LP Vintage Palisades Park fiberglass quinto a new project!

[Joseph]

Hi Mike
The "ear" of that crown can easily be straightened by clamping it in a (nice big) vise.
I'm assuming the "ear" was fairly flat to begin with.
The vise acts as a press, and will push it very close to flat.
You might have to do some tap, tap, tapping for fine, final flatness... but beats wailing on with a big hammer.

Also, if concerned about finish on crown (chrome?) either tape ear, or line vise with smooth sheet metal (or whatever - hard and smooth), as vise's tend to have big grabby "knurling" machined onto their clamping surfaces.

IMHO, As far a flesh ring...it looks what I would call "sprung"...chances are you can push it and hold it flat to the table.
If that is the case, I think, as long as your crown ring sits on table flat (in plane), it is the stronger of the two and the determining factor on how well new skin seats on shell. In other words it will spring the flesh hoop back to a flat plane, mirroring the bottom edge of the crown.

However, if you go with existing "sprung' flesh ring you may have a royal struggle when it comes to putting wet slippery skin between crown and flesh ring.

~Joseph

[Mike]

Now - my neighbour has been successful in hammering the flesh hoop into shape again. The ears of the crown have been straightened as well.

The whole hardware being polished as far as possible, some congaless Matador tuning lugs I gathered from the rehearsal room at hand, I will start the mounting process tomorrow!

One thing is clear: This quinto will be a wild beauty, proudly showing her scars.
As a real vintage drum, it has got character already now.
I like the fire engine red colour very much.

The important thing is that crown and hoop could be fixed, that was the main issue,
and I am really relieved that my buddie did the job just brilliant.

Some pics of the final drum to follow... Stay tuned..

[bongosnotbombs]

One thing is clear: This quinto will be a wild beauty, proudly showing her scars.
As a real vintage drum, it has got character already now.
I like the fire engine red colour very much.

One of the best things about getting one of the vintage fiberglass drums.
They already have marks and scars so you never worry about adding a few more
because they are tough enough to take it.

Excellent job there Mike.

[Mike]

Thanks, Geordie!

A tough shell indeed. The only thing I wonder about a bit is the missing foot ring though.
The very bottom of the quinto is rather thin. Might it not break? Should I try to get some kind of footring?
BTW the Palisades Park footring seems to have been broader than LP´s footrings today.
Well, playing the drum without foot might not be that much of problem really after all.
Playing it on a sit-down stand could also be an option, as it is 28" tall only anyway and I am used to 30" or even 31" conga heights when playing seated.

Mike

[OLSONGO]

Hey Mike if you can't find a foot ring for the conga, look into a cooking skillet that fits and cut the middle out.

Paz
Olsongo

[Mike]

Thanks, Olsongo,
that is a fryin´good idea Perhaps a bit heavy?
You stirred my imagination. BTW I have just stirring some polenta & chorizo
in my frying pan. Not too sure if some cutting out right now might cause stress in my relationship
Or even lead to starvation
As an alternative I have just thought of some rubber sealing rings taken from sewage pipes
that might possibly fit.

P.S.: TGIF - I am afraid you cannot take me too seriously at the end of a hard week.

[Thebreeze]

Mike....I have a CP Quinto Rim that is in fine shape and it is of the good quality older ones. Let me know if you might need it ok? The outside diameter is 12 1/2 inches , and the inside Diameter is 12 3/8 inches, meaning the thickness of the metal is 1/8 inch thick.

Will.

[Mike]

Will,
thank you very much for your kind offer, my friend
Unfortunately the CP rim would not fit in with the flesh hoop.
I have measured the LP rim that is close to 0.2 inches (5mm thick) and thus the outer diameter is 12.9 inches,
so it would not really fit.

But thanks anyway!

Mike

[Mike]

Now I´m done mounting! It was no problem with the hoop, the crown is strong to hold everything.

I think the skin has got as much character as the drum..

A cool drum with this Cuban cow skin which looks very raw, freshly mounted as it is

[Joseph]

Man, that's one fat skin.
Crown & flesh ring look like they've almost bitten off more than they can chew!

Maybe it's still wet in pic.

Gonna give it the oil cure?

[Mike]

Man, that's one fat skin. [...] Maybe it's still wet in pic.

Gonna give it the oil cure?

Joseph,
Yeah, the skin is wet, the pic was taken 5 minutes after mounting that´s why it is so thick. BTW there were some flabby skin patches on the bottom side of this skin which I left there. That adds to the raw look.
After soaking, the skin was really soggy, which is why it seems as if crown & flesh ring have "almost bitten off more than they can chew as you say". In the pic the skin is still really thick,alright, but it will shrink back after drying to a considerable extent. It will simply take some time to dry. BTW the flat skin was 1/8 inch thick.

Yes again, I consider El Greco´s oil cure with this skin too, as I have close to 2 litres of good Greek olive oil left (which I rebottled) from my mule skin treatment - and you can see that this oil cure does wonders to skins

I will let you know about the sound of this vintage beauty by Martin Cohen once the skin has dried.

All the best, enjoy your Sunday!
Mike

[Mike]

Hi there, here is an update:

Now the skin has dried for 3 days (it stood warm) - and the drum produces already an awesome quinto sound!
A pretty dry sound, but projecting well with a short sustain on the open tones- exactly what I expect from a good quinto.
I am considering sanding the skin a bit once it has dried completely, as there are a few stubbles
and bumps in the skin. I could probably live with this little imperfection as well.
But otherwise the tension of the skin is even throughout, and the hardware does the job!

[Mike]

A final pic of Santa-Claus-red Fiber-Quinto...

And here with a close relative..

[bongosnotbombs]

You got that Matador very quickly. How does the quality compare.
They make a good pair of vintage fiberglass tubs.

So Mike, do any of your drums actually match?

[Mike]

You got that Matador very quickly.

Yes, seen and bought, I had to decide quickly.

How does the quality compare.
They make a good pair of vintage fiberglass tubs.

Well, of course the white is light-weight by far,
so they saved on the fiberglass, but the hardware is fine,
nothing is out of round, and that why I think it will serve the
purpose as hembra - after having mounted a similar skin
which I applied to the Palisades Parko. Now it sounds a tad hollow,
with the Matador skin being only 2.5mm thick!

So Mike, do any of your drums actually match?

Not in this life, brother
Well, honestly, I am a sound maniac - but I cannot tell much of a sound difference or rather mismatch
between my wooden LP Classic & Gio, Matador and Afro Congas. The secret lies all in the skins
and the hands probably, as I am striving to take greater care of my playing technique than ever.

The bottom line is, I like the red and white colours of this fiberglass couple -a black tumba would add nicely -
I remember a photo of yours... .
From the look I´d say they match. I have to see to the matching skin. I am pretty sure that this set will be around quite a lot in some parks or other gigs. Lets wait for spring and summer..