Royce Congas Rock!!! - budget drums with a "procussion" sound.

Manufacturers, brands, skins, maintenance, stands, sticks, michrophones and other accessories for congueros can be discussed into this forum ...... leave your experience or express your doubts!

Postby Berimbau » Thu Jan 27, 2005 11:01 pm

Hola Amigas y Amigos,
I am an old school LP guy from back in the day, and over a thirty five year career banging the tumbadoras, I have made the transition from wood (ZimGar & Gon Bops) to fiberglass (huge LPs) back to wood (not so huge LPs) again. For many of us, this would be a familiar story. Please note that my post is FYI and despite my great enthusiasm, I do not endorse any of the drums which I speak of here. That is really up to the individual player.
Now here's the interesting twist. During my Fall tour it was my great good fortune to run up on a pair of Royce brand congas in a Memphis music store. After a short negotiation, the old tubs were loaded into my CRV for $200.00. The drums are 10" and 11," with a delightful old Cuban type shell and the strong traditional hardware which I prefer on my tumbadoras. They needed a little love, so with some touch up paint, some polyurethane, and some badly needed new heads, the drums were ready to sing.
These drums were originally slated to sit in my studio as practice tubs and nothing more. But these beauties seem to possess a bit of the incomprehensible magic of the Vargara brothers' congas. Salve St. Mongo!!! I can't tell you just how impressed I am with the quality of these budget instruments. I can't stop playing them.
Doing some internet research I've discovered that the Royce "Procussion" Company (these guys are definately down with
some brothers) is in Illinois. Because it is a quiet afternoon here and the dog has already been out for her walk, I took it upon myself to contact Royce by phone. According to the company's president Jack, Royce has been in business since 1958, making drums and guitars as well as congas. Apparently the drums I scored in Memphis were manufactured in Thailand in the same plant as Pearl's Afro line. As I surmised, the Royce conga shells are Siam Oak, and that these congas were probably manufactured in sometime in the 1990s. Since then Royce had got heavy into their fiberglass line, but is now going to abandon them and return to a wooden drum shell. These new drums are supposed to retain the traditional hardware with which I'm so smitten, although in a black powder rather than chromed. These conga are due to hit the medium price market in May or June 2005. Do any other congueros out there have a Royce experience? Please do opine.


Saludos,


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Postby Tonio » Fri Jan 28, 2005 2:34 am

Hola Bermbau!!

Royce sounds familiar, but I have never seen or played them a t all. Good to hear you are happy with the "tubs" as you call them!! It matters alot if you are happy, that in itself can help you keep the fire.

Tell me about switching drums. At one point I bought just about every model/make out there for a quinto. At the same time I had a full set of Gon Bops, Skin on Skin and Fiber Lp's. I really miss Gon Bops dearly!! :(

I did like the LP fiberglass for certian gigs. But I always need some wood to compliment the traditional side of tumbadoras.
I'm thinkign to get the new Gio models and /or Timba sometime in the near future-when financial clout renders it head.

T




Edited By Tonio on 1106879757
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Postby Berimbau » Fri Jan 28, 2005 3:39 pm

Bom dia Tonio,
I know a lot of guys I grew up with probably still play their original Valjes or Gon Bops tubs. You'd probably have to kill them to take those drums away from them! Probably still have the original heads on 'em, too! I also remember a lot of N.Y. congueros played mixed sets with say, one good LP drum and a Zim Gar or other budget cheapy. Somehow I'm fairly certain that most of the congueros on this site are more equipment oriented than we ever were back then.
I started out on some used Mexican tubs, learned how to re-skin 'em, and ended up with a somewhat decent sound. At one point in high school, when Mongo and Armando ruled the world, I remember playing three Mexican tubs. I couldn't afford one good conga, but I still had three drums!! No $$$, no LPs. LPs were considered to be the "Cadilac" of conga drums in my neighborhood, all the Salsa pros played 'em..
I'll never forget buying my first set of 1970s LPs. I felt that I had "arrived." The LPs were shorter tubs, I assume for a seated (traditional) player. Personally, I never liked stands, they were considered a bit too Disco in my part of Brooklyn. Most of the old Cuban guys (I say guys because female congueras were a real rarity in those days) played seated in those days. With all the Brasilian toys I was taking to gigs, stands were just more junk to haul around. Because of their larger diameters and fiberglass construction, the LPs were louder and able to cut through Salsa horn sections. To kill the ringing sound of the fiberglass tubs we used to coat the insides of the shells with pitch. I know Martin Cohen sold truckloads of 'em.
By the late 1970's a lot of the N.Y. congueros were playing wooden tubs again. Now Skin On Skin was considered to be the new "Cadilac" of congas. Another N.Y. maker was a guy named Junior who also made a fine tumbadora. Not everyone could get these custom drums, so the wooden commercial drum of choice became Gon Bops. But I always worried about the cracking factor with Gon Bops. I knew a lot of players who had seriously compromised drums. I don't know why Gon Bops have a tendancy to crack, it could be how the wood was cured, how they react outside of the Southern California climate. Anyone know? Players with mixed sets of Gon Bops and LPs had to deal with the variant drum sound and drum height factors. Because of this I cared for mixed wood/fiberglass conga sets.
When I got my first set of Gon Bops I finished the insides of the shell with polyurethane, a sacrilege to some, but these drums still haven't cracked in 26 years, and they still sound great. These days it's LP classics or those fine Royce tubs for me. I would love to check out some of the new custom drums, Timba, Sol, etc, but we just bought a brand new house on the coast, and my wife tells me I have too many instruments!!!. Well, my coffee is starting to get cold and I got to go out and get some braided cord to make a shekere. Tonio and everybody at CongaPlace have a happy Mardi Gras and keep slapping them tumbadoras.

