Another Requena/Vergara

[docarroyo]

Hello fellow brothers in the love of percussion. Today I have received a conga attributed to Requena that has a Vergara crown on her. There have been photos of her on the web on a couple of pages. It belonged to a Great guy, drumer and collector from SoCal named Robert Feltcher . Its in need of a resto but it even has the original square nuts on the lugs, shes all there. Heres a photo of the old girl before I start restoration on her. Also wanted to mention it was packed exceptionally well he has several GB's on ebay along with a set of old Cubans.

[docarroyo]

Well I got the drum yesterday and jumped all over it, I had a gig last night and did as much as I could before having to leave at 8:00. I loosened the bands of to reveal all the loose slats (too many too count) and out came the Titebond. Placed 4 constricting bands as used in framing and taped the metal bands on tight with a piece of hard wood and mallet. Wiped away excess from the front and created a nice bead on the inside. Then started on the metal out came my trusty Dremel, Brasso, and wheel polish along with steel wool. This morning I started to put her back together, I was going to strip and re-stain but decided to match the stain on it for now where the bands where, Red Mahogany stain matched to a tee. I will strip later on and do it correctly down the road. Under a film of dirt much of the chrome survived, the handle was polished to its stainless steel base and turned out well. I won't put any tension on her yet, I will wait for a few days so that the glue cures well and I do not have a skin for her yet I might try 6X8 or the trusted Mike at L&H. Just thought I would share the progress pretty fast HUH?

[KING CONGA]

Great progress on your drum. Now I'm confused, I am noticing that the lugs on your drum are not the same in mine, this is interesting as we both claim to have Requeñas.
Notice on my hardware as well as the hardware on other claimed Requeñas, the mounting brackets, there are dowels holding the part that guides the tuning lugs, see images, these are different than on yours, see last image, also, the bands on these Requeñas appear to be a little narrower, the bands on the vergaras are wider, could it be that the drum that you have is an actual Vergara? Plus your crown, it’s Vergara right?

[docarroyo]

It is a possibility since Vergara had his hardware made by others so you make a good valid point. It could also be that its a later construction or maybe even a proto type or even yet a custom ordered drum. I'm not that great with Id'ing wood it may be mahagony which would make me lean towards Vergara. I have owned Vergaras in the past and it does have his shape and contours also Vergara used old barrels as a source for wood and this has different sized slats or stave's which may also indicate Vergara. There is no evidence that the side plates were changed, down the road when I strip her I may be able to make a better assessment of the wood.

[pcastag]

I picked up the other set of cuban drums, looks like I was the only bidder surprisingly! New set of skins coming up, the wood on the drums looks to be amost an inch thick, I had Robert e-mail me some pics before I bid, if that's the case then I should be getting some very heavy caoba wood ancient cuban drums here in Houston in a short while, I'll update with pics when I get them. I used to have an old Requena that I had jay fix up for me, nice drum, but the wood was very thin. Beautiful shape but I ended up selling her when i got my SOS's.
PC

[KING CONGA]

used to have an old Requena that I had jay fix up for me, nice drum, but the wood was very thin. Beautiful shape but I ended up selling her when i got my SOS's.
PC

Here is a question for all of those who have experience with vintage drums, what do you think the going price is for a well restore Requeña?

[pcastag]

Who knows? years ago mine sold for about 270, that was after it had been fully restored by jay, it cost about 100 for the repair, i bough the drum from phil Kraus cheap for like 70 bucks, I also got my Solis bongos from him. Mine drum looked exactly like yours docarrayo, I'm trying to dig up some pics of it.
PC

[docarroyo]

If you look at the post titled "Vergara? "you will see that a non restored Requena sold on Ebay for $840.00. It was painted in a tropical scene and I beleive it said Bahamas or something to that effect. Like any object it depends on the market and what an individual wants to pay for a collectable. Some collectors do not want items that have been restored they prefer them as original as possible. Fender guitars put out a reissue that was "reliced" or made to look worn at the factory or the custom shop. I know congas are not guitars but just an example in music instrument market. Many collectors want the instrument in playable condition not restored condition. I made the mistake with an old Fender guitar, had it painted to a custom color rather than leaving it in its original worn state and it lost value. I guess it also depends on the collector who buys it to have it in his collection or the player who sees it as his instrument to play. There many varibles to the question.

[pcastag]

No doubt, right now many things are going cheaper than normal because of the economy, i bought my SOS's for like 700 for the two and sold them about 8 years later for 1500. I've seen sets of two up like darios that didn't even get bid on e-bay, a couple of years ago they would have gone in an instant. The cuban drums I just bought went for the opening bid, 600 for the pair, a trip to cuba to bring them back will cost you about twice that even though you can get old drums in havana for about 100-150.
PC

[docarroyo]

I refinished the drum to sort of match my Fat conga here some photos, I might rechrome the metal work later on

[pcastag]

How's the sound?
PC

[docarroyo]

It sounds really good, it has a cow skin I got from Micheal at L and H. It has a very melodic tonality with no overtones, the slaps are great very dry and sharp. Its not broken in yet and sits high, I still have to cure it with Rum, manteca and oil. I feed my skins to break them in we used to say curando el cuero. I took it up to requinto level and it rang like a bell but brought it back down to a conga tone to play with the Fat. Thanks for the interest

[Mike]

Congrats to this exceptionally fast and fine refurb, docarroyo,
a really beautiful drum. I bet it sounds fantastic.

[docarroyo]

Thank you Mike, I'm happy with the way it turned out.

[KING CONGA]

Congratulations on a job wel done, your drum looks sweet. I'ts always nice to see these types of historical relics restored.
P.S. Welcome to the Requena Family