bauer congas - cracked

[lrlrllrlrlrr]

Hi,
I bought bauer congas (new) on ebay.
Everything was Ok, until I noticed a crack down the body.
I'm no expert on congas, please tell me is this crack a big deal, will it got further....
thanks


pics

[Gallichio]

If it was mine I would try to return it. If you can't return it get some good strong wood glue / filler. Dap. Plastic Wood and fix it ASAP. I fixed a conga with this once and I never had another problem with it. Good luck with it.



Edited By Gallichio on 1201396661

[korman]

Maybe upload a photo? Without seeing it's hard to tell.
Was it an ebay shop or just auction where you bought them?
If that's a shop, you should be able to exchange them (postage costs could turn out big though).

Those bauer congas look nice, I would love to try them out.

[Gallichio]

korman
Click on pics in his post.

[korman]

Sorry, did not notice the link. Yeah, the crack does not look good, but may have resulted from mishandling in transport.

I hope more experienced brothers here can tell how that might be fixed.
It would also be interesting to know if the carrier company accepts any liability for the damage in transit.

[CongaTick]

Search forum threads. There is A LOT of very sage advice on congacrack repair from those with experience. From what I remember reading of them, this is repairable, but requires care/patience, and the right choice of glue and "clamping". But first try return or liability claim with seller and/or shipper.

[BMac]

I've long wanted to explore this subject ... so ... here we go - here we go!

Here's some material to consider, although some of it is under "I heard" and "I believe" and other caveats expressing hearsay and personal opinions and such.

A friend has an older "Raul" conga he bought in Brazil many years ago. I believe it is related to modern Bauers. It looks indistinguishable in many ways. I heard that "Raul" refers to the original craftsman, and the name became "Bauer," reflecting their last name, when the company was taken over by Raul's son.

A store in the U.S. once carried Bauer products. The last time I was there, the store still had many Bauer items. I heard the store imported many Bauer congas and distributed them to customers all over the U.S. I heard the store was Bauer's exclusive U.S. retailer/distributor. I heard the store started getting calls from customers reporting that the Bauer congas were cracking. I heard that the store contacted Bauer and could not come to any return or replacement agreement. I heard that the relationship between the store and Bauer soured. I heard that the store accepted returns from customers and stockpiled the cracked Bauer congas at great expense to the store. I heard all of this three or so years ago.

More recently, I saw that the store was selling repaired Bauers and I saw several cracked Bauer congas waiting for repair in their shop. I saw that several cracked Bauer congas had the tension hooks turned hook-side outward from the shells. I'll call this a reverse-hook configuration. All my congas, and almost all congas I have ever seen, have had their hooks pointed toward the shell. The curvature of a hook typically arcs outward from the drum and the hook typically points toward the shell. Look at almost any photo of any conga and you'll see the typical arrangement. I don't have a photo to offer of a reverse-hook configuration.

At the store, I saw that at least some of the damaged Bauer conga shells had cracks aligned with hooks in reverse-hook configurations.

I have inspected a friends old LP tumba. This old tumba has a reverse-hook configuration. I don't know why. In the reverse-hook configuration, the arc side of the hook comes dangerously close to the shell. If one were to over-tighten the head, or mount the head too deeply, the hook might contact the shell and cause a dangerous pressure point. Maybe somebody can tell us why someone would set up a reverse-hook configuration. I don't like the looks of it. It might hook and tear car seats and such in transportation and would likely at least hook the edge of a bag when being bagged.

I wonder who mounted all those Bauer congas I saw at the store with reverse-hook configurations.

I wonder whether those hooks contacted those shells and caused the cracks.

I don't know whether the store, Bauer, or some other party set those cracked congas up in reverse-hook configurations.

I have a thought:
Whoever set those congas up in reverse-hook configurations may be the guilty party who caused those congas to crack.

It's just a thought.

Regarding the particular situation about which this thread was started, I hate to add to the misery of the new owner of that conga ... but I don't like the looks of that cracked conga. Sure, maybe it can be repaired so that its not useless ... but its an unfair situation for the unknowing buyer.

I can see, however, that the tension hooks are NOT in reverse-hook configuration as I've described above. My remarks and questions above still stand ... but this particular conga is not involved in my above treatise beyond the fact that it is indeed another cracked Bauer conga.

It seems I've seen many cracked Bauer congas ... what gives? I mean, we can pussy-foot around here if we want, for fear of offending the maker ... but at some point, if the emporer is naked, somebody gonna say they don't see his new clothes. Is the emporer naked?

I have questions for the person with the cracked Bauer, the person who started this thread.
Was the seller Bauer?
Was the seller a store in Atlanta?

I have a question for everyone else.
What do you have to offer on this subject?

I'm just gonna take off the kid gloves and ask the questions on my mind.
Are Bauer congas prone to cracking?
If so, why?



Edited By BMac on 1202935885

[bongosnotbombs]

If somebody sold you a conga cracked this badly without disclosing it, they are a crook and a theif.

Personally this looks to me like it was done during the shipping, but that is just a guess.

but a crack that big, on a stave joint, makes me think this conga was dropped hard.

Somebody is responsible.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1202930619

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... auer_2.jpg

[bongosnotbombs]

....

