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Hello Congaplace,

I'm new to the forum from The UK, been playing on 2 Natals and a bougarabou/tubma for 7 years now and thinking of upgrading to 3 hand made tubs. Mathew smth's drums look great does anybody have a sound clip of them in action. Do people favour other drum makers currently in terms of build quality and sound? What about the pros and cons of staved construction vs solid shell? I'm hoovering up info at the moment so anything you can add is appreciated as I don't know enough yet about high end drums! I enjoy the tones of a fairly thin skin for quinto (1.5-2mm), would this work on a one peice shell or would it require a thicker skin? Most of the places that have one peice drums are abroad so would require shipping. There are european makers so that would be less distance. So many questions!

kind regards

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Thanks for the response leedy2

Cracking may be a problem but these drums are not to leave the house and the climate here isn't extreme anyway. My thinking is that high end one piece shells [drumskull drums or custom congas from South Africa] will he hard, of high quality and thick enough to not worry about them cracking?

kind regards

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I was about to change my post to include spirit in the wood drums but you beat me to it! Isn't cracking a problem with staved drums too? so many glue lines?
I thought staved drums were first used bacause they had easy access to barrels?

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Ahh I understand ok been looking for that reason searching the forums for the past couple of nights. I thought if the wood is hard enough then it may not be a problem, especially with the tame uk climate, but staves it is, unless somebody else wants to add anything ? Those drums Conrad makes look sweet but shipping is a risk hmm..

I've played the Drumskull congas and I can tell you that they are top quality with an incredible sound, very well made drums. The rope tuning makes the drums very comfortable to play. They also back up their product with excellent customer service.

Just because a drum is solid shell does not mean it will crack. I know several players that have had their solid shell congas and djembes for years without any problems.

Hello Bongos, I have a one peice african bougarabou that is still fine after 7 years but congas are different so looking for peoples opinions.

BNB, the one piece drums that you heard- can you get as much tone on the open slap as with a staved drum or is it more dependent on the skin? My boug doesn't give much on the open slap but I can quite tell if that's due to the skin or the drum itself.. The woody sound is appealing but I still want the tones to feel alive- sorry if this seems too particular!

I think a solid shell conga would fare as well as your bougarabou. I can't see why the different shape of the bougarabou would have any affect on the wood checking due to moisture changes.

The Drumskull conga slaps sound very nice. I have played this drum several times at my friends house. What has always stood out for me with this drum is it's very rich and deep bass tone and the comfort of playing the rope tuned drum. I should mention my friend keeps this drum in an unconditioned garage in Berkeley California, and it is in fine condition.

If I go for one piece then it would be with hardware- cant beat that tunability
So maybe I should phrase it a different way.. Why would you choose one piece over staved? for the sound? and if so are any of the top makes achieving this sound without there being a need for one peice congas, given their size and weight?

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Solid shell congas can be difficult to replace skins unless you tuck your own heads. I personally like the synthetic heads so solid shell is not a good choice for me. This is a personal taste issue though.

Most custom drums, stave and solid shell are not standardized so they will often vary from one drum to the next. This is common but not the absolute rule.

If you like solid shell though, Mantio on this site makes a fine conga too. There are a many options available. Mantio's congas have floating hardware and they help the drums to be more resonant.

Another option for stave built drums is Volcano. They are made with Stainless Steel Hardware, the staves are biscuit joined, the staves are glued with epoxy, the finish is 9 coats of Duron (the finish on automobiles) and the woods are exotic Hawiian wood. These are the most beautiful and melodic drums built today (in my opinion).

These Volcano congas have a 5 year warranty and they are the most solidly built solid wood stave conga built today. The epoxy and biscuit joinery ensure this. The hardware is forever because of the polished Stainless Steel and most others have chrome plating that can flake over time.

In the end there are many great options available and there are just as many opinions too.

Best wishes,

Jerry

If the consensus is that there is no difference in sound between staved and solid shell I would steer:lol: towards staved to reduce the risk of damage during shipping.
But is this the consensus?
Happy to go with staves if solid shells are seen as more of an indulgance; not wanting to waste money here, but if the highest quality and strength is to be found in a one piece drum I'd be happy to go with that advice.
And Leedy I appreciate that my skills and the skin are under scrutany here but I couldn't seem to see much info in the forum on which makers head their drums with the highest quality heads, can anybody help out on that one? How different in sound would a Resolution drum or VGA be (looks like bleached heads) to a moperc or mathew smith taking the heads into account? Hopefully these drums will last for the next 20 years so I want to get it right and I've put in much practice over the last 7 years so I think the investment will be justified.

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