congaplace.com

Just picked up these solid shell bongos made in Cuba. As you can see the hardware is junk, but the shells seem pretty good. I welcome any help identifying the wood and the maker of the drums. The drums are pretty light, no doubt partly due the the lame hardware. The macho is 6" and the hembra is 7 1/2". Anyways, it's been a while since I've had a drum project. Tinkering with old drums is almost as fun as playing them.

I plan on stripping and refinishing thee shells, inside and out, then depending on how I feel get some hardware made for them and putting new skins on. I'm thinking about having either Ralph at Resolution Percussion or maybe that new guy PM Percussion in nearby Petaluma make the hardware for these, whoever is the least expensive.

Well I've never had any drums made in Cuba, these bongos are a little on the small side, but the shells seem well made enough. I'm curious to see how they turn out and of course how they sound

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Don't forget Lou Vega in Central Florida.

He makes his hardware out of stainless steel.

http://www.vgadrums.com/products

New bongo hardware, from the top guys, is about $250. Matt can take a year. It may not be worth doing. I'd keep them as they are for a while.

Manito Percussion in GA also seems to make very good hardware - 1/2 crown round style. I'm think I'm going to send him a set of mine.

http://www.rhythmtraders.com/ might be able to help you out with the hardware at a more reasonable price. They don't have it up on their website anymore so I'm not sure if they do anything other than rings and lugs. The wood looks like caoba (cahoba) to me.

Looks like a nice project!

Very nice shells, they appear to have GREAT potential. I have two smaller shell bongo that are fantastic tone monsters not great with bigger bands but with conjuntos and trios they smoke. It was a good score good luck.

That's right, Rhythm Traders, almost forgot about them! I already recycled the old hardware, even Aspire hardware would be a step up, probably the right size too, aren't those LP bongos undersized?

The shells look high quality, either Caoba or Majagua. Go with a traditional Cuban look from either Jay (SOS) or Matt, besides the great quality. I bet they sound great, so don't cut corners, either Jay or Matt.