Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2007 3:33 am
So I bought this old beat up ludwig conga for 25$. I figuired i could fix it up and make it sound good...well after a couple coats of spray paint and a nice thick skin... i came to the conclusion that its really not a "conga"...its more like an ashiko or a Haitian tanbou sound. The wood is so light weight, it couldn't take the force of the skin pulling down on it...almost broke the stupid thing. So I reinforced the side plates and slapped a thin african goat skin on it. At first i wasn't happy with the sound...it sounded like a cardboard box..then just messing around with it I covered up the hole in the shell that the Ludwig logo fits on and a nice full ashiko/djembe bass tone came out of it. It also gives a great rim shot sound (a common sound in Haitian Drumming). Heck, I was even thinking that you could put one of those "brazilian" heads on it (The ones made outta fake leather that give a nice "boom" bass) Just some ideas.
I know there are some of these ludwig "congas" floating around ebay etc. so if you wanna project to work on try it out. Just wanted to share the experience!
I know there are some of these ludwig "congas" floating around ebay etc. so if you wanna project to work on try it out. Just wanted to share the experience!