Conga seam sepaartion repair question

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Conga seam sepaartion repair question

Postby Beatlefreek » Sun Jan 04, 2015 8:31 pm

Hi all.

I don't see another place to post this so I'm posting it here. If there is a more appropriate forum, please let me know so I can redirect.

Anyway, I just got an old 1970's Gon Bop quinto and conga set. The wood is marked up a little but they're still in very good condition, and they sound great. However, on both drums there's a bit of a seam separation (one seam only on each, in the middle of the drum, between the upper and lower horizontal metal hoops, with the quinto having the more noticeable seam split of the two). From what I can tell, these separations appear to have no effect on the drums playability.

Nonetheless, what I'd like know, is what might it cost to have these seam separations fixed? Is it a big deal? Is it worth it? If I leave it, might the separations get worse over time, making a relatively easy fix now harder and more expensive in the future?

Thanks in advance.
Beatlefreek
 
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Re: Conga seam sepaartion repair question

Postby burke » Sun Jan 04, 2015 9:29 pm

Don't know about cost, but a lot of DIYer's on the forum [me included] have dealt with splits - especially on old gon bops - they do that.

Lots of the answers to your questions are 'it depends' ... if its not bad and doesn't bug you, leave it and monitor. If it bugs you, you can fix it either buy using glue and strapping to close it or if its not bad and you aren't too fussy there are glues that will expand to fill the crack. Just my opinion but the second option has merit beyond pure laziness ... closing one up can just lead to another opening. The filler type glue can stop a split expanding and not put strain on other seams.

But a lot of guys would call that sacrilegious [and probably be more right that wrong].

This post really covers the topic in great detail and with lots of options and ideas.

If you can post some pictures that would likely help the better craftsmen than me offer an option.

Welcome to the forum

D
Burke
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Re: Conga seam sepaartion repair question

Postby burke » Sun Jan 04, 2015 9:31 pm

Burke
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Re: Conga seam sepaartion repair question

Postby Beatlefreek » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:05 am

Holy Doodle!!! That's a post and a half and then some. Thanks for the link. It'll take me some time to get through all that, but in the meantime, let me say that my Gon Bops are in no where near the shape as some of those pictured in the post. Some of the pictures show drums with multiple separated seams ... and some of those separations are huge!

Both my drums have very small separations and the one on the conga is what I would call perhaps a hairline crack. The quinto crack is a tad bigger but not by much.

I also noticed that the author said he paid $280 for one drum. I paid that for both drums, including a stand, after talking the guy down because of the separation issue.

I appreciate what you said about simply filling the gaps — as opposed to having it stripped and rebound — because "closing one up can just lead to another opening". At this point, that sounds like a pretty good suggestion, although I'll hold off judgement until reading the entire post.

As soon as I can, I'll post a picture or two of the drums so you'll have a better idea of what I'm looking at.

Thanks again for the info and the link.
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Re: Conga seam sepaartion repair question

Postby Beatlefreek » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:10 am

Okay .. so here's some pics.

The quinto and conga on their stand:
2015-01-04 18.57.20.jpg


Two pics of the separation on the conga. I know it's really hard to see (I said it was a hairline crack), but it's on the far left side of the drum, on the right side of the dark strip of wood. There's the dark strip of wood and then, to the right, the "zebra" strip of wood. The separation is between those two pieces. Or to put it another way: the crack is about one inch to the right of the rivets in the metal hoops and runs vertically along the right edge of the dark strip of wood.

2015-01-04 19.09.59.jpg
2015-01-04 19.10.28.jpg


Two pics of the quinto. Much easier to see this one.

2015-01-04 19.11.19.jpg
2015-01-04 19.11.37.jpg
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