SHOW ME YOUR ZEBRAS

[Mike]

Thanks for the background info. Martin Cohen really started off
as a real selfmademan, those must have been exciting, but also tough times.

Back to my zebra bongó:
It is incredible, I cleaned the original LP skin on macho
and applied a little shea butter overnight and hey presto,
that old skin still sings, even if it is only 1,5mm thick. Amazing.
ANd the Remo Fyberskin ain´t that bad either.

Well, despite that I might look into a set of new L&H skins.

BTW does anyone own an old LP catalogue from Palisades Park times?

Fidelseyeglasses a& Psych1, which skins are you going to mount on your zebras?

[Psych1]

Agree with Doc that the zebras sound great, but, to my ears, with the right skins, all the LPs of that era sound great. Where I also agree with him, and where the zebras really stand out, is their looks. They really are beautiful. And, I have the same experience of someone wanting to buy them whenever I take them out. I don't understand why some of the custom builders don't make some. The wood is exotic but not that rare or endangered. You can buy zebrawood furniture, check out the table I posted earlier.

Maybe the reason we don't see others is because the wood is so hard to work with and so hard on the tools. It is also heavy. My walnut and mahogany LPs are lighter and easier for me to hold and play. For any extended session I usually use a sit-down stand with the zebras.

Mike - mine don't have the original skins. They have that 2nd gen LP white cow skin that came after the early LP kip and before the "Hand Picked" buffalo. I think the best skins, if you can ever find them, is the kind of original kip skin that Mark posted and that you might have on yours.

[RitmoBoricua]

LP back in the day was working with some
wonderful woods. I have (2) sets made out
of a rosewood species most like it pau ferro.
Pau Ferro is used as tonewood on guitars.
Nice grain almost zebra like. here is a sample
of how pau ferro looks like:

[CongaSinger]

I have a Set of Zebras too. I am New to CONGAPLACE but have been Playing Professionally for 34 years. Have owned a few LP's over the years including both PALISADES and GARFIELD Models, all kinds of other Brands (GON BOPS, VALJE) and an INCREDIBLE PAIR of YES......GENERATION II LP's that had belonged to BOBBY ALLENDE and were quite different from the Model you Buy in the Street. But these ZEBRAS are the BEST pair of BONGOS I have ever had, Hands Down. The Center Block is Solid Wood though, not the Two Sticks. I am enclosing a couple of Pics here.

[CongaSinger]

Another Pic of My ZEBRA WOOD LP BONGO.

[Mike]

Hi CongaSinger and welcome to this forum!
Beautiful zebra set of yours! Yes, I concur it is an incredible player indeed.

You seem to have replaced the original lugs with Matador ones, right?
Nothing wrong with that of course.
My zebra bongó still has got old lugs, which are on the thin side,
and unstamped. I don´t know if they are the original ones from PP times.

[Mike]

Here is a little update,
my zebrawood has got decent skins now.
The hembra sound is incredible, a deep fat mama sound
with a very nice cow skin, the macho thin & crispy mule skin.

Definitely a sturdy, fantastic player, this bongó.

[Thebreeze]

I have been looking at all the pictures of these Zebra Wood Bongos and I have to say, that with the exception of Omelenko1's and Psych1's Bongos that have that Cuban Style Bottom rim, all the other Bongos look horrible with that Ugly bottom rim that LP seems to think looks good. If you look at the pictures closely it just looks like a Mis-matched bottom rim. The material does not even come chrome plated so that it would at least match a little bit. The first thing I would do is toss those bottom rims out and get the Cuban Style, "Chromed" bottom rim. What a difference in looks between the two.
Just be carefull if you buy bottom replacement rims from LP ( I think some of the Matadors have the cuban rims ) because LP's chromework is very bad. A friend of mine has some LP bongos and the Chrome started peeling after a short time. I think it would be better to have someone make them and specify a thick plate of chrome. I don't mean to knock the beautiful wood on these bongos, but it's like driving a Ferrari with "Plain Chevy Rims on it " .

