looking for bongos?

[congabluedog]

Hey Psych1....just wanted to let you know that I put the bid on those cuban bongos a couple of days ago and I really REALLY want them. (that doesn't mean I will get them of course) I asked "Elvis" if he would sell to me and end auction early but he said he really couldn't. I just wanted to tell you because I also do not like to get into bidding wars or competition with people here. I also saw them on ebay before I even saw them mentioned here. Anyway I assume there are other people that also want these bongos but I am hoping to get them. I hope you will sell me the other lugs if I win the auction. With respect, Jacqui

[Psych1]

Hey Jacqui, I put a snipe bid in on them a few days ago - I won't raise it. But an Ebay seller can watch the action on an auction and Elvis says there are quite a few watching this. I expect a lot of bids in the last few minutes & seconds. This will probably go for what its worth - maybe for a lot more than its worth. If you really want this one its going to cost you. Lots of collectors out there now - sadly, I'm becoming one.

Related to that, I bought a nice bongo by Junior last year that I'll sell to anyone here for what it cost me, $500 plus about $100 to ship overseas. It is meant to be played & I pretty much only play my old LPs and Meinls so I'll sell it to a player - not to just a collector! Bongos like that can now sell for big bucks in Japan and other parts of Asia and the Mid-East but I'm not looking to make a profit off bongos. I'm going to stick with my other collections of old movies and pottery and clocks and copper pots and -------------

[congabluedog]

Hey Psych1...thanks for your response. I am not the only person who would like to have these bongos...so please, I don't want you to lose them on my account..I spend pretty much all my extra $ on drums or my niece..but I am not rich. So I might not be able to bid as high as other people can anyway. But I appreciate it. They look really great, however, in the pic of the heads they do look a bit out of round. Does anyone know if this will be a problem? I want them anyway but they don't look round to me and I do want to play them not just collect.

About the juniors...I have a Junior Tirado bongo already and it is the best bongo that I own. I have several LPs....Maywood, Garfield and Pallisades. Take care, Jacqui

[FidelsEyeglasses]

My max was slightly a bit over $300., they would have needed to be re-finished by Matt, as well as re-chromed.
The bottom hardware would also have needed to have spot welds on all 8 points of the riveted sections that hold the lugs, you can see where the pieces have pulled away (from tension) from the bottom ring.
Which besides all the needed additional investment, would most likely take 8 to 12 months to get them back.
It's interesting that the same pair that just sold for $382.77... were for auction about a year and a half ago for $199.00
and not one bidder.
Now I can pay my electric bill this month ;~)~

I'm happy with the Requenas that Matt revived for me, which took 8 months, but well worth the wait.
The hardware was in excellent condition needing no work.

Markito

[congabluedog]

Leedy2 I have a question for you. You had stated that this was a copy bongo:
"Psych1
That bongo that Elvis has is another of same copy bongos I owned at one time loned it to Chucky Lopez and in his wild days it was sold to Elvis (Crazy-el) great bongos .If any one here buys that Cuban bongo I have the other 4 miss lugs if the want them I will sell to them cheap.'

I read this but didn't really know what it meant....ie: the bongo is not a Requena or a Raul Travieso? I just wasn't sure what you meant by copy? You also state that you have the other 4 lugs that go to these bongos...I would really like to have them if you would be willing to still sell. I was the highest bidder. If you can tell me what to do to get the lugs in my personal mail that would be great. Do you know more of the history of this drum? It sounds like you owned it at one time? I enjoy your posts by the way, especially the timbale posts...thankyou for sharing your knowledge.

Markito...I just want to tell you that I have looked at FidelsEyeglasses many many times and I have never seen such an elaborate and well done web site in my life. I have learned alot from it, so thank you. By the way, If I had seen these last year I would have bid on them. Sometimes I get too busy to stay on top of things and don't always have the money either. I get most of my drums right after I get my tax return.

The longer shape of the hardware looks alot like a Requena to me although I am in no way an expert. Do you know the history of these bongos? I am glad I could help with the utility bills by the way. Jacqui

[Psych1]

Hey Jacqui,

I'm glad you got them. Maybe more than last year but you still got a great deal. Enjoy!!!

[FidelsEyeglasses]

Markito...I just want to tell you that I have looked at FidelsEyeglasses many many times and I have never seen such an elaborate and well done web site in my life. I have learned alot from it, so thank you. By the way, If I had seen these last year I would have bid on them. Sometimes I get too busy to stay on top of things and don't always have the money either. I get most of my drums right after I get my tax return.

The longer shape of the hardware looks alot like a Requena to me although I am in no way an expert. Do you know the history of these bongos? I am glad I could help with the utility bills by the way. Jacqui

Jacqui, glad you enjoy the blog, it's really a labor of love for me.
As to the bongoes... congrats, they are a real example of a style, workmanship and the simplicity of another era.
As far as cost, it's all really relative to what something is worth to the person buying a vintage pair of "Cuban" bongoes or an old vintage car or whatever it may be. If they are "restored", their value increases, they look better, sound better and last
longer. On the other hand, they could even be left as they are and still be appreciated and enjoyed for simply the art of being "hand made" and not something "mass produced".

