congaplace.com

Posted: **Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:52 pm**

Hi folks, I'm glad that I have found this forum. I'm a long time Djembé player from Switzerland, now, I want to go for the Congas, which I also play since some months, I'm truly infected!!!
Where I stay, there's a lot of LP and Meinl Instruments around, but does anybody play Pearl Congas? Especially the Folcloric Line? Although I'm a beginner, I swore years ago that money should never make the decision, when it comes to buy instruments. Even if I have to buy 1 drum after the other.
Any infos? :cool:

Thanks!

Posted: **Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:28 pm**

Attilo,welcome to the forum,nice to know that money is not an impediment for you. Take time and look into this forum for different brands of Congas,both mass produce and the hand made ones before you decide which to buy. You have Lp,Pearl,Meiln,Toca,Remo,ect ect,all them mass produce in the far east. On the other side you have, JCR ,Isla Percussion ,Mathew Smith Ritmo Drums ,Moperc ,Volcano Percussion, ect ect, all them hand made so you get a quality instrument built to you and with your specs. This issue has already been discuss so like I said,look for pass articles and get to your own conclusion. It is better to buy once than twice.

Posted: **Tue Feb 06, 2007 7:16 pm**

Thanks, caballoballo
It's not that I'd swim in money, I have other mouths to feed, I just learned the hard way, that it is worth spending more for quality, also if that means to be patient, as you say, rather once than twice. Thanks for your infos, I'd love to get some custom hand mades, but I think the transport and import to Europe might kill my budget. Anyway, thanks for contacting me so fast (in fact in just my third member hour), I'll spend a lot of time here in future.

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 8:17 am**

You can say that again!

This place is treasure of experiences and knowledge!

Welcome Attilio!

Primoz

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:44 pm**

The Pearl Folkloric Congas and bongos are the real deal. I've played them and they are perhaps Pearl's best sounding congas.

As you can see the "style" of the congas and bongos are to be consistant with the traditional Cuban styles. No comfort rims, traditional rims, and the heads are not regular treated heads that the big manufacturers made and that most people have to change to get the traditonal or desired sound. These treated heads need to be break in to achieve a good sound. Pearl imports the heads from Venezuela, are a little bit thicker than your regular heads, and are ready to be played without changes.

The congas and bongos have a fiberglass lining inside to assist them in the projection of volume.

So far, the line has become a hit and has become hard to keep them in the warehouse. (I am a Pearl endorser and Puerto Rico's independent sales rep).

They sound great! Hopefully, you'll get an opportunity to try them because you have to play them to see what I am talking about. (At the last two NAMM shows, endorsers from other brands have loved the congas and bongos and that include guys like Paoli Mejias, Karl Perlozzo, Tito de Gracia, Luisito Quintero, Javier Mercado, Jimmy Morales, etc, etc.)

I hope this helps!

Saludos!

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:56 pm**

In fact, I already contacted the Pearl Importer in Switzerland, as I've found out he stays in the same town where I work. If I had known before! I'll be back as soon as I've played them. Hope that I'll bring then some heat into the cold Swiss Winter with my playing. :cool:

Posted: **Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:55 pm**

ho attilio
i tried the pearls at frankfurt musikmesse (some kind of german namm). they are good, hardware, skin, body. but not the best. if you can manage try out the limited edition from toca. expensive, but worth every penny. if i where to buy a new set id go and get them. bauer would be a good choice as well.

zwar

Posted: **Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:45 pm**

Attilo,

Welcome to the group. Personally, I don't care for much of the massed produced drums. That's not to say that they all don't sound good. I just like my drums as close as possible to the old Cuban drums. You may want to look into Toca's Traditional model. Since you are in Europe you may want to look into PJ's from Denmark http://pjpercussion.dk/. I've never heard them but they may be worth your time checking them out. Also, this site from Italy makes some serious looking drums with a lot of different wood types http://www.vrpercussioni.it/chisiamo.html

Facundo

Posted: **Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:59 am**

Hi all
I've mentioned before that I've contacted the Swiss Pearl distributor to see, where I can check out those barrels. Well, they do not seem to be interested in my money:

"We do not have these on stock and did not send out some to one of our resellers in the past time" was the answer.

OK for me, let someone else make the deal.

zwar and Facundo,
I'm checking out the brands you mentioned, let's see if they are interested in selling some instruments. :;):

Greetings to all

Posted: **Tue May 22, 2007 2:46 pm**

Hey,

Trying to find this Folkloric line in europe.. Does anyone know where?

Many thanks

D

Posted: **Wed May 23, 2007 9:08 am**

Hi Attilio,

for handmade instruments you can check twice percussion which are seated I guess near Basel or try simonsen-holzart. Bauer percussion you can find at kalango which have their company somewhere in the south of Germany. The company musik-produktiv is also interesting to see what is available on the european market. Pearl products they don`t have, but a big selection of congas from other brands.

:p Best regards,

Amber

Posted: **Thu May 24, 2007 3:17 am**

I have the cata and it sounds great!

Posted: **Thu May 24, 2007 8:44 am**

Hey congamyk,

I'm looking for the Cata also and the chango chekere.. None of this things are available in europe it seems??

Posted: **Fri May 25, 2007 3:03 am**

^ Hi Charangman

I had to order the cata through a local drum shop and it took 4 weeks to arrive. I don't know of any USA retailers that stock the folkloric series. Maybe someone else knows?

Posted: **Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:21 pm**

The Pearl folkloric congas are excellent...I use a set of three and am really happy with them. For european dealer try the percussion page at www.nottinghamdrumcentre.com

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Pearl Folkloric - Anyone who has played them?