Many Faces of Valje - over the years

[congalero]

From the time Tom Flores started to build his dums in the 1950's until today, there have been many faces to and behind the the name. What we call Val Jay (Valje), is actually pronounced Val Jee. The name is said to come from Valerie and Jean; the real deal, stated by a chidhood friend of Ralph Flores (Tom's son) is that it was the family dogs name. Tom worked out of two locations in Los Angeles, 3312 Sunset Blvd. and 3314 Sunset Blvd.; moving one whole address away Any drums with the 3314 address are the first that were made.
His innovation of air drying his staves and scoring the interiors of the staves to prevent cracking and allow flexibility during construction was ahead of the pack, but his drums did not take on a huge following until being used by Santana and other Latin rock and rock bands. At one point he and Mariano of Gon Bops were in business together to try and corner the market, but like many partnerships, it ended due to personal philosophy.
By the late 70's Tom was getting tired of the business and the competition by mega mass drum producers. In the early 80's he sold the name and shop to Haight Ashbury Music of San Francisco who was a large retailer of his drums. Akbar Moghaddam, then working as a drum repairman, asked his friend who owned Haight Ashbury Music, Massoud Badakhshan, if he could go to L A to learn how to make the drums from Tom; he was turned down and four others were sent. After about three months Akbar was called back to go to work with Tom because the others failed; maybe partially due to Toms tough temperment. I am not sure, but i think Octavio Ruiz was working with Tom at the time. In any event, Tom taught Akbar how to make the Valje drums. Within a year the operation was moved to San Francisco where the second generation of Valje was created by Akbar with the help of Octavio who moved north to continue the tradition. The only difference in the second generation was that the height was cut down from 31" to 30" and a decal was put on the drum with Valje of San francisco on it (one could still order the taller model but it would require an additional cost). The drums hadware was the same, still made of red oak and the scoring of the staves remained. This operation was only in existance for about two years before there was a fire that destroyed the shop and about 50 shells, thus making these drums the rarest of all hand crafted valje's. The fire was started when a fireworks company exploded on a bright sunny afternoon about 5:00 PM across the street. Akbar heard the explosion and ducked just as the heavy metal door to the shop blew open and across into his machinery. He exited and began to knock on doors and assist others in shops all around the industrial area who were injured and bleeding. He was very lucky, and we are as well, since he is still making drums for all who have them. I know first hand of the devistation of this massive fire, because this conguero was a bombero who fought that fire as a member of the SFFD. I and others pulled 8 corpses out of the mess. Well the story goes faster now. Akbar went on to open his own shop, Sol Percussion, making fantastic drums here in S F., and is now at DW, as you all know, overseeing the whole conga production from the highly demanded California series to production and quality control of the other lines made out of the country. The next generation of Valje was a drum made in Thailand from Thai oak. The first models had no LP markings (LP purchased the rights to the name and drum from Haight Ashbury Music), the hardware stayed the same other than a small Valje was inscribed on the side plates, handle and tuning rods; of course the sizes became standard and fewer and the interior scoring was eliminated. The next generation was the Armando Perazza Cherry wood series; which is a beautiful drum. It also had standard sizes but the hardware was a bit larger and mounted by three bolts instead of two - plastic/rubber trays were designed and mounted to the bottoms of the drums. There is more to the story and please feel free to add what you know, as i will add more as i learn more.
Tom Flores went on to design and build the Resolution Drums with his son Ralph. Tom died a few years back and his son continues on with the drums and repair of old L A Valje's, 31".
The Valje drums vary in size from 9.5 to 14. There can be many sizes in between since they were handcrafted by a real craftsman and artist; he had no training in precision, but was quite presice anyway. The Valje drums are known to keep their shape and rarely crack if taken care of; but we all now wood will be wood - so thanks to Ralph and his love of repairing these drums. Tom often had extra wood around which he used to complete a drum. This often resulted in the smaller bellied drums with small head sizes. He did not make a requinto, but these small drums would be the ones that look like a requinto.



Edited By congalero on 1185081171

[congalero]

BELOW ARE A SERIES OF CONGAS - FROM THE LEFT, 31" L A VALJE BY TOM FLORES, 30" SAN FRANCISCO VALJE BY AKBAR, 30" FIRST GENERATION (1991) LP VALJE W/O LP MARKINGS AND OLD SIDE PLATES, 30" CHERRY WOOD LP ARMANDO PERAZZA SERIES WITH LP MARKINGS AND NEW LARGER SIDE PLATES.

THE SAN FRANCISCO VERSION ARE THE HARDEST TO FIND, SO IF YOU HAVE ANY YOU WANT TO SELL - LET ME KNOW



Edited By congalero on 1183781861

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[CongaTick]

Wow! What a fantastic story and -- to my mind-- an archival account that sould be preserved and added to. Thanks so much for sharing your personal account of these drum-making legends.

