JCR bongos - one-piece mahogany shells: for sale

[Isaac]

Just to clear up some half baked misconceptions about JCR bongos shells.
These are some facts & stories from many wonderful conversations with Caly Rivera.
I first set foot in his shop in 1989, but had spoken to him by phone for a few
years before. It's no secret, that subcontracted wood components from
tropical locations is normal for good solid wood bongo creation. We don't have that kind of wood in
North America. Caly also doesn't favor staved bongos, only on a few occaisions
when his tropical wood supply is held up in customs or delayed. The good mahogany
is now regulated and quarantined by customs. It's on the endangered tree list.
We've had to switch to other tropical woods after much testing for strength
and musical qualities. This is part of what I do.

Caribbean Rhythms (in Dominican Republic) was one short lived company that came onto the scene
at least 2 decades after JCR began. The person who later started that company once made shells for JCR
following Caly's specs. A few years later he figured it was time to take a chance and go on his own.
What he created was commendable but crude in comparison to JCRs, but the price was right for the players.
He was able to start with the help of an American financial backer. After a few short years, the Florida based American partner
pulled out of that business, and it it floundered. The Hurricane then finished off what was an already failing concern.
They made their own shells and very crude metalwork. I spoke by phone to the American backer a few years ago, who shared with me that
percussion instrument making was a terrible business model, and he moved into the construction trade.
He posed a few questions:
How many people after all are indeed buying good quality handmade bongos?
How many are content to buy an off the shelf Thailand set (nine different brands
made under the same roof!) from the fastest cheapest online website? It was too hard to make a go of it.

I listened to him carefully, but can't say I agreed with him, as I still love the sound of a great bongo and don't think of it from his point of view.
This is clearly an area for the fanatic diehards such as ourselves here on this forum! I hope and believe there
will always be an appreciation for the "real deal".

JCR was subcontracting to get half-finished shells of tropical wood for
at least 2 decades before Caribbean Rhythms came onto the scene. They were
alternately of Island Caoba, Honduran Mahogany and also a nice tropical wood from Colombia.
There were at least three different subcontractors at different times following the designs he ordered.
Caly always changed his designs in the same way he keeps coming up with new bell designs.
When he received them, and not in big numbers, he continued to work the shells and improve
them on his own lathe downstairs at JCR. Caly never used pieces totally 100% completed by anyone else.
This gave him a "headstart" and a chance to make
a modest living. Growing into a major percussion company was never his goal.
Those shells were always finely tuned and finessed by Caly right in the Bronx.
For a time, Junior Tirado also worked there, I met him working on bongos
there in the late 80s and early 90s.

Many of the subcontractors eventually decided to make a go of it on their own,
and compete with JCR, including an ex-employee who began Osiris Percussion.
Some of these companies eventually failed, because you need good metal skills,
and a musicians ear. It's not enough to be a good wood craftsman or a good welder.
You must have a musician's ear to put the love & final touch into the finished product.

Caly had a musical career that lasted 40 years, having played with
Yomo Toro, the famous Jibaro Cuatrista, and Joe Valle, one of the top singers to come out of Puerto Rico.
He also grew up in an instrument making family of several generations.
So the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

Like a master chef, the ingredients must be good, regardless of
where they're from. It's what each master does with the ingredients that adds the
magic.

ISAAC

Siga La Tradicion

[Mr. Conga]

Only someone that has owened a pair of Dominican shell bongos, with the J.C.R stamp on them, and also a pair of carabian bongos, could tell us the truth. Thebrezee, has had the opportunity to play both, and work on both, he is as honest of a gentleman as it gets.

The rest of you that have experiences with him can attest to that. In D.R they are alittle more limited on machinery, and are a little ruff when it comes to details.
In New York, with the proper machines the bongo shells can be thined out a little, fix the taper, etc. Same wood, same country, same guy that would send the shells to N.Y, decided to go his own route (caribe rhythm)-ritmo caribeño, and start his own company, without a middle man.

J.C.R's are great, and have a history, of getting the best woods, back in those days.
Reason why Caly can't make congas at this time ???...unknown.

[Isaac]

Thanks for putting up both sets of photos.

The shells likely have originated from the same source...
However on James set, they have been thinned out a bit from the
inside, so they are lighter in weight.
You can't go by outside measurements.
The bottom groove is a bit deeper to hold the steel bottom rim,
and finally the main clue that they were finessed by Caly -
the center block is smaller. Caly would always hate to see
a wide center block leaving too much space between the macho
and hembra. So Will, I believe you have a Caribbean Rhythm
set, not that there's anything wrong with them.
Will, I also have the same set as you and showed them to Caly'.
His initial reaction was to put them back on his lathe
and thin them out, widen the bottom groove for the bottom rim,
and rework the bearing edge.
But with superb ingredients like that wood,
which is now on the endangered list, the good metalwork
and real skins, whoever plays them will be
deeply satisfied. They are a piece of bongo history
that may never be repeated.

Isaac

[taikonoatama]

Isaac,

Thanks so much for your highly informative post! Good to get the air cleared here. I'm having major second thoughts about selling these ... damn. I've got 2 Cuban sets I'll have to get on with restoring sometime when I start playing more bongos.

