Valje I.D.

Manufacturers, brands, skins, maintenance, stands, sticks, michrophones and other accessories for congueros can be discussed into this forum ...... leave your experience or express your doubts!

Re: Valje I.D.

Postby drum4fun » Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:35 am

Wow...nice set of Valjes.

My basket stand is missing one of the leather bumper pads. Any idea where i might get a replacement?
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Re: Valje I.D.

Postby Anonimo » Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:48 am

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Last edited by Anonimo on Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Valje I.D.

Postby Jerry Bembe » Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:01 am

Thanks. They are finished with an artist faux Zebrawood finish. This was very carefully finished. The faux finish does not match the wood grain and this is not evident until you look inside the drum.

I donot reccomend using the stands for long term use. My drums get stuck in these original stands. Mine have a masonite shoe or pad on the interior it would be easy to make one yourself out of masonite. When I received this set the stands were wedged on the drums. I had to use a rubber hammer and silicone spray to break the drums free from the stands. If I keep using tthe stands, I would like a paxd on the inside that would not lock onto the drum's shell. It is possible that my drums were a conversation piece for many years (lack of wear) and they were never removed from the stands.

I have changed 2 of the 3 heads with modified Remo Skyndeep heads. The heads did not fit the crown until I made significant modifications. The tone of the Remo heads is great. The biggest original head still has life and decent tone.
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Re: Valje I.D.

Postby drum4fun » Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:25 am

Hmmm..i thought quarter sawn oak was the standard for Valjes back in the day. I could easily be wrong. Looking at the pictures i would never have guessed that the finish was other than natural.

Yes, those stands are not the best design. My drum also gets wedged into the stand. When i bought the drum one of the pads was missing, the previous owner put a piece of cardboard in place of the leather and just continued to play his drum. It wedged the drum in pretty tight and also scuffed up the finish a little bit where the cardboard did not completely protect the drum from the stand.

Id like to refinish the drum but im not sure if my skills are up to the task. If i could get away with a little localized spot refinishing, and blend it in well enough that is what id prefer to do. The 'blending' is the part im not sure about, and at this point im better off with a few scuffs than refinishing the whole drum.

I recently bought an old CP conga from craigslist with a split head , for cheap. Ive always wanted to put a Remo type of head on one of my congas but had a hard time justifying taking off a perfectly good sounding rawhide head, so ill use this old CP as an experiment.
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Re: Valje I.D.

Postby Jerry Bembe » Tue Mar 01, 2011 4:34 am

My set is Oak but with a Zebrawood finish.

I keep all of my old heads. I think of them like guitar strings and the different heads give different choices for tone. I prefeer Remo heads because of their stability with temperture and humidity. It can be rough in the winter and summer with tuning.
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Re: Valje I.D.

Postby congalero » Tue Mar 01, 2011 5:06 am

The original subject drums in this thread are LP Valjes - Siam Oak - whatever one calls it. I have three that are dated 1991. They are a very nice drum with a good sound. The Cherry Armando P drums were made in the late 90's - but not for long. I would assume that they were too expensive to make, since they are solid cherry stave's. I just had a set skinned and they are great sounding. The original Valjes from LA were not all quarter sawn. A friend here in SF told me that quarter sawn was a special order that had a premium cost. The quarter sawn is easy to spot, as it has a bit of a Zebra skin look here and there. Most Valje stave's have very straight lines in them. Many drums have a combination. There is also variations in the stock of oak selected, too many to name - even in head sizes. This is all a part of being hand crafted drums that breath with time, made by a person that sometimes used what wood was around at any given time.
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Re: Valje I.D.

Postby Jerry Bembe » Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:27 pm

Congalero,

You are correct. Thank you for pointing out my error. The shells on my Valjes are Quartersawn Oak and do not have a special finish. The stain on the outside make it look like a special finish and it does resemble Zebrawood but this is possibly coincidence. I thought it had a special finish because it looked so different from other Valjes I have seen. The grain matches the grain on my Matthew Smith Congas which are Quartersawn Oak.

Regards.
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Re: Valje I.D.

Postby drum4fun » Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:56 am

Bump.

Okay, about 8 years has passed since I posted the photos and asked questions. Ive still got the ashiko and Im still not sure I got an answer to my questions.

Ya know...somewhere on the internet (years ago) I read a write up about who made and where the drum was made based on the design of the sticker or logo on the drum.

Based on the sticker...Do you suppose this Ashiko was made after Tom stopped making drums and before LP took over? Would this then be an Akbar made drum?

Ive read that the Akbar drums are the rarest (not including the earliest Valje drums made by Tom) because of the short time Akbars shop was in existence before it burned down.

Anyone have any additional information?...or know where I might find it?

drum4fun wrote:Okay, ill piggyback onto this thread and ask if anyone can give me an idea what era my Valje is from.

Did they build fewer Ashikos than congas?

Im pretty sure this is before LP bought the name.

Is this an Akbar Valje just before the factory burned down?


(see photos previously posted of my valje ashiko)

download/file.php?id=6739&t=1
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