Hello all,
Just wanted to share my experience restoring a Mahogany Cuban conga my father purchased over fifty years ago. He was a musician who had his conga and timbales thrown down stairs by my mother more times than I care to remember. This conga had well over 15 cracks of various sizes and lengths running along the shell and had absolutely no ring to it at all. I stripped the drum of its hardware and finish, then proceeded to investigate just how I was going to tackle the repairs. Instead or dry clamping the drum (for fear that I would cause more cracks) I went ahead and inserted Mahogany Splines into the larger cracks, used pl 400 urethane sub floor adhesive, then clamped until the adhesive was dry. I attacked the smaller cracks patiently with wood glue, addressing only two or three cracks at a time and clamping until dry. This process took about eight days to complete since as a rule I would wait 24 hours for the adhesives to dry.
- Shell after glue up. Still has lathe striations which I got rid of using a Wood Scraper.
Once I determined the shell was solid, I began to get the drum smooth by using a Wood Scraper, shaving off all the lathe striations that were on the shell and bringing the splines flush to the shell as well. I used Mahogany wood filler to get some dents that were deep in the shell and using 220 grit sandpaper, brought the filler flush to the shell. I made sure the bearing edge was true and used a scraper to make the edge round. After scraping and sanding, I finished sanding using a 320 grit sandpaper which brought out the grain of the staves. Ensuring that the shell was dust free ( I used rags and compressed air instead of tack cloths) I used Red Mahogany oil-based stain to really accent the natural grain of the wood, followed by about 20 coats of rub on polyurethane which made the shell look spectacular!
- Shell after scraping, sanding, applying stain and polyurethane.
Next I tackled the hardware which was badly oxidized and the thread on the tuning hooks were damaged. I placed all of the hardware in a metal polish bath for one day, then after cleaning all the pieces, I used my Dremel tool with a wire brush attachment to carefully polish all of the pieces (including nuts and washers) to a beautiful luster. Does the hardware look familiar? Yes they are the trademark hardware made by the legendary Junior Tirado who was a childhood friend of my father (click on the pic for a close up). This is really why I decided to take the time to bring the hardware back to its original state. I have to add that each piece (except the nuts and washers) took well over an hour to clean and polish. After all the hardware was polished I assembled the conga. Beautiful isn't she? The drum sounds just as great as she looks with the Rawhide head.
- Not bad for a fifty-six year old conga! I love this drum.
I should have taken before pictures I know. Trust me guys, this drum was headed for the garbage. For me, this was truly a labor of love. Hope you all enjoy the look of this drum as much as I do. Peace!