Aé Tata Guineeeeessssssssss

[Espresso]

Hi congueros , here pictures of my new purchase.
This post first to show these beauties from Havana , made of Majagua wood , size 12" and 13" , but also because now I need some very useful help from You:
Like You can see these congas has several crak in the stave and with more accurate observation I am afraid that other will be soon.
So now of course I can repair the broken , but what about the rest ?
Do You think it better repair again and again every next breaking or make a deep restoration opening all stave and reglue and re paint?
What is more conveniet from Your point of view ?
All help from everyone that had some experience in this matter is well well wellcome.
Thank to all.

[Espresso]

Picture of the breaked staves

[KING CONGA]

Greetings Espresso. Wow, congratulations on a great find.
I would repair the current cracks only, first of all this means less down time and more play time, secondlly, chances are you might still come up with a crack here or there, none the less, more times than not, you will not have to repair any further. If you think about it, you really have nothing to loose by just repairing the current cracks.
Good luck and once again congratulations on a sweet set of classics.
Cheers
K.C.

[Psych1]

Beautiful set of tumbas!!!!!!!

Of course, a "Deep restoration", taking everything apart is the "best. " But, unless you do it yourself, it can cost as much as a new set of handmade congas - and, it is probably unnecessary. On the other hand, crack fixing can lead to what Tony calls "crack chasing" i.e., the need to fix one after another. But, eventually, it stops and, for a while at least, you are done.

But, from what I see in the pics of the bottom, your staves are put together with splines. If that is true, and they are top to bottom, you will never be able to separate all those staves without cracking at least some of them anyway. And those splines should hold most of the staves together even if the original glue used was not very good. Lets see a pic of the bearing edge to see if there are splines there too.

So, NO, forget taking them apart. And, again, Beautiful set of tumbas, ENJOY.

[jorge]

I don't know what your winter/summer indoor humidity cycles are in Italy, or the coefficient of expansion due to humidity of majagua. Typically in colder climates like NYC, the expansion/shrinkage from humid/dry indoor air causes some wood congas to crack, usually opening up between staves. The worst is usually over after the first 2 or 3 winter/summer cycles, then the internal stresses are partially relieved and the drums don't crack as much after that. My Skin on Skin oak and ash drums all cracked in their first few years with no further cracks since being repaired, my cherry Skin on Skin have never cracked.
I agree with the above posters, fix the current cracks only and don't bother taking all the staves apart at this time. You have a couple big cracks that may be a challenge to fix, depending on how much give the majagua wood has. Just make sure the shell is airtight with no leaks. Play the drums for a few years and if you really love them, then you might consider major surgery and refinishing, but if you don't really love them it would be a lot of wasted time and money.

[congalou]

What a nice set !!!

To my mind : let's repair those cracks and wait one year. If one year after, you have a lot of repair to do again, you can make a BIG refinish.

Congalou.

[Espresso]

Thank to All for Your advice , this was what I thought to do , may be these crack have been caused during transport by express courrier because packing was not very good. I can't image the box launched up and down from truck!!!!!!
Thank You again