Valje congas/bongos

[Ernesto Pediangco]

Bongosnotbombs, if they have the bands on them, they are the ones I turned down. The owner offered the five to me a couple of months back. He was going to put them up at Haight Ashbury music. I will ask to see what the actual sales prices come in at. However, you are correct, if sold from a store like Haight Ashbury, one may be able to get a higher price per drum. It does not surprise me that the tumba and super tumba sold first, they are harder to come by.

Ernesto says : I prefer the bands because they have a function to hold the stave's in place & maintain the shell integrity. All stave drums are at risk of separating seams & warping out of round. I have repaired many many drums that if were banded, would not require such repairs. Asian made Lp's began using repairman styled use of adding fiberglass to drum interiors to do what bands did on out side but it took out some bass tone resonance, the thick poly coatings common to Asian drums are also partly to jacket the drum but makes touch up & matching stains nearly impossible & cost prohibitive. The crude nature of conga drum designs from the 50's perpetuate hard wares that cause lots of shell damage to adjacent drums ( this drives a market of buying replacement drums that are clean & new ) Bands can be better designed to be non snagging to clothing but since 72" I used banded drums like w/ Gon Bops. I do not like aluminum bands. My GB's have steel bands & look very traditional & classic. You never see cheap entry level throw away drums w/ bands ! ? Lp & Pearl are making Banded Shells even though they don't really need them on the super heavy thickly re enforced shells they apply them to, but its a LOOK in those cases. On Valje's, it is a necessity for road worthiness. Many Valje owners shelter the drums from possible damaging environments & the drums do not endure real workhorse situations so the clean cosmetics of a band less drum becomes a mute point if the drums are not road warriors.

[congalero]

Such a coincidence you are mentioning this, I was in there at Haight Ashbury Music last week and they had 3 Valjes, 2 congas and a quinto, with the tumba and super tumba already sold. They were asking $950 each, consignment sale, which actually seemed quite reasonable for a music store sale of vintage and uncommon drums.

BNB My source tell me the drums at Haight Ashbury have been negotiated down on the prices. Also that not all the bands were put back on. These drums were rough with bent hardware and other flaws - but they are selling.

[bongoz]

People have attachments and preferences for congas for many reasons. Owned vintage Valje's, Lp's, GonBops and had the pleasure of playing other's branded set, over the past 45 years. Valje makes a beautiful looking drum but i never got as excited about their sound as most. Sold my Valje's 10 years ago. Still own my Gon Bops and LP's and kept my Valje bongos just for sentimental reasons.

Purchased 2 rope tuned congas and a bugurabu custom made for me in Africa and love the way they sound. One piece shell ,each carved from a single log. No staves, no glue, and no metal tuning lugs to affect how the wood resonates with the skin. They are a little more hassle to tune and rehead but worth it.

I still play my other sets when asked to, and have fond memories attached to them, but if i was forced to get rid any of them of them, the rope tuned drums would be the last to go. That's just me, and am sure we all feel differently. Good set of drums is nice to have but the value is more in the player than any high priced drum. My two cents..

[Omelenko1]

I just recently bought a set of Valje Tom Flores from Lou Vga of VGA Drums. Sizes are 11.5" and 12.25", that's why I bought them. I often see a lot of 10" Valje drums, but not the bigger sizes like I just got. These I will say are late 60's, they are in great shape and sound awesome. Lou has a nice collection of vintage Valje that I think he got from Brian. Here are my 2.

Dario

[Lonz]

I have two Valje LP congas in my future. One more lay-away payment and they're mine. Sure, they're not vintage. But who lets go vintage Valjes?

[bongosnotbombs]

I found a match for my 12" 60's Valje tumba recently. A 60's Valje 11" conga. The tumba might just be my favorite of all my drums.

I traded my Valje bongo for it to a friend who added it to this set of Valje congas.

[Lonz]

I have 2 Valjes - in my future. One more lay-away payment and they're mine.

My Valjes - quinto and conga.