South American Conga Co. bombas
25 posts
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by Whopbamboom » Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:06 pm
Just picked up a set of these...
couldn't resist the price...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....&ih=009
They are a tad over 28" tall. And yes, the playing surfaces are 14", 15", and 16" respectively!
I just received this set from UPS and started messing around with them. I will play with them over the weekend and post what I find out next week.
couldn't resist the price...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....&ih=009
They are a tad over 28" tall. And yes, the playing surfaces are 14", 15", and 16" respectively!
I just received this set from UPS and started messing around with them. I will play with them over the weekend and post what I find out next week.
- Whopbamboom
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by congalero » Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:43 am
i think many of us were watching these. are they really walnut? what is the weight? how are they made? all questions we would like to know when you have the opportunity to check them out. for that price ya can't go wrong. it will cost as much to ship, a bit less in gas money. lol i picked up a set of two king congas today and thought i did well at $200. i think you might have me beat.
congratulations
congratulations
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congalero - Posts: 164
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by Whopbamboom » Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:41 am
Just got back home here late Friday night (had to go out of town for a couple days). So haven't yet done much with them yet. I will mess with them this weekend and report.
As for the price I got them for, that was unusually cheap... the past auction results showed a set selling at $325 plus the $160 shipping, and a second set selling at $225 plus the $160 shipping. I lucked out at the $152 plus shipping. There is a set on right now, and it's already more than that. I guess I got a good deal, LOL
Will report back after I've had more time with them.
As for the price I got them for, that was unusually cheap... the past auction results showed a set selling at $325 plus the $160 shipping, and a second set selling at $225 plus the $160 shipping. I lucked out at the $152 plus shipping. There is a set on right now, and it's already more than that. I guess I got a good deal, LOL
Will report back after I've had more time with them.
- Whopbamboom
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by Whopbamboom » Sat Aug 11, 2007 11:47 pm
OK, I have now had a little time with them. I mainly messed around with the smallest 14" drum (still a very large drum). I'll share what I've found so far, both good and bad.
As you may have guessed, they are of a cheap construction...
They are made of solid wood staves that are glued together. The staves do not match up on the inside very well (often about 1/16" inch deep steps when you run your finger across the staves), and there is a coating of something white underneath the green paint (obviously to provide a smooth outer surface), so who knows if the things were even lathe-turned on the outside or not. Maybe so, and maybe the white filler coat is only to make the surface really smooth for the paint-- but who knows.
It is possible that the wood staves are walnut as advertised (they look like they possibly could be), but if they are, then they are definitely not high-grade walnut pieces. The bearing edges seemed to be fairly smooth, so those were possibly cut with a router.
The hardware is cheap, but it does look like it will hold up OK with the thin skins that are supplied on these drums. The hold-down's (that the lugs hook to) are riveted to the rim, not welded. There are rubber gaskets between the lug plates and the body of the drum. The nuts, etc. are of cheap quality. And of course there is no alma, which would not have been expected anyway.
The skins look to be a very thin water buffalo. They seem to be really thin-- you can see the bearing edge right through them. The drums ring a lot, and perhaps it may be due to the thin skins. The insides are not particularly smooth, so I'm betting on the skins being the culprits here. I did attempt to quieten down the ringing with some adhesive foam rubber weatherstripping, but they still ring.
Now after I have picked these drums apart a little bit, I've got to say that I did not think that the ringing was all that big of an issue when I played them with mallets. I mean, they still ring, but the sound of the drums was a little more like Timpani (like a higher-pitched timpani without the deep rumble of traditional timpani's). But of course they did not sound like conga's at all to me when played with mallets. I actually think they may have their place in my percussion arsenal based on this finding alone. However, I would like to keep experimenting with them to see what other sounds I can get out of them.
