Meinl FB 400 or Gon Bops Acuña Series?

[Anonimo]

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[Omelenko1]

I'm sure Yeyito used chivo (goat skins) on his bongos, or "pergamino" which is kip hide. Yeyito and Mongo were from the same school. Mongo would only use "pergamino" on his bongos. Many times I suggested that he should use a thicker skin on the hembra, but he didn't want to hear it. He was "old school" and would follow what he usde in Cuba.

Dario

[bongosnotbombs]

I love that picture, do you know what kind of skins Yeyito preferred ? They look bleached in that pic, but it could be the glare from the lights.
Barrie

Goat often looks white after it is soaked and installed. Calf skin is also often lighter colored because of the age of the calf I suspect.

[Anonimo]

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[No.2-1820]

Actually you should ask my non-bongo friends how many times I mention the likes of Yeyito, they roll their eyes and look at each other, "Oh here he goes again, talking about some old long gone Cuban guy!", and my wife is off as soon as I open my mouth ! But I get your point, in general they lie quietly, forgotten by the general public (never known in the first place most of them), but the pleasure their playing gives me (on a regular basis) is a kind of immortality most of us can only dream of, that is if you dream of such things anyway.

I'm going to try a good goat skin soon, I've tried it in the past but I'm now sure the skins I tried were way too thin.

Barrie

[Anonimo]

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[No.2-1820]

Hey, do you know my wife ? She goes to her room and slams the door actually when I play my quaint old music ! I will get a goat skin from Cali when funds allow, I look forward to trying it, I'm sure it's where those crisp, dry, slaps on those recordings come from.

Andy Garcia needs to make another crappy hollywood movie and spend the paycheck on making a movie about that era !
Just for us of course, no one outside of this forum will go !

Barrie

[Anonimo]

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[caballoballo]

Saludos, I thought to add some updated review to this GonBops Alex Acuña Bongó. The weak link are the Lugs which do not hold their shape under high tension. Even with fyberskin heads the lugs won't hold to the point of almost slippering off the crown. I wrote Gonbops about 4 months ago about this matter but they have no answer at all. That silence have much to say about their service and quality. I wonder, is it the same with their top of the line hand crafted California series ? Could that be they are using some cheap metal to make their hardware ? I think so

[Tonio]

Saludos, I thought to add some updated review to this GonBops Alex Acuña Bongó. The weak link are the Lugs which do not hold their shape under high tension. Even with fyberskin heads the lugs won't hold to the point of almost slippering of the crown. I wrote Gonbops about 4 months ago about this matter but they have no answer at all. That silence have much to say about their service and quality. I wonder, is it the same with their top of the line hand crafted California series ? Could that be they are using some cheap metal to make their hardware ? I think so

Caballo , got your PM bro !!

lug length on LP Valje: 5.5" or @14Cm
off set angle (inside of the bottom-straight portion to center of where the lug meets the rim ear): 3/4" or @2cm

Charlies has replaced macho lugs on his GB CA's here viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5949&start=15

Looks like LP GEN II, II lugs??
T

[mrhands]

Has anyone played any Toca's like the Eric Velez signature bongos? I was able to play them at the store and they were pretty good...about the same price as the meinls fwb400. Would you guys prefer meinl over the toca?

[Craig]

Saludos, I thought to add some updated review to this GonBops Alex Acuña Bongó. The weak link are the Lugs which do not hold their shape under high tension. Even with fyberskin heads the lugs won't hold to the point of almost slippering off the crown. I wrote Gonbops about 4 months ago about this matter but they have no answer at all. That silence have much to say about their service and quality. I wonder, is it the same with their top of the line hand crafted California series ? Could that be they are using some cheap metal to make their hardware ? I think so

Caballoballo,

Some time ago I emailed the customer service department at Gon Bops to learn if the hardware on the Alex Acuna Series congas and bongos is exactly the same as the hardware on the California Series, or merely of the same shape and style but different thickness and weight. I was informed that the hardware is exactly the same on the Alex Acuna Series and the California Series. The Tumbao Pro series hardware is of the same shape and style but different thickness and weight.

I own both California Series and Alex Acuna Series bongos and have not had any problems with the lugs. They are my two favorite bongos.

Craig

[caballoballo]

Saludos Craig, May be you have been fortunate and yours have hold. For me the best solution is to buy new lugs or have them made by a local artisan. Right now Xdrums sells the V251 made by LP for the Valje,they look alike and since I use to own one I know they will hold. Also to play Salsa the Macho have to really be crank high. How high do you tune yours and for what music ? That could be the reason yours have hold.

[Ernesto Pediangco]

All Gon Bops & Timba bongos are of old Gon Bops thin walled design & are prone to cracking at the separator block w/ 2 bolt holes that weaken an already thin waisted shell design. Meinl wood bongos also have thin walled waist but are joined from the bottom base ring. All things being equal, including correct bongo heads, Meinl is far better than Gon Bops. The Fiberglass models are extremely strong as well. The rounded sound edge on meinls are far better than Lp 's pro models w/ the snare drum style sharp sound edge. These are hand drums ! They must be comfortable to the hands and the rounded sound edges help the skin to travel smoothly on the bearing edge durring tuning. Many Asian mad bongos are just copies of old designs including design flaws. The hard wares are getting to heavy, to wide and the shells are to widely separated on most Asian made bongos. Meinl is one of the best Asian made examples and you have an option for a 9 " hembra if you like. The woods of Asian bongos tend to be soft but Ash wood is becoming more available and the best Lp bongo ever was the Armando Peraza Lp/ Valje model w/ steel ~ not aluminium bottom base rings which crack & also the chrome peels off from the friction of the tuning nut against the chromed aluminium. An $ 80 pair of junk bongos can sound as good as top of line bongos w/ the correct heads. The details of hard wares and a dependable attractive shell adds to the quality for your $$ investment. Gon Bops & Alex Acuna are just names on a product like any other, having no real improvement over authentic Caribean bongos unless the design flaws are corrected w/new insightful designs. Meinl is a great choice.

[Craig]

Caballoballo - Thanks for your reply. I play bongos primarily with a local salsa orquestra, however, I do not crank the macho as tight as I can get it. I back down a little to get a little more tone. While I have not had any problem with the lugs, I had other problems with my California series bongos. One of the loops soldered on the base ring broke off the first week and a hairline crack developed after about one year. The base ring was replaced and the crack repaired by Gon Bops under warranty. I was happy with the service.

Ernesto P - I agree that Timba bongos are the successor to the original Gon Bops owned by the Bobadilla family. As I am sure you know, Akbar closed his own company, Sol Percussion, to help start the current Gon Bops company in partnership with DW (which bought the Gon Bops trademarks from the Bobadilla family). The current Gon Bops California Series bongos are identical to Akbar's Sol bongos. Now that DW has sold Gon Bops to Sabian we wait to see what happens next.