Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Wed Mar 20, 2013 6:10 pm

RitmoBoricua wrote:
11am wrote:Are you in the furniture biz, or drum restoration only?


No really but I have done both but on my drums and house. What I did, I bought
like 3 or 4 books on how to finish wood, etc and have read extensively about it.
So I have refinished my kitchen cabinets, stairs threads, fireplace mantel, trimming,
etc, even old bikes since is the same principle. You know every spring I get the itch
to refurbish/refinish something and I have redone a couple of drums already, the other
day I used Minwax Polycrylic as my top coat on one of my drums but this time I
used the areosol one, I had a little trouble in the beginning spraying it was kind of
spitting a bit so I had to find the right stroke and was able to get my coats uniform.
So now I am waiting for the stuff to cure since waterborne/waterbased takes longer
and will rub it out here in a couple of weeks or so either with minwax wax or an
automotive wax product. I will go back to the polycrylic in the can since I am not
too impressed with the aerosol stuff. We have a Woodcraft store close by and every
now and then I poke my head in there and buy supplies etc although I do most of my
shopping at Lowe's and Home Depot. I love reading your tutorial, take care.


Well Rit, you have found the secret of success. Self Reliance! Very satisfying! if you notice in the article, there's a pic of the tightbond glue. Behind it is a 1950's lathe setup I built a lot of custom gigs for to make Custom pool cues. Son montuno and 8 ball, baby, can't get anymore old skool than that :mrgreen:
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby Psych1 » Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:34 pm

Great name! I went a lotta years never getting up before 11. OK here are some pics of my, still great sounding, cracked tumba. The crack is a bit over 1/8" wide, The bands are a bit loose now so it is not being held together by the bands at top & bottom. All the other stave glue lines seem solid. I love this tumba - don't want to hurt her. Thanks for your help.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:50 pm

Psych1 wrote:Great name! I went a lotta years never getting up before 11. OK here are some pics of my, still great sounding, cracked tumba. The crack is a bit over 1/8" wide, The bands are a bit loose now so it is not being held together by the bands at top & bottom. All the other stave glue lines seem solid. I love this tumba - don't want to hurt her. Thanks for your help.


Brother, couple of questions? 1) have you dry clamped the shell, and will it fetch up and come back into alignment? You should be able to do this as is, without taking anything off the drum, including the head.
2) is there any filler in between the stave line. I'm referring to the bottom pic? That poses a different set of issues. Get yourself 2 strap (band) clamps. Amazon.com carries them as well cheap too! If it comes together, within reason, you have options. If you can get 50% or more compression, you can use a structural adhesive like I've shown. However, you will have to take off the hardware and bands to do the job. Those bands are tacked in with a 3/4 brad. they can be carefully removed with wire dikes by gently prying up the tack heads with a very small screw driver or knife blade and slipping the dike jaws OPEN under the edge of the tack head and gently lifting up. the round side of the dike jaw forms a fulcrum. DO NOT close the dike jaws and sever the brad. Just lift up slowly. If you don't plan on refinishing the drum, run some masking tape on both sides of the split line, put in the adhesive and compress the shell. Let me know what you intend to do in this regard, and I'll advise you further. Dry clamp it first , take a pic under compression, and report back here with a post. I think you'll be alright as the mahogany shells are pretty supple. If it does compress fully, I'll have different advice. Nice drum, I'm looking for that size myself. Hold on to that one!
TIME OUT I just enlarged the pics and i see your problem, Big Question. How handy are you?? It can be repaired.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby Psych1 » Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:41 am

Band clamps are not a possibility now where I am. I did do the rope and broomstick twist last year (It has been split for a while) and it closed up pretty well but perhaps not completely. The stuff you see in the bottom pic is residue from the old bad epoxy fix attempt - it is all over both sides of the whole crack. My buddy who fixes rare string instruments advised me to scrape it all out and get down to bare wood and use a shim.

I'm reasonably handy, but lazy. I was hoping to keep the bands and hardware on but -----------. I have most tools and Titebond and Gorilla glue. I can internet shop for anything else I need but it takes a week or two, sometimes never, to get stuff here. I'm in no rush tho, just need to do this "one of these days". But, you've got me inspired.

Yes it is a wonderful tumba, I've got the matching conga and bongos too. From the 60's, only one crack. And my weather is extreme - hot, cold, wet, dry. Every year the wood swells and shrinks. Mario must have had a good batch of glue that year.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:16 am

Psych1 wrote:Band clamps are not a possibility now where I am. I did do the rope and broomstick twist last year (It has been split for a while) and it closed up pretty well but perhaps not completely. The stuff you see in the bottom pic is residue from the old bad epoxy fix attempt - it is all over both sides of the whole crack. My buddy who fixes rare string instruments advised me to scrape it all out and get down to bare wood and use a shim.

I'm reasonably handy, but lazy. I was hoping to keep the bands and hardware on but -----------. I have most tools and Titebond and Gorilla glue. I can internet shop for anything else I need but it takes a week or two, sometimes never, to get stuff here. I'm in no rush tho, just need to do this "one of these days". But, you've got me inspired.