[caballoballo]

Saludos, If anyone is interested I have a set of those cast iron style bottom hoops chromed, were from my Old Lps. They are in good conditions and could add some beauty to those zebras .

[docarroyo]

Nice job on those Zebras, as far as the bottom ring after playing LP's among many others for about 40 years I really don't think they look bad, I find them comfortable. But then again I go for the sound an instrument produces more than what it looks like. Those rings along with what many refer to as Cuban have stood the test of time and have been played by many of the pros we listen to on recordings. Some guys are always putting down LP but they made our instruments available to the masses and in turn many non Hispanics were exposed to our cultural musical heritage. Before LP when it was just OUR Thing we had just a couple of resources for our instruments. Some of the major manufactures made attempts at latin music instrument production but they made shit. LP or Martin Cohen got recommendations from BUYU and many other top bongoceros in NYC and Congeros for the congas. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I own and have owned Cuban bongo and Conga and the hardware has not always been that great, weak metal, flaking chrome is very common for them. As a matter of fact I remember the older guys putting down any hardware on bongo or congas and saying that the new stuff was not in keeping with tradition, the majority of them came around to the "NEW" style eventually. I also remember when LP bongo first came out everybody saved up to buy them including me, I remember playing all day when I first got mine from Sam Ash and at about 10:00pm my mother grabbing them away from and saying that's F'ing enough. I slept with them that night and still have that set but I have gone through 3 wives, the LP's never let me down and never let me stop loving them. LOL Just Saying I think they look GREAT check out some of my earlier post for photos of my LP Bongos

[Thebreeze]

docarroyo...Good coments my friend. It's good to know of your support for LP. I also was one that purchased a set of LP Bongos back in the 70's and I was very happy with them. I am definitely not knocking LP's Quality of "SOUND". As a matter of fact, I own three Patatos and to me they are one of the best made drums available. I guess I came off a little, or a lot harsh in my initial comments. I guess what I am saying is that when you compare the beauty of Omelenko1's Bongos with the others that have that thicker bulky bottom rim on it I would definitely want one of those cuban style,"Chromed" rims on my Bongos. After all, sure, it's great having bongos that sound great, but wouldn't you also like them to look great too?

I have a set of Mambiza Bongos that also have that thick pot metal type bottom ring on it and I am in the process of looking for replacement hardware on them. At the very least, at the very least, if those thick bottom rings were chromed, then they would match up well with the top ring and tuning lugs.

caballoballo mentioned he has a set of them chromed for sale. They look nice in the pictures.

Again, I just wanted to mention these things, and meant no bad intentions to anyone at all. I hope there are others that will comment about this as I would love to know what you think. And I know that there are Collectors as well as Players on the forum so opinions should/will differ.

[RitmoBoricua]

For some the cast iron bottoms does not look as good as the cuban steel bottoms.
But personally I do not have a problem with them, in my mind the iconic LP bongo
has cast iron bottoms.

[Mike]

I would love to have Cuban style bottoms on my zebra LP bongó,
but as I have not got any, I have put up with the somewhat historical
aluminium hoops. Well, personally I do not see much reason to pay
for new bottoms, the bongó is an entity as it is, and sound matters
more than anything else.

[juancho]

I would love to have Cuban style bottoms on my zebra LP bongó,
but as I have not got any, I have put up with the somewhat historical
aluminium hoops. Well, personally I do not see much reason to pay
for new bottoms, the bongó is an entity as it is, and sound matters
more than anything else.

Here's a set Cuco is selling on his Webstore:
http://www.webstore.com/SET-of-black-tr ... on_details

[Mike]

I would love to have Cuban style bottoms on my zebra LP bongó,
but as I have not got any, I have put up with the somewhat historical
aluminium hoops. Well, personally I do not see much reason to pay
for new bottoms, the bongó is an entity as it is, and sound matters
more than anything else.

Here's a set Cuco is selling on his Webstore:
http://www.webstore.com/SET-of-black-tr ... on_details

Thanks, juancho, that is nice
but IF I wanted a pair of bottom rims,
I would contact Tom Flores at Resolution drums,
and besides I prefer chrome finish over black.