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Re: Cuba Percussion Brand Congas

PostPosted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:29 pm
by mpags
I think Thomas meant ¨off topic¨ not old timers. :wink:

Re: Cuba Percussion Brand Congas

PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:21 am
by jorge
Be careful, I would be very hesitant to soak the top of a wood conga in water. Many of the glues used to glue the staves together are not waterproof and do not dry out as strong as they were before soaking. Plus the top part of the drum is the most stressed part. If the aesthetics are important to you, you may be able to slowly reduce the elliptical shape by how you tune and untune the drum. That is part of how it got elliptical to begin with. But some of the best wood glues used for instruments soften or dissolve in water and you may wind up having to remove the dried old glue and reglue all the staves if you try the water trick.
Yeah, we got way off topic since the rubberwood congas are probably pretty strong and thick and less likely to get badly deformed.

Re: Cuba Percussion Brand Congas

PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 11:10 am
by Chtimulato
mpags wrote:I think Thomas meant ¨off topic¨ not old timers. :wink:


Sorry for the misunderstanding. :D

Re: Cuba Percussion Brand Congas

PostPosted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:29 pm
by Thomas Altmann
jorge wrote:If the aesthetics are important to you, you may be able to slowly reduce the elliptical shape by how you tune and untune the drum. That is part of how it got elliptical to begin with.


I suspect you are right. The other part is that fresh cut wood is used that hasn't aged before making a drum from it. I don't know whether this applies to stave drums, too, but it's especially true for enterizos. My batá enterizos became oval without ever having any skin on them, except the okónkolo, which I had strung traditionally and which stayed in round.

okonkolo.jpg
rope-strung okónkolo


Thomas

Re: Cuba Percussion Brand Congas

PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 1:44 pm
by Chtimulato
Nice string work, Thomas. :)

Re: Cuba Percussion Brand Congas

PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 5:43 pm
by Thomas Altmann
(That's what I secretly wished to hear) 8)

TA

Re: Cuba Percussion Brand Congas

PostPosted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 8:57 pm
by Chtimulato
Thomas Altmann wrote:(That's what I secretly wished to hear) 8)

TA


Sorry for the late reaction. :D