Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Sat May 21, 2011 5:45 pm
by pcastag
One last one, then I should be set FOR LIFE!, needed a true conga, tried to contact Matt to round out the mahoganies with a third, then I saw this for a great price, looks like the perfect ride for my set of mahogs, a bit brighter for the slaps, just what I was looking for. I actually wante to comission Matt to do a maple/mahogany drum ala the Santana Abraxas cover, alternating staves, but maybe I'll save that for retirement, or at least until my kids finish college!
Moperc Maple Conga by
pcastag, on Flickr
Got my five, that's a special number for me, can't wait t hear what a maple conga sounds like.
PC
Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Sun May 22, 2011 9:30 am
by PRDRconguero
That's a beautiful drum, PC. I haven't seen that model before....is it new?
Custom? Limited run? Prototype?
Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Sun May 22, 2011 5:55 pm
by pcastag
That's what I was thinking, I know he discontinued all the maple drums except for Bongos, apparantly it's a very hard wood to work with, I also haven't seen that cut before, looks like it's thicker where the lug plates are. Interesting, haven't taked to him directly yet, just throgh e-mail, I'm going to give him a call this week and find out.
PC
Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Sun May 22, 2011 8:14 pm
by GuruPimpi
Very nice conga! Moperc is doing some nasty stuff lately!
How much money Pcastag?
Tremendo!
PimpS
Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Sun May 22, 2011 11:23 pm
by pcastag
For real, I think Michel doesn't get as much lip service around here because A. He's not from NY like Matt Jay and Junior and B.his drums don't have almas. My sonoc's didn't have almas until recently and those babies were perfectly in round when I got them, 40-50 years old. Michel told my budy james, who has a set of his original drums that were all made from Honduran mahogany, that he bascally modeled his drums after juniors, so when people say they like the drums made in the vergara, junior lineage, they definitely fall in that vein. I personally have never heard a maple conga, I know Dario has or had one, and he said they weren't made because they'll eat up the blades on a saw due to the hardness of the wood. Michel cuts all his staves so I think all of my drums now have cut rather than bent staves ( Matts Mahoganies, Sonocs and the Moperc on the way). I'm wondering if over long term cut stave drums keep their shape better than steam bent. I know for a fact that jay's drums , especially the oak, have a tendancy to go out of round, seen them myself even here in the humid subtropical zone of Houston. My buddy who has the mopercs sold his set of four SOS oaks for the mopercs, when Spiro (who has some SOS) played them he stated that they were the best sounding drums he's ever heard, they truly are phenomenal, too bad he doesn't use that wood anymore.
PC
PS, now that I have my Matts, I think they weould give those mahogany Mopercs arun for their money, haven't played them in a while but I'm going to try to get together with james this summer to a and b them.
Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Mon May 23, 2011 3:16 am
by ABAKUA
Nice find man! Solid looking drum.
I enjoyed playing NiƱo Mentira's (Afro Cuban All Stars) Moperc congas while in Cuba, bongocero from Adalberto Alvarez also has a Moperc bongo, big sound, loved playing it also.
Conga-tulations again!! You be picking up some awesome drums lately!

Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Mon May 23, 2011 4:35 pm
by pcastag
Yeah man, had to sell one of my drumsets to pay for all these new drums. A Brady nonetheless.
PC
Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Mon May 23, 2011 11:11 pm
by ABAKUA
Sell the wife !! Make sure to post up a vid etc once you get it home man.

Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Thu May 26, 2011 8:58 pm
by pcastag
GuruPimpi wrote:Very nice conga! Moperc is doing some nasty stuff lately!
How much money Pcastag?
Tremendo!
PimpS
550.00 they list at 980 ( although discontinued)
Re: Soon to arrive in Houston

Posted:
Thu May 26, 2011 9:00 pm
by pcastag
PRDRconguero wrote:That's a beautiful drum, PC. I haven't seen that model before....is it new?
Custom? Limited run? Prototype?
Spoke to Michel, it's an older model, called Conguero, it was the other high end model with the cubanos, made for a short time only.