Made a Palito today! - ...or bamboo crafts at home

[bongosnotbombs]

Today was a rainy day in San Francisco, a perfect day to get around to projects that have been waiting to get done. So I made myself a palito.

The bamboo was sourced from Japantown, and I've been getting a little tired of wacking the palito patterns against my conga shell, so I made the palito. I always thought they were cool in being such a humble instrument, and they are easy to take around. Now I have more inspiration to learn one more rumba part.

This first one is a prototype. I learned that i did'nt really have the rght saw or drill bit. My saw was a hack saw and the drill bit was a good size but the tip is better for drywall.

I will probably get a cheap bamboo saw or two in Japantown and a sharper bit. This is just one possibiliy, with the 5 holes. next I will make on with a slit. This pole has enough for 4 palito's.

I plan on giving the two prototypes to friends and then keeping two. Bamboo can be slightly perishable from what I have seen. Tomorrow when it's warmer I will coat the palito with Linseed oil to make it tougher. All in all took about 20 minutes to plan and make.

It sounds pretty good now, but the test will come tomorrow at the Radio Havana Social Club that hosts a bi-monthly rumba I have just been invited to. I will post pictures of that even too.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1194754975

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CF8417.JPG

[bongosnotbombs]

Here it is next to a shekere I also made, they make a good pair don't they?

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CF8422.JPG

[bongosnotbombs]

trying it out, sounds pretty good, but I'll have to see how it sounds in a rumba to really know.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1194754997

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... CF8423.JPG

[tocandorumba]

Awesome, very inspiring. Need to make one myself. Peace!

[ABAKUA]

Nice. Looking great.
Maybe try some 'wooden floor sealer' also for hardening/finish.

Palitos (translated to 'little sticks' or 'small sticks' in Spanish) as I understand it is the name of the pattern played, the instrument though is reffered to as a cata/kata.

[CongaTick]

By the way, I see in your pix, a white, fiberglass LP Tumba (Palisades, original?). I've got one exactly like it, and love the way it sounds.

[Mike]

the instrument though is reffered to as a cata/kata.

Right, or guagua, for that matter.



Edited By Mike on 1194791660

[windhorse]

Yeah! The size looks perfect!!

[bongosnotbombs]

Thanks guys, I have heard it called the cata before, guagua is new to me, everyone hear calls it palito, or actually refers to it as a palito in a sentence like
"I want to play the palito"

but I guess that is really refering to the rhythm they are going to play, easy to get confused.

[bongosnotbombs]

By the way, I see in your pix, a white, fiberglass LP Tumba (Palisades, original?). I've got one exactly like it, and love the way it sounds.

all three of my drums are Palisades fiberglass, red quinto, white conga and the black one is kind of a large conga I use as a tumba, it's 12" and 29" tall, the white one is 11 3/4" and 28" tall.

They are good drums, durable and light and sound good with good skins.

[congamyk]

Thanks guys, I have heard it called the cata before, guagua is new to me, everyone hear calls it palito, or actually refers to it as a palito in a sentence like
"I want to play the palito"

but I guess that is really refering to the rhythm they are going to play, easy to get confused.

Palitos

Yeah, they are referring to the pattern.
It's the same as if someone said "i want to play the tumbao."
So, you would play tumbao on congas and play "palitos" on cata (also called guagua).

BNB, this is cool, thanks for sharing.
How did or can you attach it to a stand?

[bongosnotbombs]

congamyk,
I don't have a stand, I'm going to be playing this sitting down like in the picture,
if I was going to put it on a stand I think I might figure out a way to use those holes I drilled, a stick fits in them, there might be some drum hardware that would work, the potential problem would be the fragility of the bamboo cata.

I guess I could put holes on both sides so a pole would go all the way through and then I could clamp like a cymbal with the felt pad? It's an interesting design problem, I had'nt reall thought of it........

[guarachon63]

I made a stand for mine by sawing off and sinking the "female" thread part of a plastic mike clip into the middle of a 2 x 4 cut to almost the length of the guagua, with some strong glue. Then I screwed a couple off "u" shaped pieces on the sides, the "u" being wide enough to accommodate the diameter of the bamboo.

The result can be screwed onto any available mike stand and is rock solid. Not exactly pretty but it works perfectly.

Anyway, what you have there looks beautiful and hopefully will knock some jam block out of action some where!

Also I too believe the usual term for the instrument to be guagua, for some reason I seem to feel "catá" is better reserved for the congo-derived rhythms like makuta or yuka. But I still knew what you meant.

[Changuiri]

guagua means a bus it's been called that because it drives the rhythm.

[bongosnotbombs]

I guess I thought it was kind of like clave you know, it's a rhythm and an instruments name.

everyone just says "palito" and in written music it says "palito". But it's cool, you play palito on the guagua or cata (or on anything available like chairs or the side of a conga like I saw tonight, but thats a different post)