[congalero]

PARTIAL COLLECTION OF L A PRODUCTION BY TOM FLORES



Edited By congalero on 1177866633

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[windhorse]

I am so lucky to own a family of Akbar's Sol Mahogony Classics..
Everywhere they go, everyone admires them. Yesterday we were playing them outside next the library creek path, and a conguero friend who we recognized sat down and played with us for a while. He was very curious and said what a special set of drums they were.
Then, last night a group of us played for a conference in a room with very reflective wood surfaces on all 6 sides. The guy that invited us said that he would provide drums. Well they were the loudest Gon Bops ever made. Those plasticized black ones. They were so freeking loud that no-one could hear us singing! So, luckily I still had mine in the car. We pulled them out and played the rest of the night. Everyone loved us, and their ears stopped bleading.

I think was 4 years ago that I went to visit Akbar's Sol shop in San Fran, and he showed me every part of the operation! I could have a been a "drum spy" for all he knew, but he was completely open with every part of the process -very proud as well. He showed me with disdain all the gon bops he was making at the time. He thougt that he had already figured out the best way to make drums and anything just didn't cut it..
He was shaking his head like he had made a deal with the devil because he had to.

I guess I'm a bit sad.. I was able to witness first hand the end of an era and the beginning of a new one.
The world is certainly much better off due to his influence!

Dave

[bongosnotbombs]

Imagine how I feel typing this, just 3 blocks away from
the Haight Ashbury Music store, imagining all the wonders that
used to live there from Akbar and Valje.
Now there is just the standard LP Meinl etc,
with the lonely Gon Bops Califonia bongo with the $450 sale price..
Guess I arrived a few years too late!

Thanks for the wonderful history.

[Bongorific]

Very informative..I've always wondered about the progression of valje. I've read partial accounts but you've added some extra history. I own only bongos from valje. I bought around 87 or so they have the name valje imprinted in crown ring. also have valje logo(very small) on body of bongos. which generation are those . Also could you post close-ups of your bongos. Thank you for your posts as These are drums that need their story told.

[kongo]

Congalero, that photo is what Conga Heaven must look like! Stunning.

kongo

[congalero]

here are a few of the Tom Flores bongo sets. there is a non tunable jack costanzo set from the 50's where the skins are held on by metal bands; look to be mahogony. the heads are 6.75 and 7.5. second is a black walnut tunable jack castanzo set fron the 50's. the heads are 6.5 and 8. the last set is an oak set fron the 60's that are 7.5+ and 8.5+. the skins on the non tunable and the oak are the original. note the slight bend in the middle of the top portion of the tuning rods. this was typical on valje bongo and congas. Ralph Flores has replacement rods that are stronger and will not bend. Tom Flores also experimented with a few sets by combining woods. Ralph told me, last i met with him, that he not too long ago had a pair sent to him for a repair that were half oak and half black walnut; not every other stave but rather half of each drum was one and the other half the other. please also note the rods holding the drums together on the non tunable and the walnut tunable from the 50's. the oak fron the 60's is held together by oak bars. the ears on the 50's heads are 2.25 wide at the top and the ones on the later oak are 2.75. the 50's ears hang down about 2" and the 60"s 1.75". the top rim on the 50's is 1/2 inch and the 60's 10/16ths. the bottom rim on the 50's is 3/4 and the lower on the 60's is 10/16ths. the 50's lower rim is one continuous piece that was bent and shaped to accomodate the holes for the tuning rods and the 60s is one piece with a weld and the portions for the rods were rivited on. both have 1/4 inch stave shells. all three sets have 16 staves for each drum.



Edited By congalero on 1177995461

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[congalero]

50's non tunable

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

[congalero]

50's tunable black walnut

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[congalero]

60's oak tunable

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[deadhead]

Nice collection Congalero! Truly beautiful looking and sounding instruments, and your story paints a clear picture of the history of the drum.

[pcastag]

Hey man great story! I grew up in San Fran, moved a bit later to San Rafael. I remember when that factory blew up in Hunters Point, and the coverage when they found out it was an illegal fireworks factory! little did I know at the time that the Valje factory went as well. Small world, brings back memories of all day and night shows at the Farm, live music until the cops would come!
PC

[congalero]

here is a shot of the interior of a valje with the scoring tom would do. it is one of the few valje drums i have seen that was cracked; sent by a novice shipper - not packed well - aggggghhhhh!!!!! it is now in the hands of ralph flores for a restoration. the good news is that it only cracked on the seam. these drums are very resiliant and, as i said, have held up well over the years.
tom was a true craftsman and artist.

note that glue was appied to the scoring on the interior of the drum.



Edited By congalero on 1178255368

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