Yes it is a wonderful tumba, I've got the matching conga and bongos too. From the 60's, only one crack. And my weather is extreme - hot, cold, wet, dry. Every year the wood swells and shrinks. Mario must have had a good batch of glue that year.


Well here's my advise. what i'm seeing in the photo could be 2 things, epoxy mixed will saw dust of so kind, or epoxy filler of some kind. Take a razor blade or pocket knife and see how stable ( hard) the resin is. Who ever did the repair filled that split, it was never really glued up under pressure, properly. So, if it's still hard, and stable, meaning it won't easily fall out when disturbed, you should be able to open the split and re-glue the filler on one side . In other words, the FILLER split on one side of it's bonding surface. Try that by forcing open the split with a small screw driver blade of knife, get some glue in there, and rope clamp it. mask the sides of the split. To do it properly you will really need to take the rings and head off, at the very least. or just wait for the drum to fracture completely down the stave which it will eventually do anyway, and just enjoy the drum until it does.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby PowerSemantic » Tue May 21, 2013 3:50 am

Great post, 11am! I hope you continue to participate in this forum.

Any advice on restoring or replacing wobbly or off-center bongo center blocks?
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Wed May 22, 2013 10:16 am

Well, First of all, thanks for the feedback. It seems as though a lot of brothers are interested in restoring an old tub. That's good, they all need second, and third chances, and I'm glad you found the article of interest. As to your problem, I would need to see a pic of the bongo. LP for instance, just require a carriage bolt and a wing nut or 2. post up a pic and I'll give it a look. J M
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby bengon » Fri Jun 14, 2013 9:50 pm

I'm refinishing some LP Classics. They are the wine red ones. I used stripper to get the outer coating off. Now I'm down to the bare wood and am having trouble getting the red stain out. I've tried steel wool and stripper but it doesn't seem to have any effect. I'm just sanding it down now with a random orbit sander but it's taking forever to get the color out. Any ideas?
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby RitmoBoricua » Sat Jun 15, 2013 12:50 am

Normally LP wood congas are not stained,
they add a tint or toner to the top coat.
What I have noticed is that underneath
the top coat there is a "seal coat" and
that sealant is a bitch to remove. I have
used stripper like citri-strip to remove
as much as possible and then sand the rest
but I sanded by hand because if you are
not careful you end-up with high and low
spots when using an orbital sander. Elbow
grease, Good luck.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:07 am

Well, a couple of questions, what grit are you using on the raw oak? 80 should just about finish sand you smooth. I assume you are trying to get to a natural finish? ie. blonde? if the oak is still retaining red pigment, ( and it would be helpful if you post a pic of the shell) then you might have to bleach the shell with wood bleach, which is a 2 part mixture, (that has nothing to do with Clorox) This can be gotten at any quality paint store or on line under many trade names. you brush it on, let it sit, put on the neutralizer and see what happens. It will lighten the oak for sure. It might do the trick. otherwise you have a couple of other options, but natural ( blonde) might be out of the question. Any brown stain will vanish the red, for instance.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby RitmoBoricua » Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:44 pm

I do not think the wood bleach is going to help.
Wood bleach is good to remove like say dye
stain but in this case we are talking about
a seal coat that is probably like a 2 part
urethane, really hard to remove even
the strippers available at hardware stores
will not completely remove it, you have
to finish the job by hand sanding. I have
refinished LP conga drums before and is
a task and a half to remove the finish.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby roberthelpus » Sat Jun 15, 2013 2:44 pm

A heat gun (turbocharged hair dryer type thing) is what guitar folks are using to take poly finishes off of solid body guitars. It comes off in sheets using a putty knife type scraper. Of course that could cause problems with the glue. A lot of solid body guitars, like Fenders say, are made from glue ups and I haven't read about any of them separating.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby RitmoBoricua » Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:04 pm

roberthelpus wrote:A heat gun (turbocharged hair dryer type thing) is what guitar folks are using to take poly finishes off of solid body guitars. It comes off in sheets using a putty knife type scraper. Of course that could cause problems with the glue. A lot of solid body guitars, like Fenders say, are made from glue ups and I haven't read about any of them separating.


For the do it yourself person the ideal and easiest way to remove finish
is when soft with a spatula/putty knife. You can use chemicals (strippers)
or a heat gun.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby 11am » Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:12 pm

Rit, I would agree, but he stated that he removed the finish and is sanding bare wood. If he's indeed just trying to remove the gel coat, then heat would work, alla the heat gun. I would avoid using a flat scraper, and use a hook scraper going Away from the wood, with moderate pressure, instead of into it, when using heat, and the finish plane it with a razor blade to minimize sanding effort. And even with a gun you can still over cook the wood and char it if you are inexperienced with the process. However, if the methylene chloride ( rock miracle) softens it enough to use a razor blade, I would do it that way first. He says that the red dye has stricken deep into the raw wood, if I understood him correctly. A good rule of thumb is to never push into the wood to remove a finish, always pull away until you know your movements with confidence. Gouges can only occur on a push stroke.
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Re: Poor mans guide to vintage conga restoration

Postby roberthelpus » Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:55 pm

The situation that I was speaking about is with poly finishes that literally come off in sheets once you get a putty knife underneath it. It just peels off.
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