When I played them like congas, I did find that there is a sweet spot 3 inches in from the edge that allows a pretty nice open tone (if you can ignore the ringing). I think this may be more in line with the "bomba" music, but I am not really familiar with that music as of yet-- so I am just speculating on that. With some refined technique (keeping my hands touching the skin more), they weren't terrible, and sounded like they could probably produce a lot better of a sound if they had thicker skins on them. I would certainly like to see if they will produce decent conga-like sounds, and so I will eventually try to get hold of some large diameter thick skins with flesh hoops this size. Hopefully the hardware and shells will hold up to the stretching of a thick skin... I will have to report more on that when that day comes, so I'll have to resurrect this thread when I've been able to do that. That will take me some time.
I found that these will fit in the Gibraltar large (Tumba) single conga stand (pro basket style). This would be part #DY-ST717L. I must say that the largest 16" drum barely fit this stand at all. But it did slip inside.
I will report back more when I find a few more things out, such as total diameter at the widest point, and whether or not these will fit inside LP bags, etc.
As you may have guessed, they are of a cheap construction...
They are made of solid wood staves that are glued together. The staves do not match up on the inside very well (often about 1/16" inch deep steps when you run your finger across the staves), and there is a coating of something white underneath the green paint (obviously to provide a smooth outer surface), so who knows if the things were even lathe-turned on the outside or not. Maybe so, and maybe the white filler coat is only to make the surface really smooth for the paint-- but who knows.
It is possible that the wood staves are walnut as advertised (they look like they possibly could be), but if they are, then they are definitely not high-grade walnut pieces. The bearing edges seemed to be fairly smooth, so those were possibly cut with a router.
The hardware is cheap, but it does look like it will hold up OK with the thin skins that are supplied on these drums. The hold-down's (that the lugs hook to) are riveted to the rim, not welded. There are rubber gaskets between the lug plates and the body of the drum. The nuts, etc. are of cheap quality. And of course there is no alma, which would not have been expected anyway.
The skins look to be a very thin water buffalo. They seem to be really thin-- you can see the bearing edge right through them. The drums ring a lot, and perhaps it may be due to the thin skins. The insides are not particularly smooth, so I'm betting on the skins being the culprits here. I did attempt to quieten down the ringing with some adhesive foam rubber weatherstripping, but they still ring.
Now after I have picked these drums apart a little bit, I've got to say that I did not think that the ringing was all that big of an issue when I played them with mallets. I mean, they still ring, but the sound of the drums was a little more like Timpani (like a higher-pitched timpani without the deep rumble of traditional timpani's). But of course they did not sound like conga's at all to me when played with mallets. I actually think they may have their place in my percussion arsenal based on this finding alone. However, I would like to keep experimenting with them to see what other sounds I can get out of them.
When I played them like congas, I did find that there is a sweet spot 3 inches in from the edge that allows a pretty nice open tone (if you can ignore the ringing). I think this may be more in line with the "bomba" music, but I am not really familiar with that music as of yet-- so I am just speculating on that. With some refined technique (keeping my hands touching the skin more), they weren't terrible, and sounded like they could probably produce a lot better of a sound if they had thicker skins on them. I would certainly like to see if they will produce decent conga-like sounds, and so I will eventually try to get hold of some large diameter thick skins with flesh hoops this size. Hopefully the hardware and shells will hold up to the stretching of a thick skin... I will have to report more on that when that day comes, so I'll have to resurrect this thread when I've been able to do that. That will take me some time.
I found that these will fit in the Gibraltar large (Tumba) single conga stand (pro basket style). This would be part #DY-ST717L. I must say that the largest 16" drum barely fit this stand at all. But it did slip inside.
I will report back more when I find a few more things out, such as total diameter at the widest point, and whether or not these will fit inside LP bags, etc.
- Whopbamboom
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- Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:02 pm
by Whopbamboom » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:30 am
Alright, I've had a little more time with these, so I'll add some more info:
The 14" one has a playing surface of 14", a rim diameter of 16", and a total diameter of about 16-1/2" at the belly. Weight is about 25-1/4 Lbs.
