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Finally got round to re-skinning & mounting up some of my drums, had been saving up the skins to get em done, with the help of a good friend they are almost all done.
Just have a 10 lug 1972 Gon Bop bongo left to do.

Once all skins are on and dried, will be applying Manteca de Corojo (African Palm Nut Butter/Oil) to all heads.

Works in progress... So far....

Cuban cow skins from Havana for these 2 early Meinl Woodcrafts 11.75" Conga & 12.5" Tumba. I have 2 of these skins on my Cuban solid shell set and they sound amazing.




Unknown dark skin, recycled off 11" Quinto I had, mounted onto 10.5" GB Quinto.



Recycled mule skin off previous 11.75" Conga, mounted on this early Meinl Woodcraft 11" Quinto.



Recycled cow skin off previous 12.5" Tumba, mounted on this early Meinl Woodcraft 11.75" Conga.




More to follow...

Ah, well done, Marcelo. And wow, what a nice array of recycleable
skins you have at hand. They look gorgeous. Must have been quite some
work fiddling with so many close-sized skins
Those Woodcrafts clearly deserve more decent skins
than the water buffalo ones they came with. You will see soon.
FWIW, one remounting job is lying ahead of me too,
but more of that later.
Enjoy watching those cueros dry and becoming ready to rumble!

Perfect weather for the next phase! Pics below








Now to let them sun bake all day

what kind of congas are those dark brown ones in the last photo con los collares?..

They look like Sonocs with bands removed and different rims? Not sure.

Anyway, that is an awesome nice congregation baking in the sun, Abakua!


BTW I only reskinned one old-school CP conga yesterday:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8520&p=84044#p84044

Saludos JC, the ones you mention are my solid shell babies. They are "one off's" custom made in Los Sitios/Jesus Maria in Atares district, Havana. Had them made while I was there on my most recent trip. I co-designed the shape and overall size + lug layout with the artisan, 7 lugs also (he normally only uses 6, and smaller sized shell ie normal size body), the heads are 11.75" Macho with body of a Tumba, & 13" Hembra with super wide body, barrigonas (extra big wide belly) one piece solid shell in Almendra Cubana wood (Almond/Walnut) Juaquin who made them for me also had some stainless steel brought to him through Mexico which he used for the crowns. They are brutal and rough, but their sound is amazing. I love these drums and they are by far my favorites.

Mike, nice job brother!! That steer skin looks fantastic and will sound amazing I'm sure.

Thanks for the comments guys. I have them tucked away inside the house now with nightfall, they will be back out in the sun again all day tomorrow, then wipe down and clean up in the afternoon, ready for the gig at night!
Cant wait to play them.

ABAKUA wrote:Saludos JC, the ones you mention are my solid shell babies. They are "one off's" custom made in Los Sitios/Jesus Maria in Atares district, Havana. Had them made while I was there on my most recent trip. I co-designed the shape and overall size + lug layout with the artisan, 7 lugs also (he normally only uses 6, and smaller sized shell ie normal size body), the heads are 11.75" Macho with body of a Tumba, & 13" Hembra with super wide body, barrigonas (extra big wide belly) one piece solid shell in Almendra Cubana wood (Almond/Walnut) Juaquin who made them for me also had some stainless steel brought to him through Mexico which he used for the crowns. They are brutal and rough, but their sound is amazing. I love these drums and they are by far my favorites.

Very interesting drums and I believe that they are awesome.
Which skins did you put on them, Marcelo? Cuban cow skin I reckon

Where can I find Manteca d corojo?

Mike wrote:Which skins did you put on them, Marcelo? Cuban cow skin I reckon

Still the original Cuban cow skins which went on when they were made. I just had them out there with the others which got re-skinned, all soaking up the Manteca de Corojo. (West African Palm nut butter)
They have many years of service in them before needing a change.

mangorockfish wrote:Where can I find Manteca d corojo?

Not sure where you are based, if you have Botanicas near you, they will have it for sure, if not, any African foods shop will have it, alternatively if neither is close to you, you can buy online through Ebay.


So today they spent their 2nd day in the warm sun. Gave them a wipe down this evening and decided to take everything apart and give them a good clean up, all lugs, nuts, washers etc, cleaned, wipe down, new lube on threads and re-assemble






Taking a break with a well deserved Havana Club 7 Year Añejo..

mmmmmm anejo!!!

ABAKUA, those are nice looking solid shell drums. How much did each cost, and, the cost for getting them home? Do you have Juaquin's contact info?--(if better, can send the info by private message.)

ABAKUA wrote:Saludos JC, the ones you mention are my solid shell babies. They are "one off's" custom made in Los Sitios/Jesus Maria in Atares district, Havana. Had them made while I was there on my most recent trip. I co-designed the shape and overall size + lug layout with the artisan, 7 lugs also (he normally only uses 6, and smaller sized shell ie normal size body), the heads are 11.75" Macho with body of a Tumba, & 13" Hembra with super wide body, barrigonas (extra big wide belly) one piece solid shell in Almendra Cubana wood (Almond/Walnut) Juaquin who made them for me also had some stainless steel brought to him through Mexico which he used for the crowns. They are brutal and rough, but their sound is amazing. I love these drums and they are by far my favorites.

Mike, nice job brother!! That steer skin looks fantastic and will sound amazing I'm sure.

Thanks for the comments guys. I have them tucked away inside the house now with nightfall, they will be back out in the sun again all day tomorrow, then wipe down and clean up in the afternoon, ready for the gig at night!
Cant wait to play them.

Thanks Ebongo, they are great sounding drums.
He had a land line phone, but has since moved and that house didnt have a phone installed yet.
I had special pricing on the drums as Ive gotten him to make a few drums for me over the years, as well as having taken quite a few customers to him during my trips to Havana.

If you are planning going to Cuba I can put you in contact with a friend of mine which can take you to see Joaquin.

As for bringing them back, I brought the macho (disassembled) in my suit case (padded up) and the hembra (also disassembled) in a padded army bag I swapped a suit case for. Came back through regular baggage.

Abakua, on our custom set of congas made in La Havana, you mention they got stainless steel fro Mexico to make them.
Your crowns look very shiny, it almot looks like they are chrome crowns next to your other drums.

I am wondering how you guys got them to be that shiny like chrome, if they are stainless steel. The makers of congasthe, that use satinelss steel, like Moperc and Isla, there crowns are not as shiny as yours.

Are your crown sand blast polish finish or what was the work on the steel if any..

You have a great looking selection

Hey MP, yep he had Stainless Steel from a friend of his who had brought the SS in from Mexico on an earlier trip.
I was present for the log selection, a great deal of the shaping and hollowing out, as well as the skin mounting, plus the machine bending etc into the rim and the final lot of polishing by an old school buffer. Its a fairly high grade of stainless steel, 304 or 316 I believe from memory. I'm not sure as to the extent of polishing work that went into it, but it certainly is not chrome plated. The side plates are also stainless steel, but he did not have them polished up due to shortage of time, I needed the drums back completed as I was needing them for gigs while in Hav.

Hi ABAKUA, nice skin mounting. Do you have any tips or tricks to mount a skin so that the crown/rim is 2 inches below the bearing edge evenly all around, without stretching the skin too much?