Cast or steel bottoms on your bongo's ????

[Mike]

Thanx ,but i forgot to mention mine broke 15 years ago .(and stil have a trauma obiviousely)

It´s never too late to fix a decent instrument
Many if us here have also been around for a while now,
and those vintage drums need to be cared for as much as us ageing aficionados

[Psych1]

I like them both.

[Thebreeze]

Just an FYI.... My Mambiza solid shell bongos are enroute to me from Manito Percussion who completely re-made the hardware for them from Stainless Steel. I will post "Before" and "After" pictures . The before had the bulky cast aluminum bottoms . I think that these pictures will fit perfectly into this thread and you will be able to see the dramatic change. Besides having the bulky bottom plates the bongos also had unusual tuning hooks and crowns that were not very practical at all. I will post it all here soon.

[skinslapper]

Thanx ,but i forgot to mention mine broke 15 years ago .(and stil have a trauma obiviousely)

It´s never too late to fix a decent instrument
Many if us here have also been around for a while now,
and those vintage drums need to be cared for as much as us ageing aficionados

Treu Mike but it was fixed that time .
And later traded for my first Supercussion bongo's .

( witch i left in the Warmoestraat in Amsterdam in 1999.
After a verry nice studio recording And a 'smoke' left it in front of a restaurant while waiting on the guitar and sax player to eat there .
Never found it back again !!! )

But in spite of this topic i woulden't mind to buy your Raul Bongo's

[Mike]

But in spite of this topic i woulden't mind to buy your Raul Bongo's

You might as well forget about THAT, ´cause I am never going to let go of that bongó!

[skinslapper]

I'll trade you a meinl marathon ....

I understand .
I nearly had one .
I've paid and the store send me the bongo's .
But the used the wrong picture on there website the picture was your bongo's and what the send me was the later soft curve bongo .
I send it back en got a refund .
What a desillusion . i was pissed of for a week !!!!

[Thebreeze]

I recieved my Mambiza Bongos back from Manito Percussion and I am extremely pleased with his work. He made me a complete set of Hardware from polished Stainles Steel. The first picture is a Close up of the middle block area and I really like how he made my tuning hooks with a taper on the top, very artistic.

The second picture shows a front view of the Bongos.

The third picture shows an angle view a little dark, but nice.

The fourth picture shows a side view slightly from above.

The fifth picture is a "before picture closeup" notice how the tuning lugs are on the original set up.

The 6th picture also shows the before picture and you can see the bulky bottom plate and tuning lugs
as well as the way the heads came so far down due to the short length of the lugs.

Manito Percussion made my Bongos like a new creation and I could not be happier with his expert work.
Thanks Manito!!

[pcastag]

Very nice looking! What's a set of hardware like that cost?
PC

[Madlatin]

Yes..... very nice indeed. I like how the crowns turned out. They look similar to Gon Bops. Kinda traditional but modern. Good example.
How long was the turn around time?
Madlatin

[Thebreeze]

Thanks guys. The hardware ran me in the neighborhood of 265 dollars. That does not include the shipping from me to Manito, and back from him to me. I just had to send him the shells and center block and he shipped the finished bongos back to me. The turn around time should be no more than a few weeks I am guessing. When I sent him my stuff originally it was right at the time he was getting married and then went out of the country for his honeymoon. Now that all that is taken care of my guess is a few weeks or so of turnaround time.
Manito is a very nice down to earth guy, loves to recieve phone calls and appreciates feedback on his work. He uses only stainless which I like and I think that for the work he does his prices are very fair. Anyway...here is his link.

http://www.manitopercussion.com/

As far as my bongos, I am very pleased with them especially as you can see how they were before was not too good so now I am a "Happy Camper/Drummer". haha.

[skinslapper]

WOW, thats a nice job indeed !!!

[Thebreeze]

Hey guys...I decided to get some closeups of the bottom plates since that's what this posting is really about. So I am adding some pictures....










Well, that's about it. By the way, I weighed them and they come in at a hefty 12 lbs even. These solid shells are on the thick side. Maybe a little heavy for steady giging? but for me they will do fine since I am not in a band or anything like that, just get together with friends from time to time.

[caballoballo]

Saludos, very very beautiful mambiza Bongó but an upgrade on those tunning lugs will make them even better looking.

[Thebreeze]

caballoballo....These are brand new stainless steel tuning lugs. It looks like you see something with them that can be upgraded. Can you share your thoughts? I would really like to know what kind of upgrade you have in mind. As for me, I really like them but would really like to know what you have in mind.

Thanks!

Will.

[skinslapper]

Verry nice this bottom rim !
I specially like the way he did the holes for the lugs !