Show us your funky drums!

[pcastag]

Looking for crazy off the beaten track one of a kind, here are two I just picked up

A solid shell obviously hand made conga, no cracks in the shell! Head's a bit old but actually sounds really cool! Will post vid for sound later got it for 60 bucks delivered.


IMG_0294 by pcastag, on Flickr

An old ludwig keystone conga with the brocksteins label still on it, for those of you who don't know Herb Brockstein founded pro-mark, he used to own a store here in downtown houston, so this is somewhat of a nostalgic item for us Houstonians. 45 bucks shipped to the door, got the correct ludwig conga head on order.



IMG_0295 by pcastag, on Flickr

So, what's in your funky conga drum closet!

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[Chupacabra]

PCastag, I think that second drum you have is part of the Brazilian Samba battery of percussion called a timba, is it not? And a very nicely made one, I might add...

[pcastag]

Yeah , the brazillians would call it timba or tam tam, the africans ashiko, the cubans something else. Ludwig called them congas!

[Chupacabra]

Ahhh, there is a big difference in between the ashiko and the timba drums. The ashiko is played like a conga using just the hands. They usually have a thicker, natural hide for the heads. The top rings are set below the bearing edge of the drum to allow for proper hand playing. Most of the Ashikos that I have seen have cow hide or similar. They also have a heavier shell than the timbas. I had a pair that were custom made that had elk hide that was almost as thick as a t-bone steak! They had a really nice sound to them and this thread just reminded me to kick myself in the ass today for selling them almost 2 years ago! One of the most famous players of the ashiko was the late Babatunde Olatunji. And they were some beautifully carved drums!

Every one of the timbas that I've seen or played have a thin, synthetic head like a mylar, or acetate or similar material. The rhythms that I have practised used either a stick or stick and hand technique with the hand used to muffle the stick strokes. I have seen people play the timba using both hands but it sure looks like it would be painful to have the hands coming in contact with the top ring like that! I suppose the ring could be set below the bearing edge to increase the comfort and prevent injury. The slaps sound very similar to a djembe and the bass is much deeper.

I don't think I've ever seen the cuban version of the ashiko, called a boku, in person. I have seen video of the famous (or infamous) Desi Arnez play his boku while shouting "Babalooo!" and maybe a couple of YouTube vids but that's about it. It looks to be the a hybrid of the ashiko and the timba, and from what I understand it is designed to be played while on the march, like the timba.

I know Ludwig is a legendary maker of kit drums, and they have ventured into the realm of Latin music instruments such as timbales, etc., but to market that drum as a conga seems strange to me.

Just my 2 cents worth...

[pcastag]

Yes, but they did, slingerland also had a number of drums made just like them. I've seen lots of ashikos with goat skins, really the shape of the drums is the same, just a conical drum, the timbas from brasil are pretty much plywood, just like the ludwig I have here, the rims are always below the playing surface, although not much at leas the gope and contemporaneas that I've owned. I'm actually waiting on a ludwig conga head to arrive, it has a very deep collar on it so the hoop sits well below the playing surface,this one has a regular drum head on it. It will sound a lot like the brazillian timbas, thin head, thin plywood shells, very light. Of course an ashiko with a goat head would sound much like a timba as well, just better if it's made of nice thick wood. The boku's ashikos and timbas really are the same shape, just the materials differ.

[dende]

I was certain that was a tam tam as well (uncle called it a tan tan)
these are my funkies

Pandeiros with Hair on them. the lighter collored one i shaved later (sounded great, but the hair was falling out with the constant playing) and i decided to burn the wood. the die are what i used to make the jingles. both made by me. dark is the first, and light is the latest

Pandeiro after burning shaving and varnishing. good for samba and capoeira, but not chorro. nyc columbia provided me with the lugs and top hoop

Before putting the finish on the hoop

The atabaques that i made and use, both with goat skin, ivory coast skin on the "le" sized atabaque (small, Hammer tuned [traditional]), and the Mali skin on the "Rum-Pi" sized (medium, mali weave).
the hair has been trimmed on the playing surface, and the centers shaved. I use them with AKAthisisus.

[Dicemanb]

Dende, you are one talented Dude.....making your own toys!!

I have been looking for the lightest pandeiro and coudnt help noticing that the shot without the skin looks like it use to have a tacked head, and you changed it to rods and rings. How much extra weight did that add ?
I have never seen one with hair on it, what did it sound like with the hair and what was it like to play?

BTW Beautiful atabaque

Dice

[burke]

Here's mine.

Its a toy of course and it sounds awful ... but thats not why I bought it.

