congaplace.com

Posted: **Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:01 pm**

I purchased my Congas from Volcano Percussion in Hawaii. The Maker is Tom Alexander who made my one of a kind Conga Drums. I sent this Thank Card to Tom and Victoria Alexander.
Tom my Ohi Alternate Mango drums that I purchased at the 06 Namm Show were drop dead Gorgeous but my newest addition Quinto and Conga Drum left me speechless. The Monkeypod alt. mango drums are simply "Fit for A King" & truly a work of Art. The Nameplates look Fantastic. There is definitely no statute of limitations on the Retro Vogue look over here. I can't say enough about these drums being Featherweight, Unbelieveably Luxurious, and Beautifully Art Deco. The Remo heads make the drums sing. When I played these drumsfor the first time in public, you can hear the drums talk to each other.

Mahalo,
Julian Melendres SF Bay Area Musician

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... 07_122.jpg

Posted: **Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:19 pm**

Freakin' nice! Is that koa/mango mix?

Posted: **Tue Oct 30, 2007 7:41 pm**

I had the opportunity to see some Volcanos in person recently. There is no exageration, they are very beautiful and extremely well made congas. A great sound with incredible sustain.

Posted: **Tue Oct 30, 2007 8:09 pm**

They are beautiful.

But can you wing..ing..ing..ing

Posted: **Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:46 am**

These are Monkeypod and Mango. Mango wood is a hard wood and it's loud. The inside of the conga drum is sanded to a smooth finish and Tom uses a Polymer finish on the conga drum. The hardware is polished stainless steel so there is no chrome finish to peel, crack, and cut the fingers. Flip the drum and you can see the smooth finish inside the drum with a rubber ring on the bottom. So, when you drop the drum it absorbs the shock. These drums if they were similarly situated to a fine car would be similar to a Bentley, Ferrari, or Maserati.

Edited By JulianM on 1193958614

Posted: **Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:39 pm**

Tonio wrote:They are beautiful.

But can you wing..ing..ing..ing

Tonio-- was that a refernce to possible ringing?

Julian-- do the drums ring much? What are the heads?

Posted: **Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:20 am**

JulianM wrote:These are Monkeypod and Mango. Mango wood is a very hard wood and it's loud. The inside of the conga drum is sanded to a smooth finish and Tom uses a Polymer finish on the conga drum. The hardware is polished stainless steel so there is no chrome finish to peel, crack, and cut the fingers. Flip the drum and you can see the smooth finish inside the drum with a rubber ring on the bottom. So, when you drop the drum it absorbs the shock. Tom told me he has the guy who makes nameplates for a famous motorcycle maker in southern california make his nameplates. These drums if they were similarly situated to a fine car would be similar to a Bentley, Ferrari, or Maserati.

Your right on all that, the ones I saw in Hawaii when I lived there and the ones I just saw this weekend were everything you said.

All the volcanoes I have put my hands to never had ringing, they had a gorgeous deep rich tone with great sustain...not ringing.

Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1193882360

Posted: **Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:53 am**

Whopbamboom wrote:
Tonio wrote:They are beautiful.

But can you wing..ing..ing..ing

Tonio-- was that a refernce to possible ringing?

Julian-- do the drums ring much? What are the heads?

WBB, sustains forever.... can be good some stuff, but you can loose the detail work on uptempo stuff, especially in a large mix.
Think oposite of rumba. I haven't played one directly, but have heard a set(not MP3) so YMMV.
ringing, any conga will ring to a degree, if it has any resonance from the shell and metal (whch all modern congas do ) it will ring the more you crank it up.
It may no be heard as much in a untreated room, but get into a studio, and you can hear it, but maybe not be able to capture it if recording properly.
T

Edited By Tonio on 1193885769

Posted: **Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:27 pm**

No Wing. Just perfect open tone.

Posted: **Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:15 pm**

I have been using these drums now for 5 weeks so I thought it would be useful to post my thoughts on them.I have tuned the 6 of them to D,E,G,A,B,D.I have been gigging a lot this last month as it is black history month in Uk, I have been tuning and de tuning every day.The first thing I noticed is that these drums talk to each other like a family(without the arguments) much more so than my Timbas.of which I had 5 of.The smaller tuning lugs are more accurate and the drums tune up better ie each drum is easier to get in tune with itself(using the harmonic trick going around the edge).I started off using the 11 1/2
as the lead drum (B) and now I am using the 121/2 (A) as it has more balls and has all the notes of the 11/12.and by all the notes I mean it has a cracking easy to produce slap, massive c.entre base, open harmonic,which sounds like a tabla note ,warm and fat open note and other variations on these ,which I won't go in to because it will confuse the point.I can play all the styles of music from folklorique (rhumba,bembey,bata etc) to my west African side ie djembe bougarabou panlogo.The drums SPEAK
They have much more projection than the others The last gig I needed no mikes which I had used previously,The other members of the band noticed their tunefullness and their Balls.I work with a pianist and singer who has perfect pitch, and she said that the harmonics are beautifuly pure and compliment the fundamental note.Hell I am singing to the tabla notes on the edge of all 6 drums which I could never do right down to the tumba and boomba on THE OTHERS! To be honest These drums are more than anybody could wish for, They are life changing and you could'nt get any better than that.The beast that is in them is comming out in me ROAR!!!! no seriously I am so pleased that I invested in what I consider to be the stadivarious(sorry can't spell) of drums. all I can say to you dudes who love drums,spend the extra dollar go on a life changing journey do it cos youre WORTH IT

As to ringing ? they don't ring, only sing ,they have a lot of resonance The harmonic notes are all beautiful and compliment the open note.
tried to give you another picture of mine but I need tec help. ??? ???

Posted: **Wed Nov 07, 2007 10:21 pm**

That sounds like the opposite of my LP Giovanni's... for the life of me, I can't do much in the way of melodic playing with my LP's. They just don't seem to have compimentary pitches on the open tones. This is one reason I hope to get better gear down the road. It's all too appealing to be able to have drums that just compliment each other very easily.

But to be fair, I have not yet had personal one-on-one instruction on tuning the drums for melodic playing, and I will be hitting up some people for lessons on melodic tuning and playing down the road as well.

Posted: **Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:13 am**

AWSOME! CONGAS!

Posted: **Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:29 pm**

giovanni seem to be able to do much in the way of melodic playing on his "giovanni"s
patato on his "patato"s
anga' on his toca's
tata guines on his sonoc's his guanex's or his... whatever he put his hands on...
those volcano drums are beautiful, no doubt about it, but don't make the suggestion that you have to spend that kind of money to make a drum sing
the music is in the heart and hands first and foremost
peace & blessings

Edited By zumbi on 1200924601

Posted: **Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:40 am**

I have heard owners of Volcano Percussion congas say they talk to one another. Such a nice warm sound. The drums work well with each other. :cool:

Posted: **Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:11 am**

I am happy to report my Custom Volcano Exotica Ltd Congas are finished and are on the way to my home. I will keep everyone posted when they arrive. :cool:

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Volcano Percussion Drums - Polished Stainless Steel, finished insid