Bongo restoration question - HELP!!! Split in Hembra wood

[buckoh]

Sounds good to me!

[Mike]

Thanks for your input, Tonio and Buckoh!

Required clamping pressure Enough to bring joints tightly together (generally, 100-150 psi for softwoods, 125-175 psi for medium woods

I wonder about the "PSI" figures - don´t know a thing about them, but as the wood is medium I will apply medium pressure as a rule of thumb to avoid quenching the shell...
At the weekend, when the Titebond III will have arrived, I´ll start the mending.

Another thought, given that the shells are not the thickest and look old, what do you think about FIBERGLASSING them? Could this be done by a layman like me myself? Does it make sense at all? Reinforcing vs. tonal changes?
Just a thought.

Mike

[burke]

I've done alot of fibreglassing (boats and patching up various beaters). It can be scary. Assuming you are you mean the insideof the drums it shouldn't be too bad. In F-glass you have two choices: polyester which is cheaper or a boat building type like West System (less toxic but quite a bit more expensive).

Main thing is to use glass cloth not mat which is a pain to work with. Pre cut your glass cloth and get it in place and make sure its completely soaked through.

A little trick I recently discovered to hold the cloth in place while I brush on the resin (use a throwaway brush - you WILL be throwing it away) is to use spray glue on the surface I'm going to glass.

Depending on which you type pick and how much hardener you add you have you got 10 - 15 minutes before the resin in the bucket starts to harden (first becomes jelly then very shortly after that a lump of plastic with a brush stuck in it).

Gloves a must unless you like using sandpaper on your fingers and you absolutely do not want to do this inside!.

PS

I've glassed a lot of things but not drums so this is just a commentary on glassing in general - not drums in particular (although I did give a drum an inside coat of resin sans glass fibre recently).

Darrell

[Mike]

Hi Darrell,
thanks for the info - but I think fiberglassing the inside of the shells sounds a bit complicated to me... might exceed my manual abilities....
I´ve never done it - just thought - like with my LP Classics - I could easily reinforce the inside of the shell by applying fiberglass cloth.
Well, I´m not giving up that easily: A colleague of mine has got a sailing-boat - maybe he is used to fix things by fiberglassing.

Thanks anyway
Mike

[bongosnotbombs]

I would'nt bother fiberglassing them, if your really worried about them splitting on you, I wonder if putting a strap around the shells like some congas have could be a solution.

Vintage drums are vintage drums and bongos go through a lot of stress, nothing lasts forever.

Just fix them, then use them, then fix them again as needed.

[Mike]

BnB, basically I agree with you, given the fact that this bongó is a vintage one that serves as a second set only, I´m not really taking the hassle of fiberglassing them. The mending process of the wooden shell will keep me already.

I wonder if putting a strap around the shells like some congas have could be a solution.

I don´t think that this is an option for bongos, at least I have never come across bongos with metal bands. (No, NOT Bongos being played in Heavy Metal bands

So let wood be wood...

Mike

[bongosnotbombs]

Bongos with metal bands,
there are a few here and there....

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... Bongos.jpg

[Mike]

Oh-hoh, alright, I see your El Piernas have those bands.

But still it´s technically near impossible for me to do the metal business with my bongos...

Thanks for the pic anyway - beautiful bongos indeed!

[Mike]

Hi everyone,
I thought I´d keep you updated about the restoration of the cracked hembra of my Supercussion bongos. It worked out fine. Most thanks to you, Charlie, for your sound advice, I did everything you told me to:
Opened the crack carefully with sandpaper and then my lady´s nail file (yes, sacrifices must be made for the sake of drumming ), carefully cut a piece of fir wood, glued it in using Titebond III, strapped it, today I sanded it.
I am going to use bee´s wax to adjust the wood tone and to feed the sanded wood a bit.
Then it´s ready for a new skin! I still have an unused LP handpicked head from my Giovanni Quinto. It should do the job.



