Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:56 pmebay Conga Identification
Could it really be ...????
I stumbled across a completed ebay auction the other day, from Feb. 2007, and my jaw just about hit the floor.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290087892124
I'll include the ad text and photos here as well, as that URL will only be accessible for a couple of months. Sold for $99:
----------------------------------------------------
LARGE VINTAGE 1950's 1960's WOOD CONGA DRUM
30" TALL and 12" WIDE AT THE SKIN
THIS WAS PURCHASED AT AN ESTATE AUCTION
THE SOUND IS GREAT AND THE DRUM SHOWS SOME SCRATCHES BUT THE SKIN IS GOOD AND TIGHT AND THERE IS PLENTY OF ADJUSTMENT LEFT
I BELIEVE THIS TO BE A HAND MADE PIECE BUT IT'S PROVINENCE IS UNKNOWN AND HAS NO MARKINGS ON IT THAT I CAN SEE IT PLAYS GREAT AND MAY NEED SOME GLUE IN THE RIBBED SIDES BUT THIS DOES NOT AFFECT THE SOUND QUALITY WHICH IS OUTSTANDING FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS OR COME BY TO INSPECT IT YOURSELF IF YOU ARE AROUND SUFFOLK COUNTY,LI,NY I HAVE ADDED A $15 PACKING FEE BUT LOCAL PICKUP IS ALWAYS WELCOME
NO RESERVE !!!
----------------------------------------------------
Pics of the ebay drum:
http://picasaweb.google.com/taikonoatama/VergaraStyleCongaOnEbay
So I'm thinking, could it be? You know what I'm thinking here? There aren't that many possibilities. Could it really be a ... Vergara??? I do not have the expertise to actually say for sure, having never seen one in person (Dario? Where are you?), but compare the pics of this drum with those of known Vergaras (and thanks to Dario for several of these pics, which he'd posted previously).
Pics of genuine Vergaras:
http://picasaweb.google.com/taikonoatama/VergaraCongas
Who else could have made this, based on this clearly being a very old drum?
Junior Tirado - A possibility, but did Junior ever use 5 bands? I've only seen 4. Juniors side plates have rivets on either side of the loop, and rivets where each crown loop attaches to the metal rim, and this ebay drum and the Vergaras do not. Early Juniors could have had this style, the way early Gon Bops did with their non-riveted side plates and then switched later - I just don't know.
Jay Bereck (Skin on Skin) - He also has the rivets, and his style of crown loops is much more narrow. If he wanted to make a more exact copy of a Vergara he no doubt could, and maybe he did way back when he started and then worked out his own variation as time went on - I don't know. He used to repair Mongo's Vergaras, and he used that design as the basis for his drums, so he was certainly intimately familiar with Vergaras.
Someone else in Cuba - The hardware is completely different than SONOC. Not Solis, from Havana. Requena? I've only seen the bongos and the crown hardware is very different. Anyone else?
There are other threads here on Vergara (well, actually the Vergara brothers, I believe, Gonzalo being the more well known), but for those who do not know, he was the most famous drum maker in Cuba back in the 50's and 60's (and possibly before). He was reputed to be the first to manufacture production-level congas with mechanically tunable heads (as opposed to holding them over a fire/heat source to tune them up). Mechanically tunable heads had been done on bongos some years previously and then Patato (and/or others - it's a matter of dispute who was actually the first) applied this to their congas, but Vergara is the one who really refined it.
Oh, and they're supposedly the greatest conga you'll ever play or hear.
When Mongo and others would travel back to Cuba (before the embargo in 1962), they'd bring some drums back with them, and that's how most of the Vergaras came to the States - there cannot be many around, but they became the progenitors for nearly every conga made since.
Anyway, take a close look and compare the hardware and bands and everything - if it's not a Vergara, it's pretty much an exact copy.
I heard something about some Cuban drummakers living in Queens in the 60's - Casa Cubana or something - who did a Vergara style conga. Does anyone know anything about them?
There are certainly people on this board with far more expertise than me - what else could it be? For $99?
~Taiko
PS. Yes, the dude is well aware of what he might have bought.
Edited By taikonoatama on 1175118064
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... tyle02.jpg
Could it really be ...????
