Re-finishing The Valje Supertumba

[luv4congas]

I just got the drum together now.
The small cracks glued up nicely - no problems and the bumps-n-scratches sanded out beautifully.

Here it is with 9 coats of Varathane - it looks like a new drum!

It looks a lot nicer LIVE.

Very nice Kona That didn't take long at all! You do good work, What head did you use?
L4C

[kona]

Very nice Kona That didn't take long at all! You do good work, What head did you use?
L4C

Thanks.
They're the LP flats I bought from Artdrum just before Christmas. I think I will search out Mule hides for my next tucking job.

I still have to put the metal ring/hoop on the bottom of the drum. I want to take my time with that - I don't want to scratch the finish.

[BongoCajon]

Thanks.
They're the LP flats I bought from Artdrum just before Christmas. I think I will search out Mule hides for my next tucking job.

I still have to put the metal ring/hoop on the bottom of the drum. I want to take my time with that - I don't want to scratch the finish.

Hey kona,
Regarding quality mule skins I am very happy with this guy in Athens, Greece.

Theo "El Greco" Godas-DESCARGA PERCUSSION Greek Mule Skins

pm or e-mail me if you need more information.

[kona]

Hey kona,
Regarding quality mule skins I am very happy with this guy in Athens, Greece.

Theo "El Greco" Godas-DESCARGA PERCUSSION Greek Mule Skins

pm or e-mail me if you need more information.

Thanks.
When the time comes I'll do that. For the time being though I've tucked all my drums with new LP heads and I'll live with that for now.

[kona]

My drums as of today.

Not the best photo. I'm happy with the refinishing progress so far.

However, I'd like to get some Mule hides on these drums in the near future.

I'll get some better photos when I near the end of the project.

The drums look far nicer in real life than in this photo. They are smooth as glass and the gloss finish is great. I've been using Mother's Carnauba car wax to give them that extra gloss shine after I rub out the finish. There are no nicks or scratches on them now - and the few small cracks have been totally fixed with Elmer's Probond or Superglue and sanded to 2000 grit smoothness.

[luv4congas]

Very nice job! wow, they look very much like a brand new set of Resolutions! Thumbs up Kona!

[kona]

Very nice job! wow, they look very much like a brand new set of Resolutions! Thumbs up Kona!

Thanks,
I have the tumba and conga to finish. I've got three coats of varathane on the conga as of today. I hope to have them done by next weekend if all goes well.

[BongoCajon]

I've been using Mother's Carnuba car wax to give them that extra gloss shine after I rub out the finish.

That's interesting. Would you recommend this product to shine my Matadors too?

[rmandelbaum]

Great job, and yes you beat me

[luv4congas]

That's interesting. Would you recommend this product to shine my Matadors too?

Try Pledge "orange" furniture polish, unless your trying to rub out some imperfections it's great on the Lp's finish and will make the chrome hardware very bright! I have used carnuba and wax cleaners when cleaning years of mars and small scratches off the finish and then went over with the pledge. It's kinda like a quick detailer for congas.
L4C

[rmandelbaum]

I use Never-Dull on all chrome, and I would go for a coat of high end Carnauba for shine on any clear coated surface.

I have a friend that restores museum level antiques, he told me that Pledge and other spray furniture waxes build up and yellow.



You would need to take the hardware off before using Never-Dull, it will damage the clear otherwise.
I have used Never-Dull for years, I just polished about 250 lugs and about 80 BD claws with it.

[luv4congas]

I use Never-Dull on all chrome, and I would go for a coat of high end Carnauba for shine on any clear coated surface.

I have a friend that restores museum level antiques, he told me that Pledge and other spray furniture waxes build up and yellow.



You would need to take the hardware off before using Never-Dull, it will damage the clear otherwise.
I have used Never-Dull for years, I just polished about 250 lugs and about 80 BD claws with it.

Hmmm, I used to manage BofA's warehouse of antiques for all it's big CEO's including Thomas Jefferson original desk and don't remember any of the antiques having a clear coat nor would I recommend using Pledge on antiques but on Lp congas it's great and if your chrome isn't rusted or pitted you don't have to remove the hardware to shine the chrome ether. I haven't had that problem with the build up or yellowing. Thumbs up to Mothers and Never-dull, both are excellent products.

[gretsch]

looking good!

[kona]

Thumbs up to Mothers and Never-dull, both are excellent products.

Holy glass-shine Batman!!
Wow ! Those drums sparkle man.

