SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

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!

Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby jorge » Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:54 pm

I have been playing SOS drums since I bought my first SOS oak 13" tumbadora in 1983. I decided to get a SOS when I gave Steve Thornton a ride home one night after he was playing with Mongo, and asked him where Mongo got those drums. Both he and Mongo made those drums sing, of course they could have made my kitchen drawer sing too, but the SOS drums sure sounded good in their hands. Steve also played SOS drums with his own group, and with Jon Lucien etc. Daniel Ponce was blowing everyone else away back in 1982 playing SOS drums too, so the choice was really between Juniors, or another Valje, or SOS and I chose SOS.

I bought my last SOS in 2002 so I can't comment on the most recent drums, but I can give a medium term (25 year) perspective. Check back when I'm 80 and I will give you a long term perspective. I took my tumba to Central Park last week (no one else had brought a tumba), it sounded great. Even the guy playing palitos on the side of the drum couldn't dent it. It was a great rumba, Vicente Sanchez (Raices Habaneras) sat down on quinto for a few songs.

SOS workmanship is superb. The design is old school, Vergara style, with steamed, bent staves cut from flat quarter sawn oak or flat cherry boards. Metalwork and welding are excellent, Jay was a sheet metal worker before he started building drums. Some of the chrome on the lugs began to peel off after about 15 years, but they haven't rusted in the 10 or so years since. The lugs are very durable, I still have 5 lugs I bought about 20 years ago as spares and still have not had to use them. Both of my original oak drums that were finished with Watco oil only (no polyurethane) cracked in several joint lines between staves over the first few New York winters. I love the look of the Watco oiled oak, but the oak drums definitely expand and shrink a lot more with humidity changes from summer to winter when there is no polyurethane outer finish, and this can cause cracking. Jay fixed both of them and they haven't cracked since. One is still Watco oil only, the other I refinished with polyurethane. To refinish an area of Watco oiled oak, you just take some steel wool and Watco oil and rub it in with the steel wool. Gets rid of the discolorations from palito abuse in the park. No stripping, no sanding, no staining. Two oak SOS drums I bought since then were coated with polyurethane and even the NY/NJ humidity cycles have not caused any cracks. Jay told me he started using cherry because it has the lowest coefficient of expansion of any of the harder woods, and would be less likely to crack or move. Two cherry SOS drums have not cracked either. The cherry definitely expands and contracts less, although the bands did get loose in the winter and I relocated them in midwinter so they are tight year round now. Oak is more durable than cherry and withstands the Central Park concussionists better, playing palitos on the side, drunks stumbling over the drums and knocking them down on asphalt, etc.

The stainless bands are MUCH more durable than the black ox. After about 10 years, the black ox bands rusted. If it is covered with polyurethane it won't rust, but it looks tacky up close. The black ox rim rusted from sweat in less than 10 years, and the chromed rims have not rusted yet, even after 25 years. A couple of rims (one black ox, one chromed) did bend from using very thick skins and tuning the drum high, and I had to buy new rims from Jay. He has been using harder steel in the past 15 years and I haven't bent either of the new rims, even with a thick skin on the 11.5" tres golpe drum.

The sound is great, the oak is a little louder than the cherry, with a more aggressive sound to it (Jay used the word "ballsy" when I bought my first tres golpe drum, and it fits). All my SOS drums have a ring that you can hear when you muffle a slap, but you can't hear it playing with other instruments.

Bottom line: SOS makes excellent drums, the quarter sawn oak with stainless bands and chromed hardware is the most durable. I like the sound of the oak drums slightly better than the cherry, especially over an amplified band, but that is personal preference and less relevant if you mic your drums when playing with a band. For rumba, I have heard other drums that are comparable (I love Juniors too, and a couple of drums I heard or played in Cuba), but I have not heard better.
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's - pics

Postby taikonoatama » Sat Aug 09, 2008 11:28 pm

More pics of my segundo. Note big 3/8" lugs.
sos-segundo-full-jpg.jpg
sos_hardware2.jpg
sos_hardware.jpg
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby KING CONGA » Sun Aug 10, 2008 1:46 am

"I have been playing SOS drums since I bought my first SOS oak 13" tumbadora in 1983"

Wow Jorge it sound like you’ve really had had some great experience with SOS's. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful and helpful information. I knew that I made a good choice when I decided to buy SOS but just reading all of this great feed back makes me feel even better about having invested in SOS.
TAIKONOATAMA, Great pictures of the hardware it looks "built to last". Those drum’s look totally new, how old are they? By the way, does Jay give any type of warrantee? and also, does he put some type of Identification (besides writing his name on the inside), on the outside of the drum such as a name plate?
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby bongosnotbombs » Sun Aug 10, 2008 5:04 am

Excellent post Jorge
Jay signs his drums in English and Hebrew.