The 15" one has a playing surface of around 15-1/4" to 15-1/2" (drum might not be perfectly round), a rim diameter of 17", and a total diameter of about 17-1/2" at the belly. Weight is about 29-1/4 Lbs.
The 16" one has a playing surface of 15-1/2" to 15-3/4" (also probably not a perfectly round drum), a rim diameter of 17-3/4", and a total diameter of about
18-1/4" at the belly. Weight is also about 29-1/4 Lbs, same as the 15.
The 14 fits inside the padded LP conga gig bags, and is a very snug fit. The 15 and 16 do NOT fit inside the padded LP bags, and I might guess that there might not be any conga bags readily available for the 15 and 16. May have to be a custom order type of thing.
The green/black paint is not very durable, so go easy on that. If you nick it, it will show the white putty underneath quite readily. I've already done that.
I have been able to get several pleasing (to me) sounds out of these drums, but very little that sounds anything like the traditional conga sounds that I am familiar with. The closest thing I got to that was the open tone at the sweet spots about 3" in from the edge of the playing surface. However, IF thick skins can be mounted on these drums, then they might produce more conga-like sounds. Remember that the supplied skins are a very thin water buffalo.
I did put some gloves (cheap soft brown cotton jersey)on and did some conga patterns on the 16" drum today, and the gloves helped dampen the ringing and I was able to coax some nice deep bass sounds out of it. As a matter of fact, the bass punch starts to imitate a djembe, but doesn't have as long of a sustain. And I continue to like the light timpani-like sounds when struck with timpani mallets (the ringing can be of benefit in timpani sounds). These drums do not produce the same sound as a timpani, because they do not have the super-bass thunder rumble of traditional copper kettle timpani's, but they do produce a pretty nice drum sound to my ears.
The bottom line-- these are cheaply made drums, but they may have an application for you-- depending on what you are doing. All in all, I personally am very happy that I got these drums (especially for the price I scored them for), and have gotten some nice drum sounds out of them, both with the skins loose and with the skins tighter. BUT if you are looking for traditional latin conga sounds, you might not get what you are looking for. At least not with the thin skins. I realize that several of you guys are purists/traditionalists, but I am a percussionist and I can usually find a use for whatever sounds that I do happen to get out of a particular instrument. And so I will keep these around.
The 14" one has a playing surface of 14", a rim diameter of 16", and a total diameter of about 16-1/2" at the belly. Weight is about 25-1/4 Lbs.
The 15" one has a playing surface of around 15-1/4" to 15-1/2" (drum might not be perfectly round), a rim diameter of 17", and a total diameter of about 17-1/2" at the belly. Weight is about 29-1/4 Lbs.
The 16" one has a playing surface of 15-1/2" to 15-3/4" (also probably not a perfectly round drum), a rim diameter of 17-3/4", and a total diameter of about
18-1/4" at the belly. Weight is also about 29-1/4 Lbs, same as the 15.
The 14 fits inside the padded LP conga gig bags, and is a very snug fit. The 15 and 16 do NOT fit inside the padded LP bags, and I might guess that there might not be any conga bags readily available for the 15 and 16. May have to be a custom order type of thing.
The green/black paint is not very durable, so go easy on that. If you nick it, it will show the white putty underneath quite readily. I've already done that.
I have been able to get several pleasing (to me) sounds out of these drums, but very little that sounds anything like the traditional conga sounds that I am familiar with. The closest thing I got to that was the open tone at the sweet spots about 3" in from the edge of the playing surface. However, IF thick skins can be mounted on these drums, then they might produce more conga-like sounds. Remember that the supplied skins are a very thin water buffalo.
I did put some gloves (cheap soft brown cotton jersey)on and did some conga patterns on the 16" drum today, and the gloves helped dampen the ringing and I was able to coax some nice deep bass sounds out of it. As a matter of fact, the bass punch starts to imitate a djembe, but doesn't have as long of a sustain. And I continue to like the light timpani-like sounds when struck with timpani mallets (the ringing can be of benefit in timpani sounds). These drums do not produce the same sound as a timpani, because they do not have the super-bass thunder rumble of traditional copper kettle timpani's, but they do produce a pretty nice drum sound to my ears.