Edited By Mike on 1194983434

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... anding.JPG

[Mike]

Here´s another pic. The middle part still needs to be treated or modelled out in some way, but there is no crack left , which is the main thing.
Well, the bongo is not going to be a beauty, but a sprightly old lady that still might kick ass :;):
Thanks again to everyone for their help

After having mounted decent skins on those vintage bongos, I´ll post another pic.
Mike



Edited By Mike on 1195079229

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... paired.JPG

[blango]

wow,

Id say this is the wrong way to go about it, but now that you are at this point...

i wouldnt mess with it any more, glue it up, strap it up, and deal with it in the finishing. You will have one ugly fix on your hands, for sure.

in this case, you should have forced the gule of your choice into the back of the crack, on the inside, with your fingers. forcing the glue in.

When it looks like the crack has glue in every place its cracked, strap it up, i dont use ratchet straps as they are not strong enough.

I use inch thick nylon rope and inch thick wook sticks to bind the drum by twisting. this is much stronger and can bring together very difficult, old cracks.

The method used in this case, with all due respect, was exactly what not to do. You can never put back material lost in sanding, digging, etc. Only in very rare cases do i dig out a crack. only when the old glue is so hard it comes out clean and easily.

Its all a learning process...

Tony

[Mike]

Hi Tony,
and thanks for your reply - which comes a bit late now everything is fixed already.
Not being an expert in mending cracks in bongos or congas, I am happy for any input.
Well, I guess it´s like always: may people, many voices, many opinions.
I simply tried to follow Charlie´s (aka YAMBU 321) advice:

WHEN A DRUM HAS CRACKED, AND YOU GLUE AND STRAP IT BACK TOGETHER, THE SHELL WILL BE UNDER MORE PRESSURE BECAUSE THERE IS LESS WOOD SURFACE. SO THE BEST WAY FOR A PERMANENT FIX, IF YOU ARE HANDY. IS TO CONVERT THE CRACKED AREA, INTO A COMPLETELY CLEAN CHANNEL AND SHAPE A COMPARABLE PIECE OF WOOD TO FIT IN THE CHANNEL VOID AS EXACTLY AS POSSIBLE INORDER TO AVOID ANY SHELL PRESSURE. EITHER FILE OR USE A CUTTING WHEEL TO CONVERT THE CRACK TO A NICELY STRAIGHT LINE VOID. THEN CUT AND SHAPE A PIECE OF CEDAR WOOD TO FIT IT A TIGHT FIGHT IS PREFERED. ENSURE GLUE IS APPLIED TO ALL THE MATING SURFACES BEFORE FINAL FITTING. THEN USE RACHETING STRAPS TO HOLD IT ALL TOGETHER.APPLY AN EXCELLENT WOOD GLUE, TO ALL THE MATING SURFACES, AND THEN STRAP IT ALL TOGETHER. AFTER IT'S ALL CURED YOU'LL BE ABLE TO FINE FINISH THE SELL, AND IT WILL BE A PERMANENT FIX WHICH IF DONE RIGHT WILL OUTLAST THE REST OF THE DRUM. :;):
CHARLIE "EL COQUI" VERDEJO (YAMBU321)

I used the highly acclaimed Titebond III glue. Just squeezing glue into the crack and then pressing the shell to death wouldn´t have helped IMO.

All in all I don´t quite see the point why this kind of mending should not work. Do you think the glued-in wood will break under tuning tension or s.th similar?

Again - I don´t claim to be an expert.
All in all, I´m lucky that it is the hembra and not the macho shell that had a crack.



Edited By Mike on 1195150341

[bongosnotbombs]

I'd go with Tony on this one, that's one of his jobs, he repairs and brokers old vintage and rare drums for people. Has probably fixed more old cracked and split drums than most on this board.

Things like Vergara's old Gon Bops, Valje.

I've enjoyed playing one of his drums and see him posting congas and bongos frequently.

anyways, I think you did an excellent job, it's always a learning process.

[blango]

thanks for the kind words Bombs...

Mike, Im sure the drum will hold together and will sound fine, its just not going to be that good looking. You will need to fill.

Also, when a crack doesnt come completey together, it will stress the other staves and may split one or two seams over time, not to say it cant be fixed again.

Sorry im late on this one. :;):

Tony

[Mike]

OK, I see it´s a learning process...

On "ugly": as I already said, it´s not a ´beautiful´ fix, but it´ll do the job alright. I don´t do this on a professional basis, sorry, just for myself, so I´d better keep a low profile huh ???



Edited By Mike on 1195245365