by Dave » Sun Jul 15, 2001 6:11 pm
I've heard that the 'traditional' conga sizes used to be an 11" conga and 11.75" tumba (if size was even standardized), but now the 'modern' sizes are 11.75 and 12.5". Why does this now seem to be the standard? Personally I like the sound of what we now call the quinto (11") as the conga and the 'conga' as the tumba. I have a Matador quinto and conga tuned to A and D, respectively. The small drum (for me, the segundo) seems more expressive with better slaps AND bass than the 11.75". Do other congueros use this size setup? Although to me it sounds better, I also don't want to be castigated by the conguero community for having the "wrong size" drums. Any comments? Thanks.