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]back.jpg[/attachment]Hello Congaplace,
I have received my new set of beautiful curly Koa Bongos from Volcano Percussion today. I wanted to share the photos with the group. They sound Fantastic! Enjoy the photos. Thomas Alexander is such a wonderful drum builder. Every one of his drums I own has been a pleasure to play.

[/attachment]Fantastic sounding Bongos by Volcano Percussion.
Thank you Mr. Thomas Alexander

Wow, looking great, Mike!

But also heavy - as the shells seem to be very massive. Do they weigh a ton?

From eyesight, those skins are perfect - Congrats!!

Hello Mike,

The Koa wood is nice and light. They look heavy but they are not heavy at all. They are very comfortable to play. All the hardware is strong light weight stainless steel. I love um. When I play I use a seated bongo stand. It's not needed for these drums that is just the way I play. They sound awesome! Thomas Alexander sprayed on some silver metal flake that sparkles in the light. Very cool and custom. I love that.
Thanks for the complement.
Mike Gallichio

Cool set indeed.
Are the skins cow or mule?
They look so dark...!

They are the same as on my congas, Nice high quality Texas skins. They really sing.
Mike

Gallichio wrote:They are the same as on my congas, Nice high quality Texas skins. They really sing.
Mike

Hey Mike,

Are these bull skins? Is that what Tom uses? From Bill Confer at Hereford Bi-products (in Texas)?

James

Hello,
They are Texas kip skins. They sound beautiful.

Truly beautiful drums. What exactly is 'Kip' skins?

Gallichio wrote:They are the same as on my congas, Nice high quality Texas skins.

Gallichio wrote:They are Texas kip skins. They sound beautiful.

I think I must have misunderstood you earlier. When you said, "They are the same as on my congas," I took that to mean the same skins (bull, steer, cow, etc.) as used on the congas (which would be unusual, at least for the macho), but I see now that by "same" you really meant same in the sense of same high quality and from the same state (and possibly source).

I see that Tom uses steer on his congas:

"Our drumheads are made from the finest Texas steerhides."

Hi strokes60 - kip is a calf or young cow

burke wrote:Hi strokes60 - kip is a calf or young cow

Actually, technically speaking, there's a difference. A calf is what you'd imagine it to be - in this case a baby cow, though it's applied to other animals as well, of course (like baby whales). Kip is older than a calf but not yet full grown. People who do not realize there's a difference sometimes use the words interchangeably, leading to this confusion.

There are a lot of online sources for this info, such as:
http://www.leatherchemists.org/dictionary.asp

taikonoatama,

Thank you for posting that link. Tons of info. Yes I meant the same skins as on my congas ( high oil content and from Texas.) Very different in thickness as you can imagine the bongos are much thinner. I was told the reason they are so dark is the oil in the skins. Very nice to play on.

taikonoatama - thanks for clarifying.

Cheers