Jay Bereck = Yossi ben Shimon Ha Cohen.
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Quinto04.jpg
I can't remember the credit for this photo.
Last edited by bongosnotbombs on Thu Aug 21, 2008 6:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby congaDR » Sun Aug 10, 2008 6:34 pm

I have all positive things to say bombs... really.... :roll:

T
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby taikonoatama » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:55 am

I was at a rumba today on the waterfront in Berkeley and a guy brought his cherry SoS's, c. 1992 - a 10" quinto and a 12" segundo. They've both got some splits, but I don't really know what they might have been through over the years. The black (anodized?) hardware is rusting through a bit here and there as well. Sounded good but not as good as another friend's cherry SoS's - the skins on these were really, really hard and the segundo tuned much higher than I normally like - the open tones can turn ringy when the tuning is pushed beyond it's optimal range. As for the skin on the quinto - I didn't ask. At least you can get a sense of what the cherry looks like with these pics - not sure how much (or if) cherry darkens with age. Excuse the wide-angle distortion from my camera phone.

sos-cherry-tumba.jpg
sos-cherry-quinto.jpg
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby ralph » Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:12 pm

Jay makes great drums. I last got a chance to play SOS's last December. Willie Everich has two Junior's and two Jay's. I believe Willie paid something like $800 for the oak set when he bought them. Nowadays i think Jay is at $750 a drum. Anyway, the oak set I played must've been something like 15-20 years old, one of the drums had a stave split about in the middle of the drums fixed and glued back about 10 years ago. Nonetheless they sounded great. They had great sustain, deep bass, and warm tones. Willie did mention that compared to his Juniors, that the SOS's were more workhorse drums and one had to really play them con cojones. But thats just what happened when you get a handmade drums. Things are not going to be perfect. You will have to adjust your approach, and it varies per maker. Jorge touched on some of the split problems that SOS's have had, and while this may be a NY thing, it may not. But the thing that stays true is that once these issues are fixed properly (i.e. splits) you'll never have another problem, although regular hardware, skin, and refinishing are recommended especially if you play often. King Konga...you've made a great choice, I know you will be satisfied, and I hope you will send us the eye candy when you recieve them. As for me, I have a junior, a matt smith drum, and another matt smith on the way. So maybe, just maybe, in a year or so, I'll be able to finagle a requinto from Jay, and have a complete set from all the makers...one can dream right?
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby onile » Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:28 pm

Wow! I had heard about the legend of the "Uncircumsized" conga, but I never thought I would see it in my lifetime!

:D :D :D :D :D
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sos-cherry-quinto.jpg
Que Nsambi les acutare pa' siempre!
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby bongosnotbombs » Mon Aug 11, 2008 3:45 pm

Image
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sos-cherry-quinto.jpg
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby congaDR » Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:31 pm

Bombs,

Did Hadley tell you the funny story behind why the quinto is skinned like a ripe Tomatillo? :D

fyi, I posted a mini review of Sos at the following address -

http://congadr.blogspot.com/2008/08/had ... herry.html

Tony
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby congaDR » Mon Aug 11, 2008 7:40 pm

oops
Last edited by congaDR on Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby Omelenko1 » Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:54 pm

Here is a photo of my SOS with a Junior Tirado Iya. I also have 2 cherrie wood that I love. Here is an old Jay business card.

Saludos,

Dario
Junior Iya3.jpg
Skin on Skin Info..jpg
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby Omelenko1 » Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:00 pm

Here is Jay in his workshop in Atlantic Ave. Brooklyn, NY

Dario :D
Jay Bereck.jpg
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby KING CONGA » Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:12 am

Omelenko1 wrote:Here is Jay in his workshop in Atlantic Ave. Brooklyn, NY

Dario :D
Jay Bereck.jpg


Thanks for that input Dario. I don’t really see many pictures of Jay, in fact I think that this is the only one that I've seen. When I ordered my SOS's I asked Jay if he would take a picture with them before he sent them to me and he said he would so I look forward to it and of course my SOS's. By the way Dario, what size are the SOS's in your picture?
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Re: SKIN ON SKIN's Please comment

Postby Mr. Conga » Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:33 am

I am considering buying some Skin On Skins, i have spoken to him a several times, he is very professional, and respectfull the time that i have spoken to him.
The pictures are great, i had not seen a picture of Jay, nor all the size congas he makes in one picture.
Fro Omelenko's posted picture it looks like we can see the quinto, conga, and tumba.

Those pictures are great for us thinking about ordering from him, as he dosn't have a website.
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