congaplace.com

Hi...Dear friends,somebody is selling a pair of Valje/lp's congas (the tumba with a huge crack ),,,He's asking $350,what do you guys think??

Martillo....Ive never been a fan of LP Valjes, and looking at this set.... something about them just does not look too attractive to me.They look like they have been around the block a few times. I know 350 may be a fair price but I think I would just wait until something better comes along. Of course this is just my opinion.

That drums looks like it had a bad makeover experience.
Looks like somebdy tried to restore it and did not do a good
job. That drum is not worth $350 in that condition may be
$50.

The guy is selling both drums in $350...so,it's like $175 each...I was thinking in offer him $250 for both...

Martillo wrote:The guy is selling both drums in $350...so,it's like $175 each...I was thinking in offer him $250 for both...

Yes that sound about right, that gives both of you a little wiggle room to play with..Good Luck!

By the way not too long ago there was one of those LP Valje
congas on ebay. That thing was completely restored and immaculate.

I'm the owner of the pictured Valjes. I repaired both drums once before with some guidance from this site. I repaired 2 cracks one in each drum, sanded, and stained the drums. I polished the rims, plates and hooks, and I replaced the heads. It wasn't the best job but they looked better,and sounded great, sweet and warm. They never left the house but a year and a half later a new crack popped up in the tumba. I didn't have the motivation to get into this time but I repaired the separation (half ass job) and I sanded some of it. Thats why it looks that way. I'm not trying to hide anything, because I would really like to keep them, cause during that down time I picked up some mahogany Gon Bops with the fiberglass coating that are sounding just as good as those Valjes. I have 8 congas (3 LP Patatos, 3 Gon Bops Tumbao Pro, and 2 Vintage Mahogany Gon Bops) And what I've learned from buying all of these drums, is you still need to know how to play them. Its not the drum it the person playing the drum.

I would say $350 is a good price for the pair, knowing it's a little bit of project. I'm actually tempted myself, but I have don't need more projects at the moment

These drums can be a bit unstable with regard to cracks, but if they are solid, I agree they have a warm sound. They are also fairly light in weight. In my opinion they are a high end street drum that you can take to the beach, or to Carlos Aldamas Saturday class in the Mission - SF.

If restored properly they are gorgeous drums.

This car is not much to look at, but if you take the time to restore it you will have a beautiful car!

Absolutely you can make it look like this:

You got me there Ritmo. Good one!

When I saw this LP Valje on ebay some weeks ago I was really impressed. I think the guy who owned it said that Ralph Flores worked on it. By far the best looking LP Valje I have seen and the price he wanted for it was not outrageous as a matter of fact I think it was under $300 buy now option. I did not go for it because it was either an 11" or a 11 ¾” and I do not have the need for one of them. Somebody out there got themselves a very nice drum at a very reasonable price.