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According to conversations with the 3 of them, they cite Gonzalo Vergara as their main influence. I think Junior , Jay and Matt have made the best tumbadoras, presenting a much stronger product than Vergara and Ismael. These two pioneers were the founding fathers, give Requena and Pan Con Queso also credit in the development of the tumbadora.

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I second that emotion! I think Matthew has gotten a hold of the ball and is slam dunking it. Expect greatness in the near future from Lou Vega, from VGA Drums. El genio de Mayaguez is a perfectionist and very detail oriented, along the lines of Matthew. Lou is constantly developing new ideas and improvements in hardware design and shell contour.

Dario

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Matt's Ritmos and Jay's Skin on Skins, great great drums. I prefer the Skin on Skins, I feel the metalwork craftsmanship is a little better with more aattention to detail.


But my favorite drum is this Valje. I would part with all my other drums first. This drum just has some serious mojo.

My two favorite gigging drums right now are my 12.75 honduran mahogany ritmo and my 11.75 maple conguero from moperc, my favorite jam drum is my 10" sonoc, that drum screams, I mean really screams. The honduran mahogany drum is ssomething else though, that wood is just the right wood for congas. As far as matt and jay's hardware it definitely is top notch, but neither of those drums tunes up like a moperc, and the bearing edge on the moperc is the most comfortable I have ever laid my hands on, I actually prefer it for the macho over my african mahogany ritmo.
PC