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Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:57 pm
by wouters
Hi all,
Sorry to bother you with another ID topic. I'd love to share my percussion / drum knowledge with you, but unfortunately my knowledge on conga's is limited to the brands.
My apologies for not helping you conguys and congirls any further.

I've been given this set of Meinl Percussion conga's. At least, that's what the sticker shouts.
Can any of you confirm this? Or rectify? Sizes are 11 and close to 12''.
I couldn't find any info on them on the WWW nor here.
The exterior is badly scracthed. Some of the leg mounting screws / wing nuts were missing (now replaced by non-original).
However, the sound is very nice.
I'm not sure what to do with them. I'm more a marching drummer, than a percussionist.
Any info is very much appreciated.
Thanks, Wouter from Holland

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 4:06 pm
by Chtimulato
Hi.

I can't help you for the ID, but the most important question is if you like them, and if you like their sound. I can't identify the wood species on the pics, but if you're mostly a marching drummer, they sure'll be heavy to march with.

if you like them and like their sound, they can be worth a little refurbishing (sanding down, recoating, changing harware and skins).

Just my 2 cents.

Happy new year to all of you.

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 5:43 pm
by rhythmrhyme
Perhaps PM Abaqua -- one of the moderators here. He was sponsored (or still is) by Meinl and may be able to ID them.

At some point someone took the time to mount what look to be decent quality heads on those drums, they still look to be in good condition and likely contribute to the good sound you mention. If it was me, I'd take the legs off, set them on the ground and learn how to play congas! :D They look like the perfect beginner set!

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 3:11 am
by ABAKUA
MEINL by sticker only in my opinion.
I have never seen Meinl produce drums like that. Even their old vintage drums, crowns, sideplates, handle, etc all non typical of Meinl.

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 10:06 am
by vinnieL
Correct they are definitely not Meinl. I think those are Mexican.

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Thu Jan 26, 2017 8:10 pm
by KING CONGA
Those are 100% MEINLS. Meinl went through different phases having different shapes and MANY different styles of hardware and this was in fact one of them. You can see more examples of MEINL'S different hardware on Facebook, "Vintage Conga Drums".

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2017 8:38 pm
by Psych1
In spite of the stickers, and the forum, these congas still don't seem to me to be by Meinl. I'm pretty familiar with Meinl and have been in the German manufacturing operation many times over the years before the Thailand move. I have never seen these congas there.

Possibly they were re-branded by some Meinl dealers in the US. Or could be there was some kind of deal at one time between Meinl and some other shops.

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 4:11 am
by Thebreeze
If they are not Meinl, and maybe another brand or brands than to me it is a testament to the Quality of Meinl German made Drums for the reason that these other people decided to use the Meinl name on their drums. I used to have a set of Meinl Live sound fiberglass floatune congas and even though my set was made in thailand, they were made to the strick Meinl standards. They were very well made. I would love to have a set of German made Meinl Woodcraft congas. Now those are very nice indeed.

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 4:50 pm
by Chtimulato
My 2 "further" cents : you could send a mail with pics to meinl's, and ask if a "veteran" Meinl worker can identify this model.

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 8:10 pm
by KING CONGA
UNBELIABABLE! :?: :?: :?: :?: :?:

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2017 11:11 pm
by blavonski
I'm with KC on these MEINLs.
I've seen so many different types of early MEINL Congas over the years in person as well as for sale advertised that I came to the conclusion, that since the company began with one man making symbols, they simply had fun experimenting with construction and hardware when they began thier Conga line until they accepted an Aesthetic/Funktional fact of sorts; that being, one doesn't have to reinvent the wheel to make a quality, atractive and functional instrument,as well finally comimg up with a logo that they liked. SONOR has also an impressive history of disperate, as well as inconvient and clumsy designs until they also learned that less is more.
It's also a matter of Cultural relevance; Historically, Germany has no history of Afro Diasporic instrument or musik making, therfore no internalized sensiblity (at that time at least) or relationship to that aesthetic that could be integrated by those drum makers into their designs of congas and or Bongos. I have an old 70`s SONOR Conga that I restored last year and I am still amused and baffled by the fact of the Hose Clamp with screw that they used on thier Vintage Congas and Bongos as metal Bands. I would love to know what they were thinking. Was it financial expediancy or them being funky in a VW Beatle kind of way?...one of the best Autos ever designed and produced.

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 4:53 am
by jorge
Topic swerve to correct a common misconception. Actually, Germany does have a history of African diasporic music, although it is not widely recognized. In the late 1860s and 1870s my great grandfather Jose Manuel Lico Jimenez and his brother Nicasio and father Jose Julian Jimenez had a classical music trio called Das Negertrio Jimenez that performed classical music all around Europe for 7 or 8 years. Three black Cuban musicians based in Germany, playing in the Gewandhaus orchestra and touring Europe with their trio. Lico Jimenez went on to compose several Afro Cuban pieces including a guaracha called El Cocuye, and in the early 1900s became a professor in the conservatory of music in Hamburg and he recruited music students from Latin America and likely Cameroon, a German colony at that time. The only piece I have is El Cocuye but we believe he composed and performed other Afro Cuban pieces in Germany as well. There were also African musicians living and performing in Germany up until the 1930s. Unfortunately, the Nazi movement to sterilize and otherwise exterminate people of African descent in Germany in the 1930s chased my family and most other Afrodescendent Germans out of Germany and put a stop to development of Afro diaspora music in Germany until after WW2. Clearly there is now some recurring interest in Afro diaspora music in Germany that you know better than I. This might make a nice forum discussion topic. And yes, I loved my 1962 and 1971 VW beetles. Now back to the Meinl discussion.

Re: Newbee Meinls or not?

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 11:26 am
by blavonski
Hi Jorge,
That sounds interesting.
I’m also aware that there were situations of the sort that you describe and very few and far between, as well as the fact of some Africans having integrated themselves into late 19th and early 20th century Germany after deciding to remain following their visit here, among other reasons, as exotic attractions and participants in the African Villages that were a colonial Propaganda effort throughout Europe in the 19th century to convince the public that Africa needed to be civilized etc. Also, I think it is widely acknowledged that, when people of African descent, or any other non European person plays European classical music in that tradition, this association doesn’t make it African or Asiatic diasporic music.

At any rate, my point is that, Germany has no history of active, recognizable African diasporic culture that has emerged as a result of a consolidated population of African descendant peoples having merged their cultural forms and aesthetics with preexisting German-European ones to any degree of that which we have in the Americas and the Caribbean. This is also the reason why there is no vital and active Hand drum culture here. Of course there are the ubiquitous Djembe drum circles and lessons and such, but no such vital and active cultural forms like you have there in central park Rumba or in L.A. etc..

Whatever African Diasporic music that has up until now been introduced and or integrated and assimilated into German society has been so established by direct importation of particular genres or styles and cultures, it is not an intrinsic outgrowth of and expression of an Afro-German cultural phenomenon. Hence, Germany possesses no historically intrinsic cultural relationship or identification to or with the making of African diasporic music or musical instruments that could, (at the time some makers began experimenting with AfroCuban drum making), aid in an instrument makers conception of how such instruments could or ought to authentically be designed and made and sound.

Now, of course if the maker of Sonor or meinl drums had growm up in Cuba or any of the short lived German colonies and had been exposed to such music and instruments and decided as an adult to return to Germany to build these drums, well that would be another interesting story. But, that is not the case here.