It was about $15 on ebay. Just love the paint job.

Cheers

Darrell

[docarroyo]

Burke I agree with you I love the art on the drum many here would not appreciate the drum. I look at the shape and think to myself with the proper hardware and skin I bet it would be a fantastic player. Ive puchased some great drums off of ebay because they didn't look correct, well Im glad they didn't cause I was able to get them for alot less. I LIKE IT Very much, good luck with it it has mucho potential. Here is a funky drum before and after photos I also purchased it off of ebay. It was made out of hollowed out solid piece of tree, in 1963 in Branquilla Colombia, The lug plates are SOS, the crown is Gon Bops, head/skin is horse, lugs JCR/Cali.

[dende]

Dende, you are one talented Dude.....making your own toys!!

I have been looking for the lightest pandeiro and coudnt help noticing that the shot without the skin looks like it use to have a tacked head, and you changed it to rods and rings. How much extra weight did that add ?
I have never seen one with hair on it, what did it sound like with the hair and what was it like to play?

BTW Beautiful atabaque

Dice

It is true, that at first i tried to make it a tack head pandeiro first, but i still have a hard time getting it right, it had either too much tor too little tension on the skin at each try. but it was very light and quick, even with those heavy .032 brass platinellas (that are a B!%#H to cut from a flat plate, btw, but are definately worth the trouble). amazing jingle response, but no bass from the skin, so i asked Tariq at NYC C to send me the ring and lugs. there wasnt a lot of weight added, but i think the overall weight has been cut down because of the materials used. the top ring is quite thin, bit strong, and very light, the platinellas are held in place by radial tire wire that i had lying around from making Berimbaus (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 341&type=1), so that weight barely registers. the flesh hoop is made of the top ring of a crap-heavy pandeiro i bought from Mid-East (http://www.amazon.com/Mid-East-PAN1-Pan ... B0009V40OM , where the jingles were used to make my jingle die in the first pic).

The first time ive seen one with hair on it was last december when a Tucson Capoeira group came up to Phoenix to practice Capoeira Angola with my group, and their instructor brought one from Brasil where he was practicing with the great instrument maker Mestre Lua Rasta, and it was covered in hair, and sounded better than all the other pandeiros that were in the building. great bass, jingle response, and easy manipulated pitch. he also played his untill there were bald spots in the three most common contact spots, and i couldnt stop thinking about how awesome it was.

it turns out that it depends on the type of hair (thin or course) determines how much can stay on without muffling the sound, but when you get that perfect balance, there is no need for any tape on the underside to remove the unpleasant overtones that many pandeiros can have, normally the thinner skinned. the one with thinner hair folicles (but thicker hair coverage, the light one) i had to buzz cut, to where the hair was standing up about a centimeter, and had an amazing sound. it still sounds good without the hair but i had to use tape on the underside.
ive also shaved the darker one, but that was a big mistake. ive got to re head it (you learn from trial and error).

and ive already asked Tariq for some more materials (including 2 hoops with no jingle holes), but without any hides, ill get them somewhere else. the only problems with using Tariq's service is that he puts the order to the factory in Pakistan and it takes FOREVER to get here. i ordered a month ago and havent received the "done" email yet,
and then the metal work is very expensive

[pcastag]

Burke I agree with you I love the art on the drum many here would not appreciate the drum. I look at the shape and think to myself with the proper hardware and skin I bet it would be a fantastic player. Ive puchased some great drums off of ebay because they didn't look correct, well Im glad they didn't cause I was able to get them for alot less. I LIKE IT Very much, good luck with it it has mucho potential. Here is a funky drum before and after photos I also purchased it off of ebay. It was made out of hollowed out solid piece of tree, in 1963 in Branquilla Colombia, The lug plates are SOS, the crown is Gon Bops, head/skin is horse, lugs JCR/Cali.

Man, that turned out nice! how does that baby sound?
PC

[docarroyo]

Hey PC, I'm biased and think it sounds even better than it looks, I was unsure about the skin at first I had only used horse once before, this one turned out fine. A guy a couple of towns away from me makes native american drums across from the Rancocas reservation and he gave me the skin to try. Bass, tone and slaps all project well with clear tonal response in all ranges, which had not been my experiance in the past with solid wood congas. It could be the wood which I have not yet identified or maybe even yet the combination of the correct skin on the correct drum. Horse hide is not used much but was a while back it has a tendency to stretch out fast if not cured properly when tanning. In any case thanks for the compliment.

[pcastag]

Is that the natural color of the wood or did you stain it? It sure is beautiful! I love the look of solid wood grain.

[ABAKUA]

Some of my funkies / toys...