To me, besides the type of wood they're made from, the country of origin, the use of the Cuban older red and black coloring, the shape/style of hardware... the beauty in them lies in their "asymmetrical" shape/form, meaning they are not "perfectly symmetrical". As opposed to the drums we all drool over ie: Matt's, Jay's etc.
Drums that are practically "perfectly symmetrical" like a perfect piece of fine furniture are what our "Westernized" eye is accustomed to look for.
My late father who was both a Shekere and drum maker taught me that an instrument that is slightly and purposely left "asymmetrical"... actually looks and sounds better.

I don't know their history, so I can't tell you anything.
I do know that the legendary 'Solis' music store in La Habana sold bongoes made by Requena with traditionally red and black banding, both tunable and as tack heads.
I bought a pair on Ebay (as tack heads) 8 years ago that looked exactly like the ones you just bought from Elvis, but they were tack heads, the Macho skin was stamped "Made In Cuba" and the Solis sticker was inside the Hembra.
I sold them on Ebay two years after I bought them.

I do know that Elvis (a very nice guy) had them up for auction about 2 years ago for $199.00, no one bid on them.
I contacted him about a year and a half ago and asked him if he still had them, he offered them to me for $250.00, but this was during the U.S. economic bank collapse period and I decided to hold on to my dinero.

I have a pair of Requenas (in the photo) that I bought on Ebay maybe 6 or 7 years ago, that I had Matt S. refinish and repair,
they are my preferred bongoes to play. They fit me like a glove and for their small size, project just perfectly for me.
I would have had the ones Elvis had up for auction re-finished, re-chromed and spot welded in eight places which would have been an additional monetary investment.

I really have all the instruments I need at this point.
Unless Dario's Son ever sells that pair in the photo by the pool. >>

Markito

[pcastag]

Hey, I really have been enjoying your blog too, but recently have not been able to access it. How can I get an invite?
Thanks!
PC

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[congabluedog]

Thanks to everyone that gave opinions, facts, and just took the time to help. (Thanks to you too Dario for info and Psych1 for not bidding higher) . It sounds like that they very well could be bongos made by Raul although some of you say Requena...I don't know. Regardless I am really happy to have beautiful bongos from Old Cuba. I love the red and black and light color of the wood. I can't wait to get them.

Markito thanks for trying to give me all the info you knew. I am aware of your Father's Shekeres by the way...mainly because of your web site and I think they are truly Museum quality works of Art.....and amazing instruments. But they are works of Art. I think they are beautiful and a perfect example of why handmade instruments are MORE than just instruments..

Thank you too Leedy2. So you loned this drum to Chucky Lopez and he sold it to Elvis is this right? So was it Chucky's drum?...did he play use it alot? Anyway..thanks to all...Jacqui

[Omelenko1]

In his later years, I used to bring Mongo home with me and take him to eat fresh food. He was living alone and had a Cuban cantina (catered food) delivered to him at 6:00 PM, the food was probably cooked the day before, this was causing stomach problems for an elder Mongo in his mid 80's. So whenever I could I used to take him out to eat fresh food and told him not to eat that shit that was making him sick. After dinner I took him to my house and he would sit in the sofa and play the Requena bongos, that was the only thing he played, the Requena bongos. He played"old Skool" with finger tips, but he would get this incredible sound out of them, I tried video taping and/or recording him but he refused and quit on the spot. He proudly said "before anything I was a bongocero" (primero que las congas, lo que yo tocaba era el bongo"). Mongo, when he was MIGHTY MONGO, was one of the best bongoceros in history, just listen to his classic over 10 minutes long "MAZACOTE", with Chombo, Willie Bobo and Al MacKibbon. His slaps sounded like machine gun fire.
When I took him back to his condo, he would pull out the Vergara from under the sofa and play the tastiest "martillo". Mongo like Yeyito and Armando "los inmortales del bongo".

Markito, thanks for educating the world from your website. Your contribution to Cuban music is the greatest thing!!!!!!!

Dario

Enclosed: Mongo's favorite bongos, my Requena, his (now mine) Vergara.

[Psych1]

Dario, Thank you for that! I just got finished listening to Mazacote about 5 times in a row in a cave room - great sound - trying to keep up on a bongo cajon. What a fabulous cut. You are so lucky to have spent that time with Mongo.

[Omelenko1]

I remeber the late 60's early 70's when people would listen to long versions of cult songs like "Light My Fire" by the Doors, to "Low Spark of High Heel Boys" by Traffic, to "Season of the Witch" by Mike Bloomfiled and Al Cooper. Back then "reefer" was the name of the game and these tunes were intense. I will play the 10 minute version of "Mazacote" with Mongo on bongos and the boys(Chombo, Willie, Al, Donato) and that tune always did it. It just drove some people insane, some people under the influence of good weed couldn't deal with "Mazacote", the ultimate bongo' anthem.

Dario

[FidelsEyeglasses]

Mongo, when he was MIGHTY MONGO, was one of the best bongoceros in history, just listen to his classic over 10 minutes long "MAZACOTE", with Chombo, Willie Bobo and Al MacKibbon. His slaps sounded like machine gun fire.
Mongo like Yeyito and Armando "los inmortales del bongo".

For me, Mongo was "The Man".
He played very cleanly, had an impeccable sense of time, he was powerful, he played tumbadoras (Congas), bongoes y timbales.
I've never once heard Tata G. or Patato play bongoes or timbales, not that they couldn't... I've just never once seen or heard them on any studio or live recording or in any movie or video.
And there were riffs and flourishes "uniquely" Mongo's.. that to this day show up/can be heard in peoples playing.
(even in the new 21st century "rollers" styles of playing)

Markito