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... -bauer.jpg

[Congadelica]

Surely this should at least be reported to Senior Bauer.
I think the seller may be guilty how was the conga parcelled up? I have a freind who owns a set of 4 Bauer congas one of those has developed said splt ,,,,,,,,at least give an e mail to bauer thy dont look that old .
have you had any luck with maybe reporting to paypal if you paid by rgis method or other similar methods you may have insurance from this transaction .

I feel for you brother it knocks the shine of new ownership to your babies :p

Im sure things will sort them self out
good luck mi hermano

Marco

[korman]

Ok, despite what I read in this thread I bought Bauer drums myself. They were shipped from German internet store kalango.de that mainly sells samba instruments. I can recommend them, they were really helpful and all. Anyway, I was so relieved when boxes came and drums inside were unharmed, no scratches, no cracks. They really look beautiful!
Now I just have to tune them, open the Tomas Cruz conga method and start working towards becoming a conga player:) (I've been playing bongo, djembe and samba instruments so far)



Edited By korman on 1204713419

[ozrivera]

Saludos Hermanos

all issues aside, if you decide to keep the conga it can be repaired.
it doesnt look like a crack it looks more like two joining staves came apart. this is very different from a crack.
i have repaired 2 caribbean rhythm congas that i bought on close out and you cant tell that at one time they were split.

solution
get some commericial grade glue (i used gorilla glue)

and some 2-3 inch wide heavy duty ratchet strap.

youll need someone to help you open the split to about
a 1/8 of inch to get the glue in the split. be really carefull not make the split worst.

use a syringe like device and run a 1/8 bead of glue all the way along the inside of the split

start placing the ratchet strap around the circumference of the drum. at the point were the split ends. in your case it looks like its right around the plates areas.

place another strap halfway between that one and the bottom of the drum. and another strap the bottom.

be sure to tighten the strap as tight as you can, you should see glue oooz out on the inside and on the outside.
let it dry for about a week and remove the straps.
you will nee to put cardboard or a towel between the strap and the drum to preserve your finish.

once you remove the straps not off the excess glue. again do this very carefully and use something that will not scratch the finish.
once you complete that use some steel wool and or light, very light sand paper to remove the rest of the glue.
buy some car rubbing compound and rebuff the surface.

if the current finish is really thick the split might still be somewhat noticeble and you may have to end up refinishing the drum. but its not all that bad its very repairable.

hope this helps

oz

[buckoh]

If you do use Gorilla glue, or any other polyurethane glue, be sure to spray the surrounding area with water to facilitate proper curing. Personally, I would not use any of the urethane glues. I've had several failures with the stuff and it is a pain to clean up. If you use a yellow glue such as Titebond you can wait until the glue that squeezes out has partially dried and then gently pull it up from the finish. It won't harm the finish if done properly. Its kind of rubbery. Then, if there is any residue just wipe it with white vinegar to remove it. Before you glue the joint you have to remove as much of the old glue as possible. Good luck, Buck

[blango]

:D

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... 6-Raul.jpg

[bohemian]

I am an neophyte percuussionist but an experienced woodworker/instrument maker.

Fisrt let me relate two other experiences with Brazilian musical instruments.

A friend is a long time muisc store owner and is married to a Brazilian lady. He spent many years in Brazil. As a musical instrument maker himself, specifically guitars and mandilons<,he befriended a well known Brazilian luither.
When my firiend returned to the US to open his music store he began importing this makers mandolins and cavaquinhos ( steel strung uke like instruments,) He did this for a number of years, however, the number of repairs required for cracks and loose fitting components tc caused him to discontinue importing. These instruments did not have these troubles in Brazil.

Number 2.. I bought a set of Brazilian made Hering Harmonicas; Wood combs in a wood presentation box. The box was approxiamately 4x9 x 1 1/2 inches thick. The box arrived warped 1/4 of an inch and a crack developed 1/8th inch wide and 4 inches long. The harmonicas started sou ding bad after a couple days, They leaked and warped.

Now to the Bauers and the crack.

I believe that all of these cases,; the mandolons, the harmonicas and the congas are warping and splitting due to moisture content or lack of same. What I mean is that the wood is drying out and the instruments are suffering.
In the case of the drum.... the wood is drying and shrinking. I do not believe they were dropped. It is a simple case of the wood not being properly dehumidified in Brazil.. Are these drums built in a sub 50% moisture content environment. Is the wood below 10% moisture content before being used in a drum If not.. they will crack. I doubt they use moisture meters.

As soon as the instruments hit an environment with less humidity than Brazil, zing... So if the drums imported to the US went to and stayed in Atlanta,, they mat not suffer, If they were shipped to Louisiana or Florida.. probably ok.. but if they went West or spent a winter in Michigan or Maine.. my guess is they will crack

Repair...
Simple gluing.. maybe if the crack is less than 1 mm or less than 1/16th of an inch... If larger and glued... under tension as with web straps... glue is stronger than wood. so chances are it will split somewhere else.

If I could I would return them

If not and the crack is less than 1 mm I would take a chance.. if it is over 1 mm .. I would make a splie or sliver of a similar if not same wood and carefully make it to the exact size of the split and insert it.. using some kind of yellow glue. and modeerate web strap clamping

Gorilla glue This glue expands and is porous. It will spread cracks and is a bear to finish over.. I will not use it except for crude repairs on stuff that doesn't matter.. and don't get it on your hands... ( from experience)

As to fillers... they serve no structural function.. I do not and would not use them.. nasty stuff

Best of luck......