Saludos,



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Re: Royce Congas Rock!!! - budget drums with a

Postby Seneferu » Wed Feb 10, 2016 6:25 pm

My current percussion teacher has a Royce conga. I think it is made of fiberglass. The original Gon Bops were made of a wood called laun. Another name for it was Philippine mahogany. I heard that wood tends to crack if taken outside it's climate. I had the same issue with the LP Valjes. Siam Oak, I believe tends to crack in Michigan's climate. LP is coating the inside of their Siam Oak shells with a fiberglass coati g to reinforce the outer shell. For cajones by Swan Percussion go to www.besmusicgroup.com. peace :?
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Re: Royce Congas Rock!!! - budget drums with a

Postby Seneferu » Fri Aug 12, 2016 10:20 am

Reason why early Gon Bop congas would crack was because the wood used (white laun) was not conducive to our climate. It goes by other names like Philliapian mahogany or Siam Oak or Asian Whitewood. I had the same problem with a LP Valje labeled quinto. It is called checking.
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Re: Royce Congas Rock!!! - budget drums with a

Postby Chtimulato » Sat Aug 13, 2016 11:47 am

Hello.

I'm sorry to correct you, Seneferu, but lauan, also called "meranti" or "Philippine mahogany" is a different wood from socalled "Siam oak".
And LP Valje were first made of cherry wood, if I'm not wrong, and now with beech.

As far I know, Gong Bops was the only brand to use lauan, because caribbean mahogany is now a protected species and can't be used any more to make drums. I think it was chosen because it was close to "real" mahogany, and all Gong Bops players who play or have played on lauan drums will tell you the same - and they're happy with this kind of wood. If you browse this forum, you'll see a lot lot of lauan Gon Bops, and notice it's not Siam oak. Siam oak can be used to make nice pieces of furniture, but for drums, that's another story...

Socalled "Siam oak" is hevea, rubberwood. It looks different. Most of the known brands (LP, Meinl, Toca, Pearl, Tycoon, and even Gon Bops now if I'm not wrong) have their drums made in Thailand because it's cheaper :
1. the salaries of the workers are lower
2. they use "Siam oak" (nothing common with "real" oak except the name) because it's a local wood (maybe sturdy, I don't know), so local wood means no shipping costs. And hevea, like vine, needs to be replaced and recycled regularly (every 18 or 20 years for hevea). So they can collect and recycle the trees and limit the costs.
3. The skins, even on top of the range products, are water buffalo skins, a local species, which has nothing common with the american buffalos slaughtered by the famous Buffalo Bill, and which, once again, avoids shipping costs...
If you buy one of these brands and want something else than rubberwood shells (then mostly ash or oak), you have to buy the top of the range : Giovannis or Palladium from LPs, Woodcraft for Meinl. But you'll still have those water buffalo skins, which I don't like, and which many of us don't like...

Sorry for being a bit long. But my statement can be confirmed by a lot of forum members, if they're not making holidays...

Have a nice weekend.
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Re: Royce Congas Rock!!! - budget drums with a

Postby Mike » Sun Aug 14, 2016 10:43 am

Chtimulato wrote:Hello.

I'm sorry to correct you, Seneferu, but lauan, also called "meranti" or "Philippine mahogany" is a different wood from socalled "Siam oak".(...)
Sorry for being a bit long. But my statement can be confirmed by a lot of forum members, if they're not making holidays...

Have a nice weekend.



Chtimaluato,
you are absolutely correct in pointing out the general differences between "Philippine mahogany" and "Siam Oak".
Just my 2 cents :
The sound of Philippine mahogany Gon Bops cannot remotely be compared to the sound of Siam oak LP drums, for example.
My Gon Bops rule! They will be the congas I will never let go.

Greetings from the the not-holidays.;-)
Nice weekend everyone!
Peace & drum
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Re: Royce Congas Rock!!! - budget drums with a

Postby Chtimulato » Sun Aug 14, 2016 3:49 pm

Danke Mike !

As I stated above, I think
all Gong Bops players who play or have played on lauan drums will tell you [...] they're happy with this kind of wood
.

By the way, I got a (maybe more than) 40 years old Gon Bops quinto, made of red oak, which has also a crack in a stave (not at the junction of 2 staves, but in the stave itself). This crack has been - and still is - fixed more than 20 years ago, before I bought it. And the drum stills sounds. When I play it, it's not me indeed : the drum speaks and sings by itself. So it doesn't necessary come from the lauan wood.

Nice weekend to all, from a still in holdays one...
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Re: Royce Congas Rock!!! - budget drums with a

Postby Seneferu » Sat Feb 25, 2017 5:14 am

I stand corrected. I received my information from Rick Buscemi, former owner and builder of Fat Congas of Santa Barbara. The original LP Valjes were made of cherry wood when they bared Armando Perazza's (ebye) name on them. The ones I kept buying were made of Siam Oak. Didn't know a whole lot about the Phillipine Mahangony. Rick referred to the Siam Oak as white laun and said went went by many different names. Thank you for your input and knowledge. Musically yours, Seneferu
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Re: Royce Congas Rock!!! - budget drums with a

Postby Chtimulato » Mon Feb 27, 2017 12:33 pm

I have to correct myself : the very first LP Valje were made out of hevea/Siam oak. Then came cherry, and then beech, for the bongó at any case (Armando Peraza and Dandy models). And there's now a model out of oak on the LP catalogue, made by Akhbar Moghadam.
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