congaplace.com

Official website is up now. It is still a work in progress, more to be added...

http://ritmodrums.com/

Do you know when he'll be back in full production?

Not that I need any drums, but if someone was looking I'd be keen to send them his way if he's fully rolling again.

From Facebook announcement:

Friends...Matthew Smith is extremely excited to share with you the beginnings of his new workshop/studio, which should be complete within the next couple of weeks! This means more workspace & the opportunity to bring on an apprentice. Since Matthew is building this workshop with his own hands, please allow him some space if you are awaiting your finished orders. But once it's complete...let the ordering begin!!
Thank you all so much for your support of Ritmo Drums!

http://www.ritmodrums.com/

More web updates coming soon...

Sweet!!

Great to see Matt taking the next step and scaling up a bit. Looks like Mr. Smith's congas are going to be produced for a long, long time.

I did a lot of carpentry and construction when I was young, I always found we were able to be more than twice as productive with 2 people, rather than 1.

I really hope he improves his business practices. It's been fourteen months now since I ordered a bongo from him. When I placed that order, he told me it would only take 4 to 5 months. A lot of times that I called him, he wouldn't pick up his phone . And when I'm able to reach him, it's always the same excuse that he is having problems with his chrome plater. How can one build a workshop and hold off on the merchandise the customers are patiently awating for at the same time?

That's rough conganalu... I'm guessing he's chosen to sacrifice a few customers satisfaction for a longer term business plan. Hopefully it works out.

Could be worse, he could have run off to hide from creditors in the jungles of Belize At least he's still in the US and developing for the future.

Matt does good work when you can get it. But you can't rely on him or depend on him. Lots of musicians like that. They may play well but if they don't show for the gig I can't work with them. Can you?

Go on Mod, delete this one too. Keep enabling him as he goes downhill. More dis-service to the board.

Down hill?

Far from it.

WEll... I had him do a couple of resto jobs for me. Top notch, top quality. I'm glad I had him do my sonocs, I don't think anyone else would've done quite the job he did, they are old, bad ass, and to me a really cool piece of conga history. About the same time i sent him some really beat up gon bops bongos, he took forever, but they came back reskinned with the perfect weight skins, a free bongo bell, and sounding kick ass. Sturdy as hell I might add. The wait sucks, but if he gets rolling and moving with an apprentice i've got a couple more jobs for him. His drums are super nice, they are not my favorites as I like a but more brightness in my gigging drums, but man are they made well and do they sound nice. I'm hoping he can get his production team together , someone to keep him on track and keep the orders up, he definitely is probably the top resto guy out there and one of whom I consider to be the big three , jay , matt and michel oulet up in Canada.

I agree that Matt takes a long time and sometimes can be difficult to get a hold of but he does come through with a quality product. Matt is no Mario Punchard from Isla.

I will admit that I don't have the patience anymore to wait more than a year with a significant downpayment tied up for that long but for those that do his product is of the best quality maybe the sound is not for everybody but the quality is definitely top notch.

As far as Matt's products are concerned, I agree. They are outstanding! I have a set of his mahogany quinto, conga, and tumba. They are beautiful and I like the way they sound. The craftsmanship is superb. It's just that you're like dealing with a kid. What was supposed to be a 4-5 month wait became 14 months and counting! 14 months for a bongo!!!

Let's see what happens with Matt. Only time will tell if he will rebound from the lack of trust he has developed, or if this will end up with more drama down the road. A friend of mine has a neighbor across the street that was building his own house and it took over 5 years, and was completed by another person that bought him out. Hopefull this will not be the same fate for Matt because we all know his quality is exceptional to say the least.

In my opinion, there is no better conga made out there today. The guy is a one man operation and he has customers from all parts of the world. Sooner or later he comes thru and the finish product will bring you endless satisfaction. Everything he makes is outstanding, his timbales are spectacular. This bigger workshop will give him the chance to add an apprentice and shorten the turn around time.

I hear you conganalu I waited a long time for the bongo I ordered from him I think it was over a year not exactly sure at this point. I do hope his times get better with the new shop I would love a conga set from him but i don't have the finances yet to do it or the patience to wait that long but wow is his stuff beautiful. I'm hoping to be able to do something soon as things get better for me we'll see how it goes for me and what I can do.