The only way I'd ever get mine to look like that is to us a high quality pore filler like Fuhr Clear Grain Filler - product code 175. My drums are Red Oak and are very porus. If you have the world's shiniest coating and you put it on an orange (or Red Oak in my case) it still will not reflect like a beacon....because the surface irregularities will break up or diffuse the refraction and it will not look like your drums.

I didn't go the Pore Filler route this time because I wanted to leave them like they were originally - or close to it.

But - man - I gotta say your drums are impressively nice and shiny - I like them!

[luv4congas]

They maybe shiny but they ain't Valje's, You own a whole set of conga drum history! I can't wait, when you finish them all and take a photo I'm definitely going to copy it on to photo paper and hang it up on the wall!
L4C

[kona]

They maybe shiny but they ain't Valje's, You own a whole set of conga drum history

Thanks.
The Valje's are nice and there is some history attached to them alright. But, I gotta say, there are a lot of really nice congas out there. My drums aren't precision-made. There are some imperfections. For instances - they are not all exactly 31 inches tall - they're from 30.25 - 30.75 inches tall - but that does in no way take away from the sound. There are other small imperfections.

When I bought my drums (1977) they were pretty much the nicest ones I could buy at that time. Ray Ayotte (Ayotte Drums & Drums Only!) was playing Valjes then and tipped me off to them. I bought them from him.

If someone wanted to buy my drums right now - I'd sell them - MAYBE (and buy a Gretsch Custom USA shellpack).

[BongoCajon]

Try Pledge "orange" furniture polish, unless your trying to rub out some imperfections it's great on the Lp's finish and will make the chrome hardware very bright! I have used carnuba and wax cleaners when cleaning years of mars and small scratches off the finish and then went over with the pledge. It's kinda like a quick detailer for congas.
L4C

Sweet shine!!!!!!!!!!! I'm gonna use the Mother's wax on my set.

[gonefishin]

kona.........very , very ,nice

l4c.........yours look brand new too

[BongoCajon]

http://images.meez.com/user14/09/09_10013906339.gif

[rmandelbaum]

If the Pledge is working for you then cool. I am not disagreeing, I am simply passing along what I was told.

If I take a drum apart I will use the wax but I use guitar polish for routine cleanings on all my painted and wrapped drums.

[luv4congas]

Thanks.
The Valje's are nice and there is some history attached to them alright. But, I gotta say, the there are a lot of really nice congas out there. My drums aren't precision-made. There are some imperfections. For instances - they are not all exactly 31 inches tall - they're from 30.25 - 30.75 inches tall - but that does in no way take away from the sound. There are other small imperfections.

I think I'd rather have the Gon Bops California Series, LP Giovanni Congas Galaxy Series, or a set of these http://www.volcanopercussion.com/ima...ookmatched.php if I had a choice.

When I bought my drums (1977) they were pretty much the nicest ones I could buy at that time. Ray Ayotte (Ayotte Drums & Drums Only!) was playing Valjes then and tipped me off to them. I bought them from him.

If someone wanted to buy my drums right now - I'd sell them - no problem (and buy a Gretsch Custom USA shellpack). Heartless hey? ?

Were your Valjes made in my home town San Francisco?

[luv4congas]

If the Pledge is working for you then cool. I am not disagreeing, I am simply passing along what I was told.

If I take a drum apart I will use the wax but I use guitar polish for routine cleanings on all my painted and wrapped drums.

No worries, like everything I think pledge has gotten better over the years and corrected the build up problem. I intrested in trying the guitar polish, I'll have to ask my buddy. His guitars all have that mirror finish.
L4C

[kona]

Were your Valjes made in my home town San Francisco?

No - they were made at Tom Flores' shop - 3312 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles in 1977 (maybe earlier).

[luv4congas]

No - they were made at Tom Flores' shop on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles in 1977 (maybe earlier).

Oh yah, thats right, but later they did move to San Francisco?

[kona]

Oh yah, thats right, but later they did move to San Francisco?

Yes - Valje moved to San Francisco in the late 70's (early 80's?) In the early 80's he sold the name and shop to Haight Ashbury Music of San Francisco, a large retailer who carried Valje Drums. The shop was eventually moved to San Francisco. Later on Valjes were made using Thai Oak (Rubberwood from Thailand) and the name was owned by Latin Percussion by that time. Tom's son Ralph Flores (Resolution Drums) has recently aquired the Valje name and, I am told, is starting to make Valje drums just like his father did - the original 31" drum. I don't know if the above information (dates and so on) are exactly accurate; it's just some bits-n-pieces of information I've collected over the years.