James

[Thebreeze]

You are 100% correct Isaac. My drums are CR. I actually threw the black hardware away after I received the bongos since I just wanted the shells. I have worked on the center block a little and when I re post my finished pics the two shells will be a little closer to each other. Thanks very much for the info you supplied. I think it will be received with enormous graditude from all forum members. We now have the whole picture and if anything, I believe that it makes all Jcr bongo owners glad that they have a true set of Jcrs, plus it gives all of us bongo experts ( lol ) more pieces of evidence to look for when someone is selling some jcr bongos, we will know if they are cali's or not.

Thanks again Isaac. What a great revelation of good info.

Will.

[Isaac]

I just put it on top of the list. Here is a picture of an older set of JCR Bongos I had and notice the severe taper on the Hembra?. This is a JCR Bongo. Read Isaacs post there for some insight on them.

[/quote]

These are definitley JCRs. This was the groove design that Caly came up with.
He had somone in Colombia start the lathing on those shells, which were completed in the Bronx.
They could then come into the country through customs, whereas raw wood would be controlled
and quarantined for many months.

Unfortunately, that subcontractor then took the liberty of using the same design for his
cheaper line of bongos with weaker hardware and competing also under various brand
names, with mixed results.

We're still using this design.

When you say no one saw Caly lathing shells in the Bronx, it's because it done
in the basement shop, where non-employees are not allowed for saftey reasons.
So the fact that no one saw it occuring does not make them reliable witnesses
(to something they never saw).

There's nothing to hide there. ....but when you go to a fine reastaurant it
would be extremely rude to demand to go into the kitchen, inspect the meat locker &
vegetables, and demand to know what market the Chef went to that morning.
It should be rewarding enough to enjoy the meal and tell your friends.

ISAAC

ps. JCR's corner shop used to be a fine Italian restaurant in the 1950s.

[Thebreeze]

What can I say but ......Touche! Well put Isaac. I apologize for coming off a little strong about that. I am sorry. Again, thanks for more highly valuable JCR info.

Will.

[caballoballo]

Ok, If Cali was not making the whole Bongó when he was importing from Cr and the same applys to the last ones he had made. Then why is he charging so much ? How much is the price of the shells ? What much does it cost to just make the hardware ?

As long as I know unless somebody has better info, Moperc,Timba,Resolution Drums & Volcano Percussion makes the whole instrument & the price is just about the same as Jcr. Also the making of Califronia Series GonBops takes 6 weeks when you order thru Thedrumworks web page.

Once I asked, How do we know those skins sold by Jcrs are really Mule ? We already know the Bongos are not completedly make by Cali .

Are we buying a Cat instead of a Rabbit ?

Al que le caiga el sallo que se lo ponga.

[Isaac]

post deleted by writer

[Isaac]

PS. Caballo,

I've always enjoyed your previous posts, so this is
nothing personal against you..

ISAAC

[No.2-1820]

Timba for one are by all accounts just hanging in there by their fingertips, honestly how could anyone with even the slightest knowledge of the state of the custom drum industry ask such questions. I'm sure when Cali is droppin' Isaac off at his Manhattan penthouse in his Ferrari he must have quite a chuckle at such comments.

Barrie

[Thebreeze]

I am going to give a little breakdown on the cost of my dominican bongos project to help clear things a little..

I bought the shells on ebay for 80 dollars, plus shipping came out to about 100 dollars. ( some ebayers have gotten better deals on their shells and have paid as little as 30 dollars for them )

Anyway my cost .....100 for the shells.
155 for matt's hardware, plus 25 for shipping = 180 .
two mule skins from El Greco direct from Greece about 90 dollars total. ( dynamite skins I must add )
This totals about 370 dollars, and that does not even include all of the time I put into the sanding,
finishing, mounting the mule skins, etc..

So you can see that even doing it yourself like I did I have spent about 400 dollars give or take. I have
the satisfaction of knowing I have a very unique set of Bongos that no one else has. So to me it was
worth it, but it takes a lot out of you and I am not sure If I will do it again.

I hope this helps.

Will.

[yambu321]

ISAAC, YOU ARE AN HONEST, UP FRONT GUY. THAT, UNLIKE SOME OTHERS, YOU ARE NOT AFRAID TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE TO CLEAR THE AIR ABOUT YOUR OWN PRODUCTS, ON THIS THIS BOARD.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HONESTY.

PS. (WHEN IS YOUR NEXT BATCH OF MULE SKINS DUE TO COME IN?)

ALSO, I WANT TO SAY: WILLIE GREAT JOB ON THIS THREAD!
CHARLIE.

[Omelenko1]

Enclosed find a photo of my JCR, Calixto Rivera, bongo from around 1981. As time goes by, this bongo sounds better with age. Cali's hardware is very strong and will never give in. This guy has been put through the test and has passed with A+. Below find a Cuban Vergara refurbished, with hardware made by Matthew Smith. This one resembles the Dominican Cahoba very much, where as in Cali's bongos the Cahoba is much darker, suggesting perhaps another region like South America (Colombia or Venezuela). The Cahoba used by Pan Con Queso from Venezuela was much darker and redish than the Dominican, Cuban and P. Rican Cahoba. All the bongos in question are solid pieces, not staves.

Dario

[Thebreeze]

Thanks Charlie. I think this whole threa has been a forum members team effort. ha ha. It has been a very very interesting thread to say the least.

Willie.