Cuban made congas

[bongosnotbombs]

Matadors are a dime a dozen, everyone has had them or has them.
These are a couple of unique, cool drums that with a little effort could be made a lot better.
New skins and some of those lugs from latin rhythm traders would do a lot for these.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1203377754

[Omelenko]

Hey Randy,

They both are SONOCS, the one on the left Is Cahoba wood, they haven't made Cahoba congas in Cuba since the mid 80's. Cahoba is on the endanger species list like Ebony. The one on the right is a SONOC oak. To compare Matadors to these SONOCS is the biggest insult. If you don't act,give me the guy's info. You can tell that the guy that had them didn't know how to properly tune congas. Untune them and let the wood relax, put some quality heads in there and you'll never experience better sounding congas. What do you think the late Tata Guines, Los Muñequitos and Los Papines play, SONOCS. Untune them babes and let them be with out skins and tension for a few days, then get mule heads and put them on.

Dario

[pcastag]

Yeah!!! A friend of mine has a sonoc quinto she bought from a cuban group touring Canada, its a cahoba one and I'll tell you I have never laid my hands on a better sounding drum, she also has a tumba she bought in Havana ( habana) that must be one of the sonoc oaks, nice drums, wish I could get her to sell them to me!
PC

[Coco]

$400 CDN is a good deal even if only the shells are useable. SONOCS are great, dry sounding drums. The hardware tends to be fairly rough and ready though.

Check the crowns aren't warped before you put them back on. Trying to tune with badly warped crowns is very difficult and can put the drum itself out of round.

Michel from Moperc in Montreal can make you new crowns if you need them. He does top quality metal work . Los Muñequitos sometimes use his drums as well.

BTW I think that the wood glue that SONOC uses shows up dark/black unlike the stuff used by the mass-market producers and that might be why it looks like there are gaps between the staves. I have seen this on other SONOCS which on inspection were structurally sound...

Dario, who did the refurb on your drums ( chroming the handles etc)? They look beautiful.



Edited By Coco on 1203402536

[randyc]

I tell you guys, I'm so glad that I lucked across this site. The sheer wealth of knowledge and willingness to pass along advice is staggering.
I'll let you all know how I make out tomorrow.
It sounds like I've found some pretty special congas that will fulfill my need for many years to come (possibly a lifetime).
Assuming there are no unforseen major problems with these I'll post some better pics in the next few days so you can see my 'soon to be' new to me congas.
Again, a very big thank-you for all the help.

Cheers to all, Randy. :laugh:

[Omelenko]

My SONOCS were refurbished by the late Junior Tirado. As far as drum quality overall ,SONOCS are up there with Juniors, Skin on Skin, Matt Smith........ The hardware is not as sturdy, on some of mine I rechromed the crowns, the chroming in Cuba is not up to par. With a good quality skin, like what Isaac in our forum has (mule), with proper drum maintenance, lots of lubrication on the lugs always and proper tuning you can't find better sounding congas.

Dario

[zumbi]

those are nice drums, a piece of history, nothing like mass market products:
i wouldn't miss this opportunity if i were you!
peace & blessings

[zumbi]

dario, my brother,
your collection of drums continues to amaze me...
and it is good to know all those fine instruments are in the hands of someone who loves and respect them and put them to good use.
this is not always the case, unfortunately.



Edited By zumbi on 1203429636

[Isaac]

I would jump on getting those drums. Keep in mind they will need
restoration and new skins.. But the wood is the older Sonocs like Darioi mentioned.
Today's Sonocs are not special at all and have moved to cedar wood.
While in Cuba, I saw many of these in cracked condition. The glue used is
not the best. The Sonoc company has closed and resurrected a few times
for lack of proper funding by the Cuban govt., so the quality is uneven.
But what you'll be getting is from a better period.

Best of Luck ....

ISAAC
Percussionist / Sales JCR Percussion Co

[Coco]

SONOC are using cedar for congas now? I wonder why not oak....

I have seen SONOC bata and bongos in cedar before but never congas.



Edited By Coco on 1203442888

[taikonoatama]

SONOC are using cedar for congas now? I wonder why not oak....

I'm no expert on what grows or doesn't grow in Cuba, but my *guess* is that there's not a lot of oak growing in Cuba or the Caribbean. North American and European oak was/is used for wine and rum barrels, of course, and a lot of that wood found its way to the Caribbean over the years (and in the old days was a common source for conga drum wood), but as far as a good, cheap supply of new oak lumber ... that might be tough.



Edited By taikonoatama on 1203446003

[Coco]

Great point. I wonder whether there are any other suitable indigenous hardwoods there to replace the now endangered Cahoba.

[yusef33]

Hey Randy,
I must concur with the folks on this forum. Those drums that are being offered to you must be purchased immediately. My brother and I refurbished a conga for a friend of mine that has hardware similar to the the drum on the right. The chrome on the hardware was completely scored so instead of rechroming I decided to maintain the vintage appearance just by polishing the metal. The drum shell was given to me in an almost irreparable conditioned. The drum was in his family for decades originally from Matanzas, Cuba. I understood how much this drum meant to my friend, so I spoke with my brother Mario at ISLA PERCUSSION to try to resurrect this drum back to life. We approached this project with due diligence. The result of our efforts are posted below.



Edited By yusef33 on 1203524366

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... ncero5.jpg

[yusef33]

Another view.

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... ncero7.jpg

[yusef33]

One more view. Note:The heads(skin) and the original tuning lugs were replaced. I gave my friend the original lugs. The Cuban made lugs were fabricated with metric type threads. The threads are fine thread and were very much in the same condition the drum shell was in. Instead of trying to repair the lugs I opted to replicate / fabricate new lugs.
My opinion is YOU MUST PURCHASE THOSE DRUM A.S.A.P.
I guarantee to you with some TLC you will be satisfied.

Peace Out.............

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... ncero4.jpg