3 Vintage in Chi. $500

[AlexV]

the shape of the drums match my Islas nicely. I'm gonna play the valje quinto and conga for now along with my Isla conga tumba. The Valje tumba needs the hands of a pro. I'm really going to need good advice on how to proceed with that one.

[AlexV]

bnb,

i was actually thinking about you when figuring out what i should do seeing that you've been there done that. the quinto and the conga need a little work but nothing some good glue can't take care of. i'm scared of the tumba though. for some reason it was abused way more than the other two. those stands do a real number on those congas over the years.

[bongosnotbombs]

Talk to Ralph about the tumba, he'll know what to do. He also restores Valjes, I don't
know what his rates are, but all the parts have been very reasonable. My Valje tumba had a big crack
a little while back that I fixed easily enough, but no gouges. Ask Ralph about that is my advice.

[AlexV]

I'll call him and ask him various q's. I'm gonna tackle the quinto and conga first. I can fix those by myself and plus it works out functionally for me playing wise because I only had 2 congas. Now I can play 4 and that makes the sound complete when playing tumbao. I'm so excited. lol!!! Manana hay corillo!! Vamonos.

[msb501clave]

good score.....i just like throwing them up there to see what happens.... now who saw the sonocs in ATL...

[Congadelica]

Hey Alex great scoop on these Tumbadoras Im sure they will be brought back to life with some TLC . look forward to following this project ,keep us informed with your progress .

Chevere !

M

[AlexV]

Congadelica,

no doubt i will be taking pics and stuff for all to see how i progress. seguro que yes!! it's going to be fun tackling this project. i'm going to post pics later. anyone that has any advice on what i could/should do will be happily accepted.

[RitmoBoricua]

Nice tubs. I have no idea how big or deep the gouges are but normally wood putty is used to fill-in them gouges and the wood putty needs to closely match the wood grain or finish. Some people finish first the wood and then use wood putty that closely matches the finish. Here are couple of links to give you ideas and guide you in the right direction in caee you decide to take a stab at it. You learn a lot with this projects, you will be surprised at what you can do and save some bucks in the process. Good Luck.

http://www.paintinganddecoratingconcour ... Putty.html

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/T ... iller.html

http://www.craftsman-style.info/finishing/006-putty.htm

http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2020580/2020580.aspx

[KING CONGA]

Alex congratulations on an awesome score. I love to see members come across and take advantage of these kinds of deals. Please keep us up to date on your progress plus if possible post some detail pictures, Thanks, and once again, congratulations.

[umannyt]

well i went ahead and picked them up. definately valjes. the tumba needs work with a couple splits. conga and quinto in real good shape. the tumba has nasty

scarring where it sat in stand. i don't know if its fixable. i don't know how terrible it would look to fill in. i'll need advice for sure. i'll try and post pics later...

AlexV,

Big congratulations! My eyes didn't deceive me after all. They're indeed Valjes!

Great deals like this are very few and far between. I'm very happy for you!

Can't wait for you to complete your restoration of your newly-acquired tumbadoras. Do share your pictures when you can.

[AlexV]

thanks everybody for the well wishes. also thanks to michael for putting that tip out there. the store was literally 5 min from where i live.

ritmoboricua- gracias pana. one of the links you provided mentioned an interesting water based filler ,timbersomething which i'm thinking about

ordering to fill the gouges. also it's hard to see but there are splits and a couple cracks i'll have to fix. i'm thinking titebond III.

anyway here are some pics. sorry that there not the best quality, it's night and the flash sucks.

[RitmoBoricua]

I like them tubs Boricua. I think some sanding should help erase/smooth them gouges a bit
and then the filler. I would not go too heavy or too hard with the sanding. Looks like you have
a fun project in your hands. Take Care.

[taikonoatama]

It's difficult for me to imagine how filling those big bands of gouges (caused by the stands) could look good, especially with a wood this light in color. Matching the filler putty color to wood color is hard enough in any situation, but here you've got some things really going against this idea:

1. The staves are slilghtly different colors.
2. The wood is heavily grained (and putty is *not*).
3. The gouged band is going against the grain.
4. It's not just a little gouge - it's huge - goes around the whole drum.

The reason the gouged bands stand out so much to the eye is because the finish has been scraped off there, creating all that contrast with the rest of the finished wood. And if you fill it with putty it'll likely stick out at least as much for the reasons stated above.

If it were me, I'd strip the finish completely, hand-sand (starting with 60 grit and moving up) the entire drum, with only light sanding in the gouges (not expecting to remove them completely), then refinish them with a satin or semi-gloss polyurethane, or possibly a hand-oiled finish (depending on your climate). Once the whole drum has a consistent finish you'll hardly notice the gouges (even without sanding them much).

My old Valje quinto has the same gouged-band issue as yours and at first I hated it and planned to refinish the drum and then didn't get around to it and now I don't even notice it. Now I notice it again - thanks

Great score on these drums - you'll love them. Mine have what seem to the original heads and it's time to replace them. Can't tell about yours. I just ordered a new set of skins for all 3 of mine from CP member Michael, of L&H Percussion - I'll let you know how they sound.

Cheers,

James

[jorge]

+1 to James' suggestions.
Nice set of Valjes, congratulations. Those gouges actually look pretty superficial, even on the worst of the 3, they don't look like they go much deeper than the varnish finish. I have sanded out worse gouges on Gon Bops mahogany. On oak drums like the Valje, you can go substantially thinner on the shell than the stock thickness without threatening the integrity of the drum. I have an oak SOS tres golpe that I asked Jay to take down an extra 1/8" all around on the lathe when he was making it, to make it lighter. The shell is noticeably thinner and lighter than my other SOS oak drums, but it has held up just as well over the last 23 years. I agree with James, strip the drum finish completely, then sand the rest of the shell using coarse grade sandpaper until the gouges are barely visible. Call Valje and make sure the chemical stripper you use won't affect the integrity of the glue joints between staves. Depending on the glue Valje used, you may want to use sandpaper rather than chemical stripper to take off the original varnish. You probably won't need to take off more than 1/32" of the shell wall to pretty much eliminate the gouges. Finish it off with fine sandpaper to smooth the roughness from the medium coarse sandpaper. The sanding will be good for your rotator cuff and deltoid muscles, plus your forearms, switch hands a lot and do it over a few days. And make sure you get an N95 dust respirator at a hardware store so you don't breathe too much wood dust. Or you can wimp out and use an electric sander, just don't let the edge make linear or circular gouges in the wood.
I personally like Watco Danish oil finish on oak like the Valje, covered with polyurethane in variable temperature climates like Chicago or NYC, but the final finish is your personal preference. Some of the staves are quarter sawn, others are not, the grain patterns are very different on different staves, so you may want to consider options for the finish that don't accentuate the grain. A natural color will probably de-emphasize any remaining gouges that are there. Purely aesthetic decision. After you do the worst drum, do the others, they will be easier. Keep us posted with more great pictures as you go.

[bongosnotbombs]

I'm with James and Jorge. I would sand the finish off by hand and not a sander, and also not use a stripper myself. On Valjes the finish is not as thick as LP's or other modern drums, so it is easier to sand off. I would smooth the gouges to an acceptable level. If it was my drum I would probably just smooth them out and not try to blend them 100%. Once you have the old finish off and have smoothed the gouges, the gouges will blend in with the rest of the drum when you apply a new finish and be much less noticeable. I don't recommend staining them. I also like the Watco Danish oil. I used it on my Valje. The polyurethane is a good suggestion too, but I didn't use that on my drum.