometimes turn out a woofter drum?.....or shall I say a spayed.....no cahones.The wood is very thin only 12mm... I have never seen a quinto this thin or as light made out of wood but I have had light djembe's that sing sweet.The main concern is, is the strength of this puppy strong enough for the job....You can see it has had the holes redrilled to take the side plates before probably because it had splitting issues on the stave joins.should I beef these area up a little ,if so what with to not effect the sound.the last thing I want is high pitched ring like on the bauer that i have that have been fiberglassed in the top section lots a volume but no good for quality.
no one has commented on the green part of the wood?
Thanks King C I know that there are some real conga aficionados here and no mistake ...also dog lovers!lol
Hastings is a small sea fishing town 60 miles south of London with a large drumming community .....now if you want to talk FISH that's a whole nother thread .talking of dog chew what thickness you reckon of mule what thickness if cow?

[joaozinho]

One time I cross all France to buy some sonoc's.They were beautifull in the photos,but When I got there i was really disappointed.The sound was horrible,and dispite the tradicional and beautifull look,the drums were very thin and fragile,I could felt that just to look at them,I knew that a huge amount of renovation should be done,lot of work and money to finish in the end with a museum piece.I didn't have any experince in congas renovation,so I didn't close the deal.But I can see that you have,you did a beautiful job in those sonoc's.Epoxy resin can be a good solution,it work's well in wood and is very strong.ring issues can be fixed very easily.For the green part of the wood,it could be the consequence of wood autoclave treatment?!