photos of bongos - bongos pictures

[Omelenko]

Sorry. Got carried away in Spanish. Those 1964 LP bongos were mine and I had them for about 30 yrs. Julito got them from me and he states he sold them to Jerry Gonzalez. My question was, to Jerry Gonzalez from the Fort Apache band ?

Sorry for the Español, you all.

Dario

[twinsbongo]

the 1964 lp bongo was sold to jerry gonzalez for a big chunk of $$$$$. i do not know if is the same jerry gonzalez.this jerry is from new jersey.
julito tx

[korman]

Better yet, post videos of yourselves playing those bongos!
I'm sure many of us would like to hear the sound of those vintage sets.

[yambu321]

DARIO,

DE TODO LOS BONGOCES QUE TIENES, CUAL ES TU FAVORITO?

(OF ALL THE BONGO'S YOU HAVE, WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE?) :;):


CHARLIE "EL COQUI" VERDEJO

[Omelenko]

My favorite overall has to be Mongo's 1954 Vergara. First of all it belonged to him and I got it from him before he died and he was my idol and like a father. I rarely play it eventhough is very playable.

As far as sound, the crispiest sound of any macho that I have has to be my Ismael from Puerto Rico, it might be the fact that it has 10 lugs, but it sounds beyond description, however is too heavy.

The ones I play most often are the JCR and the Skin on Skin. Lately most of the gigs I get are on congas, I used to play bongo' with a son montuno sextet with tresero and trumpet, but it disbanded.

Enclosed, Mongo's Vergara.

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... _Mongo.jpg

[Omelenko]

Best sounding bongo, however heavy to play.

Timbas Ismael (Ismael Ramos) Bayamon, PR.

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... Ismael.jpg

[yambu321]

BEAUTIFUL!

THANKS BRO.

[Thebreeze]

While I am working on a JCR Bongo restoration, I do have pictures of my Mambiza Bongos from San Francisco. They are made of one single piece of wood, and use 3/8" tuning lugs. Very sturdy and well made. I know the owner of Mambiza and at the moment there are none of these available. Anyway, something different. Hope you all like them.

[Mike]

A gozar!
They are very nice bongos indeed!
The skins are pulled down very far. Is it due to their age? I usually don´t mount skins that low.

Best wishes
Mike

[Thebreeze]

Hi Mike. This is how I recieved them when I bought them some time ago. They have lot's of life left in them. So It will be awhile before I put new heads on them and at that time I will keep them up a little higher.
Thanks.

[bongosnotbombs]

I was just at the Mambiza owners house buying a set of claves. He has lots of bongo parts but none assembled yet. Some cool bata though.

No hurry on changing that skin man, taikonoatama and I had a heck of a time trying to mount new skins on his Mambiza congas. The design of the lugs and crowns is very different and almost forces you to pull the skin down pretty far.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1204612471

[taikonoatama]

taikonoatama and I had a heck of a time trying to mount new skins on his Mambiza congas. The design of the lugs and crowns is very different and almost forces you to pull the skin down pretty far.

Yeah, no kidding. Look at the pictures of these Mambiza bongos and you can see that there's very little extra lug length left below each of the bottom crowns and nuts. It's not as if the skin just pulled down over time - this is the way they actually had to be mounted. Same with my congas. I don't understand why someone would do it this way, though. I know Reinhard (the main Mambiza guy) has the shells of his drums made for him in Africa (and/or possibly Brazil), and I believe someone else does the hardware for him. Not sure whose call the hardware design was. I kind of like the loopless crowns, but don't understand that mounting height.



Edited By taikonoatama on 1204653842

[bongosnotbombs]

It would be a really elegant system with longer lugs, I think that's the major flaw in the Mambiza design.

It seems Mambiza may be using a standard lug length, when they kind of need a special Mambiza length.

[Thebreeze]

OK, A lot of negatives have come out about these Bongos. So What. Look at them and tell me that they are not a thing of Beauty? No comment made on how they sound. OK I will. They sound incredible. Last time I took them to some friends house for a Jam Session everyone wanted to play them because they sounded so crisp and sweet. I think that if you are going to lay some negatives out, the least you should do is try to lay out some positives as well????
Let's see both sides of the coin ok???

[taikonoatama]

I think that if you are going to lay some negatives out, the least you should do is try to lay out some positives as well????
Let's see both sides of the coin ok???

Sure thing, Will, sorry. I haven't played them and I trust your judgement there. They're nice-looking drums, for sure.