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Some Vintage LP Bongo sets that I own. I grew up with LP and to this day love this vintage bongo sets.

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How did they sound Cuquito? On Martin's website he has a picture of Mongo Santamaria playing one of those sets. On those pre LP days did Martin have a brand name for those bongos? So LP congas and timbales came after the bongos is it safe to say that.

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On that 5 lug bongo set looks like the center block is a little wider keeping the macho and hembra further apart.
Back in the 70's in my neck of the woods in Borinquen LP bongos reigned supreme they were like 150.00 bucks
my cousin had a set and everybody wanted to play his LP bongo set. I do not remember anybody I knew owning
Gon Bops or Valjes. Thanks for the good info. Perhaps one day you should commit all that info and knowledge to
paper and write a book to document all that for future generations. Let me get going and practice some martillo
take care.

RitmoBoricua wrote:I do not remember anybody I knew owning
Gon Bops or Valjes.Back in the 70's in my neck of the woods in Borinquen LP bongos reigned supreme

That is true Ritmo, My dad bought a new LP Bongó to me as a present around 1972, cost him $100 in Caguas. The other ones I could see in stores around that time and later were the Meinl AA which was less expensive. Also the Ismaels were around. Those other brands were not available around here on that era, everything was LP.

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Yeah I do not to feel too bad that LP Walnut set I bought the other day cost me 55.00 dollars; came with suede carrying bag, and the original heads in good condition. Hardware and lugs are in good shape and in working order. Next month I probably mount new heads.
So I guess LP reigning supreme was all over Puerto Rico back in those days not only confined to my neck of the woods. During the Salsa boom years in Puerto Rico LP bongos and LP fiberglass congas were very desirable instruments. I remember furniture stores selling LP instruments in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico in the 70’s then of course you had Casa Margarida.

Now I think it was in the late 70's or early 80's when I was in college that a friend of mine had a set of congas custom made for him I thought he said somebody in Caguas made them but then again I think they were Timbas Ismael back in those days he told me he payed $800.00 at least 30 years ago.

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Leedy, I got a friend who owns a set of Ismael but he do not want to trade or sell. Cada vez que le pregunto me contesta que prefiere dar el culo antes que vender el Ismael. Also Ismael grandson has a replica of the one on your picture for sale.

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The Isamel bongo' in the photo above I got from Juan Ramos in Puerto Rico, not from Francis, like Faustino said. I presently have 2 Timbas Ismael congas made in the 60's. I had Cali (JCR) make an alma for the macho, as when I got them, the macho was a bit out of round. Cali's alma corrected the situation. The congas inside have a name which is "Tato Bradford", I guess he was the original owner. I bought them from Robert Felcher in San Diego, who got them from Pedro Barreira from Puerto Rico. They sound great and have complete stainless steel hardware (crowns, sideplates and lugs). Anyone from Puerto Rico know who "Tato Bradford" is.

Dario

I do not have any idea who Tato Bradford is/was. I think Pedro Barriera is out of Ponce and is the one that makes wooden box bongos. For whatever reason I do not think Timbas Ismael operation back in the day was known through-out Puerto Rico like it should have. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and for the longest I had no idea of Timbas Ismael existence. It just like all the extraordinary luthiers we used to have in Puerto Rico making fine stringed instruments they were only known to a few locally and that's a shame.

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Francis is a friend of Juan Ramos, the person I got the bongos from. I traded a JCR and a Cuban bongo' made by Vega and I got the Ismael and an old LP from the 70's with X Ray film on the macho. The Ismael sounded great but it was too heavy and the 10 lug hardware with high crowns was a killer on the hands. Also, the macho was extremely small, less than 6 1/2". I had Cali make standard 8 lug hardware and lower crowns for it (original 5 lug crown was 3/4" tall, Cali's crown was 1/2" tall) and that improved the playability (not as tought on the hands). Still I found it too heavy and decided on a trade. Before and after photos provided.

Dario