congaplace.com

Coñooooo, only for Donald Trump!

Damn, $3,700.00 seriously??

I wrote to Estaben and he informed me that the drums are actually in New York as there is Kew Gardens as well.

The wood grain on those drums are beautiful but I am not too familiar with Congas made from Poplar Wood. Does anyone know about the sound characteristics from Poplar? I know it is somewhat of a hardwood but that's about it.

Having been a personal friend of Junior's for years, I was tempted to buy ash congas from him because they always looked great, he always told me "get Caoba" (mahogany). His most economical congas were made from poplar, sound projection doesn't compare with mahogany. This came from Natalio Tirado Ruiz (Junior) himself.

Kew Gardens NY 11415 (is in the borough of Queens in NY), approximately 30 minutes from Havemyer in Brooklyn, NY.
At that time Jr. stopped using mahogany.

Thanks Omelenko1 for that really good info on Poplar, especially since it came direct from Jr himself. You must have had lot's of memorial conversations with the man, wow, great memories for sure.

Junior was a very humble down to earth person, he was a genius when it came to wood working. He was the Super of his building and his workshop was a tiny basement in that building on Brooklyn. He had a pair of bongos he had made in 1958, his first ever, I offered whatever he wanted for them but he never let them go. His girlfriend made the best Asopao in the world. Junior sang coro, played maracas and claves with the great Arsenio Rodriguez, "El Ciego Maravilloso".
Wonderful memories!

Dario

I'm new to this, bear with me, learning how to get around posting. I knew Jr. for a long time, believe me he would never make any instrument that wasn't up to his standards. I'm only joining to voice for this posting, you guys turn this into a forum. Those drums are gorgeous, a work of art, believe me they sound great. Let Papotumba negotiate his sale without turning this into a forum. Whose to say which of you here is an "expert". Yes, there pricey, a collector's item though, well worth over a thousand for each drum, if he doesn't get what what he wants so well, if he sells them, more power to him, and congrats to the new owner, who'll be the envy of us all.

It just seems abusive to some of us who were also friends of Junior's that the seller, who has a history of only 2 postings on this forum, has set an asking price that is almost 4 times the price he originally paid for the drums. I see nothing problematic or negative about stating that publicly. This IS a forum, not a Craigslist or Ebay marketplace. We are not "turning this into a forum". If Junior or Junior's wife or daughters were getting the huge (>250%) profit from this sale that would be one thing, but this looks like strictly bidness here. 25% per year profit is a pretty good return on investment for the seller, with no benefit to Junior's family. The item is already posted on Craigslist, if you want to post here where there are a bunch of people who are knowledgeable about congas and Junior congas in particular, and some of whom were friends of Junior, you should be prepared for an open discussion. If you don't want open discussion, stick to CL and Ebay.

I recently sold a pair of Junior congas and a set of bongos for $1,500 for the 3 pieces, this is less than half of what he is asking for just 1 conga. Mine were in excellent condition as well. Like Jorge said, if the Tirado family, which were my friends were benefiting, then all the power in the world. Junior while alive, never asked astronomical prices for his instruments, he was a humble man, "un tipo bien simple y rasonable". I think someone with just one post on record is trying to exploit this forum of dedicated people to the instrument. This should not be a "get rich quick" scam. Some of us feel for the memory of the man he was, Natalio Tirado Ruiz, orgullo de Puerto Rico.
Enclosed see the congas and bongos I just sold.

Dario

To All Congaplace members:

I am not the owner/seller of these drums. I did copy the CL post to here.

So then who are you and what exactly is your role here?

timbalito wrote:...Let Papotumba negotiate his sale without turning this into a forum. Whose to say which of you here is an "expert". Yes, there pricey, a collector's item though, well worth over a thousand for each drum, if he doesn't get what what he wants so well, if he sells them, more power to him, and congrats to the new owner, who'll be the envy of us all.

Please excuse us for getting the wrong idea.