Directions for retrofitting placa?

[Firebrand]

Guys,

I've read a lot on this forum regarding the merits of placa, and I've heard a lot of the best use them, and I've performed on one myself, and I love the snappy pop that I get from it. Best of all...placa's don't have to be tuned...the bongo I used NEVER was tuned for 3 years, and it stayed at the same high pitch!

That being said, I'd rather be saving some serious money on replacing macho skins on Bongos and retrofit my new GEN II and my old Matadors with placa heads.

What type of placa should I get. Where can I get it (anywhere online?), and is there any detailed instructions for newbies on how to mount a placa head on LP Gen II and Matadors?

Any info would be greatly appreciated, and probably, if possible, should be placed as a "STICKY" thread on this forum. It can help a lot of bongoceros to have those instructions handy on this forum...or in the BongoBook, as a reference.

[ABAKUA]

Ideally you should be de-tuning the skin on the macho when not in use, helps preserve the skin in good condition and the shape/strength of the wood also.

I have not played on a single bongo that that had an xray on it that sounded good, did not sound high crisp pitch as per modern 'salsa' sound of bongo macho .
They all sounded like untuned 1930's type bongo sound.
Whenever it was slowly tuned, they would tear.

Normal xray film from back (spine) was used. Perhaps there is another type of X ray film that should be used?

I swear by LP hand picked skins and fibreskins for the macho.



Edited By ABAKUA on 1114611377

[Firebrand]

hmmm...well...the head that this bongo had seemed to be a pretty thick x-ray...i'm not sure what it was though...I did ask Javier Hernandez (the owner of the bongo), and he didn't know. I'm guessing one of the gigging bonceros of the island did it for him

But, he hasn't tuned that bongo in like the 5 years I've known him...and I use it EVERY year in the summer, when i perform in Puerto Rico. In fact...I don't play ANY other bongo when touring with my dad in PR...it's Javier's bongo all the time. :laugh:

That bongo cackles like a mofo....when I go to a solo...baby...the audience hears it!

With LP handpickeds...it would stay high pitch for like 10 minutes, and then, it would start to detune...must be the tropical air. But..man...I'll never forget the inspired solos I threw with X-ray.

Regarding hembra...yeah, I always bring the hembra down...but I've never put hembras so high that they are "twisting" the bongo. I like the contrast between bulletshot macho, and deep hembra. I've always brought skin machos down...but I think x-ray machos can be left at their high tuning.



Edited By Firebrand on 1114611041

[ABAKUA]

Sorry, had to edit, I just read through it again and I had written hembra instead of macho (now edited)



Man, I need a break. Been in front of this computer for the last 12 hrs. (Finishing articles for reviews on a few skins and percussion instruments I was asked to road test)

Yeh I forgot about the climate factor in Puerto Rico, tropical humid air would def affect the tuning...
Fibreskins would be the way to go then in your case if living in Puerto Rico.

The climate in Sydney is much drier so it does not affect my LP skins.



Edited By ABAKUA on 1114611672

[Firebrand]

how's the latin music scene in Sydney? Is it gigging?

PR's scene has been quite saturated (with musicians, not gigs). It's not easy to break in. I decided to move back to Providence, RI and try my luck there and Boston.

[ABAKUA]

I am in the top 3 most in demand percussionists in Sydney at the moment.
I find my self gigging Fri through to Sun most weekends, with the occassional weekly gig also. Normally squeeze in 2 gigs per day on weekends, and we are also touring Aus at the moment with one of my groups, details are in that "Drummers Diary" thread in Open Discussion.

The Latin scene in general, can be quite busy, we openly accept newcomers as long as they are 'ready', and encourage newcomers to practise and get together for jams with us more experienced players.

There is no real so called 'competition' between us, no ego.
If you have an ego and think you are better than everyone or carry on like you are king shit, you will gig with noone and be pushed aside.
If you were here, you would find that the best congueros/percussionists are the most humble ones with nothing to prove, our playing speaks for itself.

But yeh, there's quite a few latin bands, some big bands ie 11-13 piece and alot of smaller ones ie 8-9 piece, a few small sequence bands *urge to kill rising* I hate sequence shit. Live is where its at.
There is also alot of freelance work going.
So yeh, thankfully for me, I am quite busy and have been gigging constantly non stop for the last 12 months, its been the busiest year so far for me. Its also been theyear where Ive taken on the most students.
Actually now that I think about it, Ive been fairly busy for the last 3 yrs, just that in the last 12 months I have taken on alot of gigs!



Edited By ABAKUA on 1114655626

[Raymond]

I see this X-ray thing about bongos and although I respect it, I think is not worth the problem, specially with all the variety of "heads" out there.. Not worth the problems....

Get a good natural thin head and you will get a "crisp" macho...(Beware the high tuning does more damage to a thinner head than a thicker head). Equivalent in synthetic with a thinner head, get NuSkyn, thicker heads, Fyberskins.

Anyway, the super high tuning has been out for awhile...(My friend Albert Machuca that used to be one that brought it up back during the 90s recording is not even using it anymore).

Yep! The music scene for tropical music, salsa and merengue, is really but really bad for musicians here in Puerto Rico. I am not a full time musician but know some and everything has lowered big time.

This is something I saw coming with the "classic salsa" revival, the saturation of "new pretty faces" soloists and the kids going "regeatton" on us....Also, killed the "hall dancers" that now intimidate those who want to dance salsa....Recordings here in PR are almost non existant....The gigs available are for "second rate" bands playing "classic covers" from the 70s...

Saludos!

[Firebrand]

i saw a guy playing NuSkyns on macho...and it sounded like placa. Nice and crisp, high pitch.

For congas, I get almost universal acclaim for Fiberskin.

What are the different sounds you get with Fiberskin or NuSkyn on macho.

I leave natural skin for hembra...i want the warmth and resonance of real skin. But I want the high, cackle from the macho.

[Raymond]

Firebrand,

My experience is that the NuSkyn in the macho sounds cripier because it is a thinner head. With Fyberskins, the macho does not sound as crispy as with NuSkyn because the head is thicker. (However, in the hembra you get a nice bassy sound that with the NuSkyn is not the sound I like because the head is too thin for my liking).

Remo explains that NuSkyns have less overtoness than Fyberskins.......

Overtones in bongos are hard to notice in comparison with congas.....The difference between NuSkyn and Fyberskin is better "heard" with a conga...

Check Remo's site and they will explain you the differences in a more technical way...(I've tried here several times but hard to explain).

Saludos!