congaplace.com

A beautiful set of congas changed owners today, so I can now present
my one and only coherent set of 4 Delaporte congas, from the early 1990s,
handmade by Michel Delaporte, France, and consisting of:

9.75" requinto
11" conga
12.2" tumba
13.5" supertumba

The supertumba has got a very fat belly and incredible resonance,
whereas the li´l slim requinto sings its own rumba voice.
And the conga and tumba, both with an alma are pure pleasure.
The original skins are smooth and on the medium (3-4mm) to thick (requinto 5mm) side.

A dream has come true for me, and it was a fair deal for these vintage beauties
which sound fantastic. Slaps are crisp like nothing else
I am a lucky man and stand as proud as those 31" tall drums!

Hey congratulations Mike. Isn't this the only set of matching drums you have?

No seriously, very good looking drums and they look in great condition. It's nice to have a matching set. I've never seen these Delaporte drums in person, but I remember congalou in France saying nice things about them. It looks like they might be made of oak? Fairly rare aren't they?

Again nice score! You must be totally stoked!

bongosnotbombs wrote:Fairly rare aren't they?

Again nice score! You must be totally stoked!

Thanks!
Yeah, I am high with adrenaline right now, man
And yes, they are hard to come by indeed.
The previous owner collected the requinto at the drummaker´s workshop
in Paris way back in 1994, and the other drums are roughly the same age,
the conga has even got 7 lugs, and the requinto 6.

I have played for one hour and will never get tired of the feel and sound
of these congas which are pretty light. I do not think they are oak, perhaps
a light species of ash? Can´t tell.
The only thing I know is that these Delaportes are a mind-boggling experience ,
the requinto sings!
They have some dents and scratches, but nothing serious and no cracks whatsoever.

BTW the staves inside are built with similar details like the older Valjes, in the side plates´area:

Congratulations Mike.....what a set of beauties.
Great score.

Dice

Beautiful drums Mike - a good buy. Use them well.

Mike, did you sleep at all since you got them
Congratulations on beautiful drums!

PimpS

Hey Mike, how are you neigbourg ??

Good deal !!! It's Ash.

Delaporte made Mahogany (very rare), Oak and Ash.
Those are Ash, The "oriente" serie I think.

Galou.

Thanks everybody, I feel truly blessed now

GuruPimpi wrote:Mike, did you sleep at all since you got them

Thanks PimpS
Of course I hardly slept at all,
was drumming till 9 p.m. until my kids complained

congalou wrote:Hey Mike, how are you neigbourg ??

Neighbours? What neighbours?
Well, my Ghanaian neighbour never complains about my drumming
The rest is just nice, very tolerant people.

Interesting, this ash wood is very light. Compared to Giovanni ash congas,
for example, these Delaportes are as light as a feather.
And the skins, hmmm.... These mule skins must have been specially treated,
they ´re thick, but very resonant and the smoothest I have come across.
Conga heaven!

Amazing set Mike!!! Congratulations,can you post a video to ear the sound?

Looks alot bigger than 12.2, or do you mean 12.5"?

Seems like a big jump in size to go from 11" to 12.5", is ther eno 'conga' size ie 11.75"? 11" is generally considered a quinto.
In my opinion, that set consists of a requinto, quinto, tumba & super tumba...

Congatulations though, they do look like fantastic tambores.

Well, the sizes are a bit awkward perhaps, but like with Gon Bops, the 11" really serves well
as a conga handwise, surely with a lively sound that is reminiscent of a quinto a bit at least.
And the tumba is really 12.2" (31cm), Abakua, and the thing I like also very much is that I can
play it as a conga as well if I want to. It is fantastic how focused the sound of these congas is
at any pitch!

As to sound/video: Recording equipment is not really my strong suit, sorry.
I only have got an Ipod which delivers a totally crappy metallic camera sound.
But I also have recorded some sound samples with an H2 Zoom which is a bit better,
but soundwise, it´s not good either I am afraid.
I have uploaded those samples at the myCongaplace site.

What a beautiful set of drums. Congratulations Mike. Do they all have almas?

KING CONGA wrote:Do they all have almas?

No, just the conga & tumba.

Apart from recording the clips, I have been playing the 4 drums all afternoon
- all of the week´s stress is gone now!
BTW I can´t wait for the outdoor season - I just fancy a garden rumba in summer...

P.S.: Michel Delaporte has had a successor, you can click some images of M. Dussiaux´s
congas here: http://md-tonnellerie-percussions.fr/page3.html
They still have the same beautiful design.

Hi Mike,

I never liked the bulky hardware of the Delaportes, but apart from that, these drums have for a long period been famed for the best sounding European-made congas. I tried one once, and it was a dream; beautiful sound, great touch. Delaporte also claimed to use the authentic Cuban measurements as far as the proportions are concerned. I have heard of one instance where a Delaporte body had split up. Your photos show that they are very well constructed and finished.

Congratulations & best wishes!

Thomas

Hi Thomas,
yes, I have heard that Michel Delaporte built his congas after Cuban specs.
Looking through some French websites, I tried to collect a few more pieces
information on Delaporte congas in general, but on the one hand my French is
not too good, and on the other hand the congas´ reputation seemed to have been built
by word of mouth in the pre-Internet era...

Curiously, there is one detail with the skins and rims: They are marked at one point
(felt-tip on skin and notch on rim) and I wonder why.
Perhaps it has or rather had to do with mounting the skins.
Or was that meant to indicate the sweet spot?
I do not know.