You`re looking at hand sanding !!

Then filling with wood filler and hand sanding again until only those cracks show filler in them. The new looking wood around the cracks, and I see a Few, with filler,..will blend well !! You can tone the filler while mix`n it !!

Do only the bondo til it`s thin enough, then go over the edges in long wide strokes. It`s what I`d do !!

Thanks.

What you're saying is to carefully sand the shell. I'm into that for sure. I did fix a crack in one of my Valje congas using wood glue mixed with wood sawdust and it worked perfect.

For very fine cracks I used a runny SuperGlue - it get's right into the deep fine cracks. You can't use it (or you shouldn't) for bigger cracks especially in stave drums because the glue does not give like wood. When the drum expands and contracts a crack may develop at a weak point (between the staves). I've never tried to find this out but that's what the handdrum repair folks told me....sounds reasonable.

I've got LOTS of sanding to do but I'm looking forward to it.