The bottom line-- these are cheaply made drums, but they may have an application for you-- depending on what you are doing. All in all, I personally am very happy that I got these drums (especially for the price I scored them for), and have gotten some nice drum sounds out of them, both with the skins loose and with the skins tighter. BUT if you are looking for traditional latin conga sounds, you might not get what you are looking for. At least not with the thin skins. I realize that several of you guys are purists/traditionalists, but I am a percussionist and I can usually find a use for whatever sounds that I do happen to get out of a particular instrument. And so I will keep these around.
- Whopbamboom
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- Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:02 pm
by Whopbamboom » Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:29 pm
Just in case anyone here was still thinking of getting some of these, looks like some great deals in the making:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....&ih=009
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....&ih=011
The second link here is the same set that sold for $325 plus shipping the first time. That seller told me that they just didn't realize how big these were and that they didn't have room in their apartment, so they are clearing them out at a loss. This was found out when I asked them what the sound was like.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....&ih=009
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....&ih=011
The second link here is the same set that sold for $325 plus shipping the first time. That seller told me that they just didn't realize how big these were and that they didn't have room in their apartment, so they are clearing them out at a loss. This was found out when I asked them what the sound was like.
- Whopbamboom
- Posts: 588
- Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:02 pm
by PRDRconguero » Fri Aug 31, 2007 5:56 am
Just like with any other drum, if you want a quality product, you have to go with custom hand-made. Finding people who make good bomba drums is harder than for congas.
I do not know specifics, but I've heard of a couple people who do in the NYC area.
*Edited for typo.
Edited By PRDRconguero on 1188539828
I do not know specifics, but I've heard of a couple people who do in the NYC area.
*Edited for typo.
Edited By PRDRconguero on 1188539828
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PRDRconguero - Posts: 166
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by Whopbamboom » Fri Aug 31, 2007 8:31 pm
jesdrums.com would be one of them, probably.
I'd be curious who else makes good ones.
I'd be curious who else makes good ones.
- Whopbamboom
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- Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:02 pm
by tamboricua » Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:16 pm
Whopbamboom wrote:I'd be curious who else makes good ones.
Natalio "Junior" Tirado used to make them. Since his passing, all his creations had become collectors item and ocassionally some show up for auction at E-bay.
Check one of his barriles de Bomba below.
Saludos,
Jorge Ginorio
Edited By tamboricua on 1188595077
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... Barril.jpg
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tamboricua - Posts: 981
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by OLSONGO » Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:37 am
WBB I couldn't resist also , took the wife out to dinner before I showed them ??? Had to hear that bass and for the money you couldn't beat it. Only on problem UPS damaged one of the drums in shipping and due to insurance they will have to pay , so... in the long run I will end up paying only half for the 3 drums. about 2 bills. The damaged one I will repair; just a nasty crack.
And WBB this is something you may not know there is what it seems a couple of screws or metal rods in between the staves ?
the sound is not that bad , not as ringy as I expected , I think thicker skin will take care of that , also may have the rim reinforced by a local welder ; make it thiker..
Will keep you all posted
Paz Olsongo
And WBB this is something you may not know there is what it seems a couple of screws or metal rods in between the staves ?
the sound is not that bad , not as ringy as I expected , I think thicker skin will take care of that , also may have the rim reinforced by a local welder ; make it thiker..
Will keep you all posted
Paz Olsongo
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OLSONGO - Posts: 871
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- Location: Tampa, Florida
by OLSONGO » Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:03 am
Tamboricua , I recently saw a set of bomba drums, they are what I assume the original African slave creation; with rope and wooden pegs for tunning.
And they sounded the bomb..a.
Paz OLsongo
And they sounded the bomb..a.
Paz OLsongo
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OLSONGO - Posts: 871
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