I stumbled across a completed ebay auction the other day, from Feb. 2007, and my jaw just about hit the floor.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290087892124
I'll include the ad text and photos here as well, as that URL will only be accessible for a couple of months. Sold for $99:
----------------------------------------------------
LARGE VINTAGE 1950's 1960's WOOD CONGA DRUM
30" TALL and 12" WIDE AT THE SKIN
THIS WAS PURCHASED AT AN ESTATE AUCTION
THE SOUND IS GREAT AND THE DRUM SHOWS SOME SCRATCHES BUT THE SKIN IS GOOD AND TIGHT AND THERE IS PLENTY OF ADJUSTMENT LEFT
I BELIEVE THIS TO BE A HAND MADE PIECE BUT IT'S PROVINENCE IS UNKNOWN AND HAS NO MARKINGS ON IT THAT I CAN SEE IT PLAYS GREAT AND MAY NEED SOME GLUE IN THE RIBBED SIDES BUT THIS DOES NOT AFFECT THE SOUND QUALITY WHICH IS OUTSTANDING FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS OR COME BY TO INSPECT IT YOURSELF IF YOU ARE AROUND SUFFOLK COUNTY,LI,NY I HAVE ADDED A $15 PACKING FEE BUT LOCAL PICKUP IS ALWAYS WELCOME
NO RESERVE !!!
----------------------------------------------------
Pics of the ebay drum:
http://picasaweb.google.com/taikonoatama/VergaraStyleCongaOnEbay
So I'm thinking, could it be? You know what I'm thinking here? There aren't that many possibilities. Could it really be a ... Vergara??? I do not have the expertise to actually say for sure, having never seen one in person (Dario? Where are you?), but compare the pics of this drum with those of known Vergaras (and thanks to Dario for several of these pics, which he'd posted previously).
Pics of genuine Vergaras:
http://picasaweb.google.com/taikonoatama/VergaraCongas
Who else could have made this, based on this clearly being a very old drum?
Junior Tirado - A possibility, but did Junior ever use 5 bands? I've only seen 4. Juniors side plates have rivets on either side of the loop, and rivets where each crown loop attaches to the metal rim, and this ebay drum and the Vergaras do not. Early Juniors could have had this style, the way early Gon Bops did with their non-riveted side plates and then switched later - I just don't know.
Jay Bereck (Skin on Skin) - He also has the rivets, and his style of crown loops is much more narrow. If he wanted to make a more exact copy of a Vergara he no doubt could, and maybe he did way back when he started and then worked out his own variation as time went on - I don't know. He used to repair Mongo's Vergaras, and he used that design as the basis for his drums, so he was certainly intimately familiar with Vergaras.
Someone else in Cuba - The hardware is completely different than SONOC. Not Solis, from Havana. Requena? I've only seen the bongos and the crown hardware is very different. Anyone else?
There are other threads here on Vergara (well, actually the Vergara brothers, I believe, Gonzalo being the more well known), but for those who do not know, he was the most famous drum maker in Cuba back in the 50's and 60's (and possibly before). He was reputed to be the first to manufacture production-level congas with mechanically tunable heads (as opposed to holding them over a fire/heat source to tune them up). Mechanically tunable heads had been done on bongos some years previously and then Patato (and/or others - it's a matter of dispute who was actually the first) applied this to their congas, but Vergara is the one who really refined it.
Oh, and they're supposedly the greatest conga you'll ever play or hear.
When Mongo and others would travel back to Cuba (before the embargo in 1962), they'd bring some drums back with them, and that's how most of the Vergaras came to the States - there cannot be many around, but they became the progenitors for nearly every conga made since.
Anyway, take a close look and compare the hardware and bands and everything - if it's not a Vergara, it's pretty much an exact copy.
I heard something about some Cuban drummakers living in Queens in the 60's - Casa Cubana or something - who did a Vergara style conga. Does anyone know anything about them?
There are certainly people on this board with far more expertise than me - what else could it be? For $99?
~Taiko
PS. Yes, the dude is well aware of what he might have bought.
Edited By taikonoatama on 1175118064
Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... tyle02.jpg
