Congas - Any feedback on Sol Congas

[Mezcaldrum]

I'm ready to upgrade to some high quality conga's in the next couple of weeks. I've been looking at Timba and Skin on Skin congas which both sound great. My friend who plays percussion suggested I also check out Sol congas. I've played his Timba and Skin on Skin and loved the sound, but have no local place to try out the Sol Congas. They sound like they're extremely high quality and the owner of course claims his manufacturing technique will make them last longer than Timba drums. Both are about the same price.

Any experience with the sound out there you can share. Johnny Conga have you heard these vs. the others I mentioned?

[Raymond]

I've seen and heard Timba. They are beautiful and great sounding drums. (Seen Cachete Maldonado playing a set). I think they are hand made with some exotic woods and tend to be expensive in comparison with some "mass produced" brands. If you have the money, I guess you could go for them.

Seen the Del Sol in advertisings and they look like they have thae "Valje" shape. (I think that is spelling)....

Saludos!

[CongaCaja]

Hola MezcalDrum,

Where do you live? If you are going lay down serious $$$ on drums it would be good to get you hands on them (my $.02).

Unfortunately, I can only give a part if the info that you need. JC (I believe) has played both Timba (as has Raymond) and Skin on Skin so he's better position to give feedback on those drums.

Re: Sol, I have been to the shop where they are made (here in my town of San Francisco). I can certainly confirm that they are hand-made in every way. It's a two-man operation with a lot of combined experience.

Their congas come in 3 styles now. http://www.soldrums.com/

Rumba : this is a Valje shape drum, but with Sol's unique hardware

Sol : this has a unique shape that good for getting the drums closer together in multi-drum configurations

Classic : this has the "Sol" shape but with more traditional looking hardware and finish to the wood. Although, the hardware is stil not quite traditional as they use the same rounded hops that they use on all of their drums.

I tried the Rumba and Sol models at the shop (classics weren't available at that time) and I preferred the Rumba models. I thought I got more "round" or full sound (ie. stronger fundamental). The testing was limited to one visit to their "demo room" of the shop and have been affected by the acoustics of that room as well.

The staves are single ply which I believe is true of other hand-made drums such as moperc and timba (as opposed to the 2-ply of Meinl and 3-ply of LP)

Even the hardware is bent and welded by hand. The only thing that I think was "sent out" was the annodized finish on some hardware.

I can't tell you anything about if they constuction durability over the "long haul" as I haven't owned any and only time will tell. Although I'd imagine that Akbar knows a bit about that from his years doing Valje repair work before founding Sol.

best of luck!

cjk



Edited By CongaCaja on 1080529001

[Mezcaldrum]

Thanks congacaja. That was good information. My friend who has a set of Timba drums also suggested I check out Sol. They're about the same price.

I finally opted for the Timba drums and got a cherry red set made from single ply oak. I got the conga and 12 1/2" Tumba. They have an awesome beautiful round sound and are very east to play with my technique. The hardware is first class.

Thanks to everybody for their feedback. I hope to keep this set till I'm too old to slap them skins.

Saludos

[Tonio]

CC good info!
I've had Skin on Skins before (oak) they are nice. I think they will keep you happy.
Timba, do tell how they sound!! Gon Bops lives again!!
Sol, from what I understand is the original Valje makers. Its too bad his factory burned, at least that's the story I heard. Those old Valje's were great!!

T



Edited By Tonio on 1080704940

[CongaCaja]

You heard right, Tonio. The old shop did burn down. I found a photo on-line recently. check out the photo at the bottom right of the page at this link

http://www.soldrums.com/history.html

According to another posting (in another category), it seems that Mezcaldrum has already made his purchase

cjk

[Mezcaldrum]

Yep I did make my purchase. While some of the equipment and employees are the same as Gon Bops, the new Owner told me they created a new design from Vergara drums Richard Barrientos got from Cuba. They've made numerous improvements as well over the original design, such as a steel reinforcing ring on the inside at the top to help prevent mis shaping. I've seen some old Gon Bops with that problem. Progress marches on. Richard Barrientos I heard is now with "Drum Workshop". Might be working on some drums there.

Suena los cueros guys.

Thanks

[CongaCaja]

Cherry red Timbas? Sounds nice. Well, enjoy!


Did you visit their workshop in LA? I'd like to drop in to check them out the next time that I'm down the coast (since I haven't seen any in the stores near me)

cjk

[Mezcaldrum]

Yep, I got them from the factory. It's in Fontana and you have to call to make an appointment. You can find some of their drums in Santa Ana at Westside Percussion or at the Pro Drum Shop in LA. There's supposed to be a nice set at the Santa Ana shop. I've been playing them now a couple of weeks and everyone loves the sound. Of course it helps that my technique has been getting better over the last few months.

[CongaCaja]

Fontana ...I'm not familiar with (but I can find it) ...Santa Ana? That's my old stompin' grounds. I used to live in Costa Mesa.

thanks for the info

cjk

[Johnny Conga]

Wow , I hadn't known that Tom Flores had passed(Valje). I used to hang at his old shop that was down on Sunset boulevard back in the late 70's and just play and watch them make the drums in the back yard. He was a pure gentleman and innovator. He made great drums and his legacy will live on.....JC JOHNNY CONGA...