For King Conga-et al

[PaulKargez]

Hi Group-
Thought i would post some pics of my King's, from a different perspective. My camera is giving me fits, the exposure is weird on all shots recently. Time to give 'er some TLC.
At any rate, for better or worse, here ya go. The only chips in these are what you see as white specks. Unusual color? I think so...
Paz,
Paul

[docarroyo]

CLASSICS PAUL, THEY SURE LOOK GOOD.

[PaulKargez]

Thanks Izzy! Hey, watch the deliveries tomorrow!

[docarroyo]

Cool, your package is on its way my wife got it out since I'm working now. Im home today with a virus, no way to get a day off,LOL.

[PaulKargez]

thank you brother. my wife forgot the bar chimes, but they are forthcoming. Virus? you didn't catch it from your PC did you? ;{)
Get better man!!!

[KING CONGA]

Congrats Paul! That sure is a sweet lookins set of Kings, very well preserved. Do they have any identification marks on the inside? do yo uactually know how old they are or any history on this particular set?

[PaulKargez]

Hello King Conga-
No, there is nothing I can see inside aside from a foam looking pad. It's at most 2" square. Other than that lots of fiberglass!
I have no idea on the history other than they were part of an NOS buy out of a percussion shop from the 80's. Cool, eh?
Thank you for your words!
Paz,
Paul

[taikonoatama]

Congrats Paul! That sure is a sweet lookins set of Kings, very well preserved. Do they have any identification marks on the inside? do yo uactually know how old they are or any history on this particular set?

The only known maker marks on King Congas are small stickers on the crown, almost always rubbed off long ago. Some of them might have had a logo stamp on the head, can't remember for sure. There are no other marks I've seen, inside or out, on the 9 or so Kings I've personally checked out (including four of my own).

As far as dating them, there are some slight variations in the finishing of the hardware, with some showing slightly less refined smoothing of the edges of the sideplates and crown, and a less-refined attachment of the swage aircraft fork to the threaded part of the lug, but it's not certain that these were necessarily produced earlier in the mid 60's to 1975 production run.

Super sweet drums. Congrats.

Oh, and the little pad of foam inside is standard/original - I imagine it dampens the overtones or something.

Here's the inside spread of a catalog I have.

Cheers,

James

[congalou]

Hi Paul,

Are theses congas are made in one part ??

You can see this on the inside, if you have a join between the top and the bottom, it's in two parts.

If you have some photos, it could be very interesting for me !!!!

Cheers,

Galou.

[PaulKargez]

Thank you for your words and info! I'm wondering if the color might narrow down the year? My source said he thought they were early 70's. And there ARE stickers on both crowns. the Tumba is in the best all round condition, the sticker is flawless. The one on the conga is a bit bent up. And the tumba head has remnants of a red logo!!!
James-these appear to be one piece. I never noticed a chip out of the bottom of the conga, but it's minimal.

These babies appear almost black in subdued light, but when light hits them the green looks iridescent!

I will try to get some internal shots soon.
Thanks everyone!
P

[PaulKargez]

ooops I meant Congalou!!! James, thank you for the catalog post!! Cool!!!!

[congamyk]

Interesting thread and very cool congas!
A photo of the inside of the drum would be cool to see where and how they placed the foam pad.
Any info on that would be appreciated.

[taikonoatama]

I've been meaning to put a new head on my KC 9.5" requinto, so I took the head off and took some photos for you. You'll see the shells are one piece. The foam pad is 4.5"x3"x.5" (110mm x 70mm x 42mm). One other KC of mine has the remnants of a similar foam pad, and my buddy's segundo has one just like the one you see here.

Photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/taikonoatam ... aRequinto#

I hadn't realized this drum wasn't black (at least originally) - the paint that was hidden by the crown/skin is just like your drum, but then it's faded to black below that and a previous owner did some bad things with sandpaper.

One thing that I've always found interesting about the KC design is the flat bearing edge. Seems to go against accepted wisdom/design, but maybe it's one reason they aren't ringy like so many fiberglass drums. Still have excellent projection, though. Bearing edge does look pretty rough here, though - probably want to smooth that out some before I put on the new head - hope it doesn't turn out that this bumpy surface is one of the secrets to the great sound!

James

[PaulKargez]

Thanks guys, great stuff. Gives insight into the structure and "nuts and bolts" of these beautiful babies!
The hardware is so unique. Is the story I heard about these being conceived of by a boatmaker true?
James, what year do you think yours are? Looks like your requinto is the same color as mine, yes?

[taikonoatama]

Thanks guys, great stuff. Gives insight into the structure and "nuts and bolts" of these beautiful babies!
The hardware is so unique. Is the story I heard about these being conceived of by a boatmaker true?
James, what year do you think yours are? Looks like your requinto is the same color as mine, yes?

The guy behind King Congas was named Cirilo "Mitch" Basas - he's a bit of a mystery man. Worked for a boat manufacturer doing fiberglass and wood work and then later in the 60's started up King Conga as a one-man shop, with the family helping on the business side. His earliest drums were wood, and then at some point he switched to fiberglass. His kids came up with the name "King Conga."

As for the vintage of mine, I honestly don't know. My guess is later in the run rather than earlier based on the slightly more refined hardware of mine compared to some others I've seen, but the difference is pretty subtle and not a big deal.

I just talked to a guy who has a striped KC segundo (like my tumba) - going to be seeing him tomorrow (about something else) and will check out the drum, for sure.

Color of my requinto is just like yours, yeah, at least up under where the crown is/was. Yours is in better shape than mine.

James

King Congas: Quinto, Segundo, Tumba