Colombo Percussion

[kennyt]

Does anyone out there in hyperspace own a Colombo Conga, or am I the only one?
I have done extensive research on these drums and can provide info to anyone interested.
Attached is a pic of the Colombo I own - note the hardware - unlike anything I have seen from other makers.
The vintage of the drum I have is late '60's to '70's.

[KING CONGA]

Sweet looking drum it looks to be in great shape for being vintage, are you the first owner? I myself am familiar with many drums but this is the first time I hear of a "Colombo"conga. How is the sound on it? it looks to be fiberglass am I correct? How is the hardware on it? is it solid? Can you tell us a little bit about the history of the company? Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks.

P.S. Do you own any other congas? which ones?

[Omelenko1]

I had two sets of Colombo congas back in the early 70's, also had a set of Colombo timbales. Colombo percussion was based out of Argentina. Their congas are made out of wood and covered with with a thick vinyl material. I had a red and a black set. They were popular in Miami throughout the 70's. Their hardware is a take off on the Echo Tone congas, however, I found their hardware far inferior to that of the Echo Tone. They come with excellent skins, for the most part dark mule skins and the sound was very melodic. It was quite a heavy conga, mailnly do to the bulky hardware. A lot of Columbo owners back in the day eventually replaced the original hardware and opted to install LP crowns, side plates and lugs on the Colombo shells. The shell conture is somewhat straight as opposed to the conical Cuban style. The Colombo pictured here seems to be in excellent shape and I imagine would be considered a collector's item. Our moderator Marcelo (Abakua) probably has more info. on Colombo percussion, since he is from Argentina. A nice Argentinian "asado", (mixed meat grill) along with some red wine from Rosario, has taken my thoughts away from the Colombo. Marcelo, que bola' !

Enclosed, Argentinian percussionist with a bunch of Colombos (Tango con Timba).

Dario

Colombo congas.jpg (10.69 KiB) Viewed 4628 times

[kennyt]

Here's a little more information on my Colombo Conga. I was in Florida on vacation from the Canadian winter about 11 years ago and came across this drum in a flea market just outside Tampa. I purchased this drum for $25.00 from a local vendor. It is of wood stave construction, very solidly built and has a "woodsy" tonal quality. I have recently had the head replaced with a quality LP skin and has given the drum a new life. I play this drum as part of my current kit which includes a set of Bongos, a Quinto, Conga & Tumba - all by Meinl, all on stands. I have it tuned halfway between my Meinl Conga & Tumba.

My particular drum stands 29" tall with a head diameter of 13". The shell is wrapped in a white textured material, quite durable. Build date was somewhere in the late '60's to early '70's. The condition of this Conga is pristine & I have had offers to sell it - it's not going anywhere. These Congas are made in Tolosa-La Plata, Argentina by a Luthier (Guitar maker) by the name of Juan José Colombo. He fashioned the drums in the picture submitted by Omelenko1 - The player in the picture is Daniel Mele who plays 15 of these drums tuned to a Hexatonic scale. His percussion band is called Orquestra Amarilla, based out of Buenos Aries. I occasionally correspond with him (see pic attached for a closer look at his drums).

Personally, I have no problem tuning this drum but have heard some players don't like the hardware.

All for now, I should be working.........

Kennyt

[Thebreeze]

Hello Kennyt. I believe that you and I coresponded quite a while ago about these Colombo drums. Hope you are doing well. I might as well post the picture of the Colombo I used to own. My drum was made of wood, did not have the material coating like some other models, and it was built like a tank, very heavy. You definitely got your money's worth when you bought a set of these. Anyway, I have parted with this drum many years ago, but kept some pictures. There is one picture that you see where the Colombo is on a table with a Valje, and a Gon Bops Oak requinto that I also used to own.

Will.