palisades park walnut or mahogany?

[No.2-1820]

Beautiful, those Cuban bottoms make a world of difference. I have a great sounding old set that hold their own sound wise with any of my others but I have an aesthetic block on that big clumsy aluminum bottom, silly I know but I can't get round it.

Barrie

[jorge]

Mike, that is a beautiful refinishing job you did. How did you strip and sand inside the circular grooves? Any tricks to save labor and still get down to the bare wood evenly? Or is it just elbow grease and the right shaped sanding block?

[RitmoBoricua]

If you sand the grooves and ribs too much or forcefully you can mess them up real easy. I do not like to mess with the grooves too much. I use a little wire brush to remove any old finish the stripper did not removed and then comeback with steel wool to smooth the wood grain same deal with the bearing edge. Sometimes I fold sand paper creating a crease and I use the crease to get in the grooves, once again I use a light touch and like 220 or 320 sand paper. By the way you should always let the stripper take care of the old finish and keep sanding to a very minimum. I would not use power sanders or heavy duty coarse sand paper on a drum that I am refinishing and sometimes even a wood block if too much. You can dig too much into the wood in one spot more than other and you could end up with peaks, valleys and rolling hills on the outer shell not good. I preferred to use my bare hand when I sand, that I way I can feel the form and shape of the drum and go with it while sanding. Finishing - Refinishing wood is about finesse, patiences and of course knowing what you doing.

[Mike]

I fold sand paper creating a crease and I use the crease to get in the grooves, once again I use a light touch and like 220 or 320 sand paper.

Yep, that is how I did it too.

[RitmoBoricua]

I fold sand paper creating a crease and I use the crease to get in the grooves, once again I use a light touch and like 220 or 320 sand paper.

Yep, that is how I did it too.

I can tell, your bongo set grooves and ribs look really good. You know what you doing.

[Mike]

Thanks. I did the resto job in a time when I suffered from tinnitus pretty bad,
and the concentration on the vintage bongó gave me a lot of distraction from that
nasty sound inside - call it refurbishing therapy
I could not play much anyway then. Thank God, that phase is over,
and I am really lucky and grateful that I went out of that health crisis with just an
occasional minor ear sound - so I am able to enjoy playing more than ever.

Sorry for OT.
Anyway, tinkering with those vintage beauties is the best you can do, a reward in itself.
BTW I have another Gon Bops project coming... But I do not want to get OT again

[RitmoBoricua]

Refurbish Therapy, sounds good to me. That's exactly the way I look at it.

[jorge]

Mike and RitmoBoricua,
Thanks for your advice on the grooves. I have a very similar Palisades Park LP bongo, my first one I bought in 1973. Needs refinishing and a new hembra skin. First I have to make the time to do it.
Mike, your tinnitus problem may be partially due to years of exposure to loud percussive sounds. Bongos are not too bad, but clave y campana can be killers for your ears, especially those high pitched claves. Clubs with deaf DJs are the worst. I suggest getting Etymotic Research ER-20 ear plugs for practices, music clubs and even for gigs. Custom molded hearing protectors with the ER-9 or ER-15 inserts are more comfortable and easier to play with, but they cost a lot more. They will take the edge off the really loud bell sound that can damage your hearing and cause tinnitus. Deaf DJs during your breaks won't be a problem anymore (at least for you). Playing with hearing protectors takes some getting used to, so be sure to start out with them in practice not at gigs. Once you relearn to hear your usual timing cues from the other instruments, staying in time should be no problem. Singing in key is a bit harder. Eventually your band may learn to play softer and play to the room, and you won't need hearing protection.

[buckoh]

Jorge, we may be a little off topic here but, this is important and relevant; I sometimes use Hearoes which are soft and malleable and seem to work ok except for the disorientation from the change in sounds. What distinguishes the Etymotic Research ER-20 ear plugs (as opposed to some of the high priced ones)? The guitar player in one band uses some that cost 250.00. Also, I have tinnitus but, very little hearing loss in most situations (crowded rooms are bad!). What is current treatment? Thanks, Buck

[jorge]

Excellent questions. Prevention works much better than treatment, so use hearing protection when necessary. Bottom line, you can hear the high frequency percussive sounds you need to cue your timing better with musicians' hearing protectors than with industrial foam earplug hearing protectors. I see now that I have inadvertently started to hijack this thread, so in order not to do this I have started another thread on hearing protectors.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5607
Now back to our regularly program on vintage LP mahogany vs walnut bongos.