Info on this Manny's Music Conga?

[roberthelpus]

Wow, that hardware is very much like an idea that I have had in my head for years. Thinking that it eliminates the ends of the lugs sticking out and poking your legs. Seems I'm only 50 years too late. Helicopter tie-downs you say.

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[Omelenko1]

Wow, I have only seen 2 of those congas in my lifetime and I've been collecting since 1971. Louie Goicochea's, Tito Rodriguez conguero from the late 50's and now Jaquie's. I had never heard of Pacific congas, I thought it might have been an earlier Echo Tone version. I know Frank Mesa started his operation around 1957, I have a photo of Willie Rosario's band from 1958 and the conguero was playing 2 Echo Tones with necks, like the ones I had.
Jaquie, try to put a lite coat of "Manteca De Corojo" on the skin and take it out on a day when there is sun, before doing that clean the head with baby shampoo and a clean rag, Leave the head with the light coat of Corojo for a few hours in the sun and remove the Corojo the next day with a moist rag. This will bring life back to the original head. If the head needs changing because the sound is dead, my advice take the drum to Cali and have him and his assistant pick an appropriate head, I had to do that with my Echo Tones. No every head works on those congas, because of limited tuning on the lugs. Stay away from mule and thick heads, rawhide is your best bet.

Dario

[congabluedog]

So Dario do you think this was original head? I think it is mule. I don't have any mule heads but have seen them at L&H. Again, I wouldn't think mule was used back then but what do I know. The buyer did get it used 50 years ago at Manny's and never changed heads. There is limited tuning. I love this drum. I can't stop looking at it!

[Craig]

Mule skin heads have been around for a long time. My dad (who turns 85 next month) has a conga with a mule skin head that he bought at Henry Adler's drum shop in NYC in the late 1940s. The head is tacked on; before tuning hardware was used on congas.

Craig

[roberthelpus]

Limited tunning was certainly one of the things that I was concerned with when I was dreaming up my dream hardware.

[Jerry Bembe]

"Limited tuning was certainly one of the things that I was concerned with when I was dreaming up my dream hardware."

Robert,
Funny that you say this about "Dream Hardware" because I have a couple of "Tack Head" congas that I was thinking of converting to a tunable head but I have fallen in love with the voices, unique tone and simplicity of these. I even love using the occasional Sterno candle for tuning because it makes me appreciate the progress made with the art of Tumbadora. I feel that this helps my chops because if I can make my tack heads sing then look out when I get my Matthew Smith “Ritmo”s into the mix.

I have a real old 9" X 30" Ashiko shaped "conga" tack head that is real loose so it almost is in the Tumbadora tone range but it is sooo cool. It almost sounds like a special effect and is real nice added to a conga set due to its small size. This voice does not always stand well on its own but when added to a set of congas the ole’ tack head takes on a new life and says a story that the newer (Less experienced) congas can't express. It is like the tack head adds additional colors to the set of congas so there is greater depth to the overall tonal character of the sound. It is like the congas talk to one another and the added variety of the tack head brings another voice and tradition.

I also have this Cuban shaped 8" X 28" tack head conga that sounds like a Segundo and like the other tack heads it has such depth of tonal character. The tone is truly unique and should be left alone "as is" to tell its own story. I would guess that this relates to the original sound from the 1920’s - 1940’s that was the granddaddy to the congas of today.

I originally purchased these tack heads with the intention of removing the tack head and converting to a tunable head. Making these shells custom homemade Super Requintos. I am not a butcher. I listened to the voice and story coming from these tack head congas (that are probably older than I am) and they spoke to me. I feel that these tack heads put me in touch with the roots of Rumba much like a simple found object Cajon or other found objects. The instrument does not have to be a "Ritmo" to speak for me and I get equal joy from discovering and liberating the voices of these humble objects. Again I feel that these tack heads get me in touch with my congas on another level that is spiritual and traditional. Something tells me that you know what I'm talking about here Robert and you have an appreciation for the sound discovery adventure.

[roberthelpus]

"Limited tuning was certainly one of the things that I was concerned with when I was dreaming up my dream hardware."

Robert,
Funny that you say this about "Dream Hardware" because I have a couple of "Tack Head" congas that I was thinking of converting to a tunable head but I have fallen in love with the voices, unique tone and simplicity of these. I even love using the occasional Sterno candle for tuning because it makes me appreciate the progress made with the art of Tumbadora. I feel that this helps my chops because if I can make my tack heads sing then look out when I get my Matthew Smith “Ritmo”s into the mix.

I have a real old 9" X 30" Ashiko shaped "conga" tack head that is real loose so it almost is in the Tumbadora tone range but it is sooo cool. It almost sounds like a special effect and is real nice added to a conga set due to its small size. This voice does not always stand well on its own but when added to a set of congas the ole’ tack head takes on a new life and says a story that the newer (Less experienced) congas can't express. It is like the tack head adds additional colors to the set of congas so there is greater depth to the overall tonal character of the sound. It is like the congas talk to one another and the added variety of the tack head brings another voice and tradition.

I also have this Cuban shaped 8" X 28" tack head conga that sounds like a Segundo and like the other tack heads it has such depth of tonal character. The tone is truly unique and should be left alone "as is" to tell its own story. I would guess that this relates to the original sound from the 1920’s - 1940’s that was the granddaddy to the congas of today.

I originally purchased these tack heads with the intention of removing the tack head and converting to a tunable head. Making these shells custom homemade Super Requintos. I am not a butcher. I listened to the voice and story coming from these tack head congas (that are probably older than I am) and they spoke to me. I feel that these tack heads put me in touch with the roots of Rumba much like a simple found object Cajon or other found objects. The instrument does not have to be a "Ritmo" to speak for me and I get equal joy from discovering and liberating the voices of these humble objects. Again I feel that these tack heads get me in touch with my congas on another level that is spiritual and traditional. Something tells me that you know what I'm talking about here Robert and you have an appreciation for the sound discovery adventure.

I'd say that you did the right thing in keeping these original. There are plenty of drums out there to experiment on. It's also great that you have something that someone else would put in a glass case as a collectors item, but you are actually playing them.

Somewhere I even have AutoCad drawings that I made up of my dreamed-up hardware. I just don't have the skills and equipment to make it.