Conga sizes - Does it really matter?

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Postby Dave » Sun Jul 15, 2001 6:11 pm

I've heard that the 'traditional' conga sizes used to be an 11" conga and 11.75" tumba (if size was even standardized), but now the 'modern' sizes are 11.75 and 12.5". Why does this now seem to be the standard? Personally I like the sound of what we now call the quinto (11") as the conga and the 'conga' as the tumba. I have a Matador quinto and conga tuned to A and D, respectively. The small drum (for me, the segundo) seems more expressive with better slaps AND bass than the 11.75". Do other congueros use this size setup? Although to me it sounds better, I also don't want to be castigated by the conguero community for having the "wrong size" drums. Any comments? Thanks.
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Postby Drumaholic » Wed Jul 18, 2001 4:49 pm

In Cuba I don't think they have the luxury of choosing exact sizes of drums (let alone being able to afford one), so I doubt if size matters at all to them. Yet they've set the standard on HOW to play. I've seen a really good conguero tear it up on some 10"/11" Toca Players which in my hands sound like the cardboard box they shipped in. And congas aren't like, say, a classical guitar or some other instruments which MUST be built to specific dimensions... now go play
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