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What do you think about this fiber conga, probably built in the 1980ies? Somebody wants 200 € for it.



Take a look on the lugs, which seem to be coated with the corpus material. Maybe there are no piercing screws to the inside - in order to avoid tension stress?.

And another interesting detail: it looks as if there are notches for the screws in the upper edge of the rim.

p.a.dogs1

very cool and original design.

FP congas were made in the early 80's and endorsed by Los Papines of Cuba...They have a 'cuban' design to them...and they really sound good too!....I dont remember the 'hooks' unconnected to the hoop on top?....it looks like 'un invento"...Im not sure, but they were supposedly back in business.

I like this constructive solution. Does anybody see a disadvantage?

p.a.dogs1

The Mambiza's are not cheap copies of the Finnish Percussion drums, or vice versa. Two completely unrelated companies. Only similarity they have is the lug mechanisms. I am pretty sure the Mambizas in your photos used to belong to a friend of mine, they are excellent drums, solid wood shells. The Mambizas were distributed here in San Francisco by a gentleman named Simon Rienhardt, a very nice guy, I visited his shop twice before he stopped doing business in drums.

Mambiza shells were made in Africa, and he had the hardware made somewhere else, I'm not sure where.

Anyways, regarding the characteristics of this style of hardware. One potential drawback is changing skin, if the lugs are not long enough it can be difficult to get the lug all the way over the rim. Everyone who has changed a skin knows the hardest part is getting the first two lugs onto the rim with a wet skin. The lugs for this style have to go further than hardware with loops. I remember helping my friend with the skins for his Mambizas and it was quite difficult.

But once the skins are on no problem. Also the lugs should sit flush with the top of the rim, otherwise the potential to strike you hand on the lugs exists which could be painful. That is a hazard with the Mexican drums which have the lug loop on top of the rim and frequently not welded or riveted to it.

I have heard that the Finnish drums are really nice from a friend in Finland called Marty whom I met in Puerto Rico. I'm not enthusiastic about the lugs being ontop of crown for obvious reasons and if they are wielded as in the Mambiza drums what happens if you strip a lug? I guess you can cut and wield but how would it look and how cost effective versus changing a lug. But never the less a nice drum in apperance. Happy New Year to all now its nap time before the gig tonite.

Mambiza lugs aren't welded, they are hooked into cut outs in the rim.

The Mazimbas are very nice, made out of one piece and then stained. I saw this construction in a un-stained form on a photo of PJ congas, which are unique items.



PJ is the shortcut for Peter (Kragh-) Jacobsen, who still works in Copenhagen - but today´s normal PJs are built in Thailand.



p.a.dogs1

Elvis Presley wrote:Their drums are made from single logs from various regions of the Caribbean Basin and no gluing is involved.

I found this photo on Tony´s Conga Adventures:



Mambizas?

p.a.dogs1

As stated I was not sure about the hooks, they sort of reminded me of a Valje designed crown which was used on the bongos for a couple of models those had wielded lugs on the crown. I like solid shell drums I have one that was made in Barranquila Colombia in 1966. Not lots of volume or projection but great sound for Bembes and Toques. Different in shape from the Mambiza drums but same concept just older in origins. Theres a thread here on Congaplace on how I found it and the restoration. Shell is Colombian, Crown is Gon Bops, side plates are SOS, hooks JCR = one sweet looking and sounding drum if I do say so myself.