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I'd like to use a stand, and wonder if anyone has seen both the Gibralter and the LP stands up close. The LP stand is nearly twice the price of the Gibraltar stand (at least the models I've found at Musicians Friend), and I'm wonderling about weight, tubing diameter, how large a footprint the feet make, etc.

I don't know what the LP stand is like. However, I've got a Gibralter bongo stand. Sturdy, although there is slight residual wobble when hitting hard.

Today I had the idea of mounting the bongos low on the stand so I could access them while sitting with my congas (my Meinl 'basket' conga stands leave the congas too short to play standing up - I am quite tall). Alas the Gibralter stand does not go very low at all, and short of chopping it in half is useless for this.


Simon B

That's good info...that's how I intend to use the stand too.

I have the LP bongo stand and I find it very sturdy. You can hit pretty hard and it wont wobble. I play my congas sitting down and I have the bongos right in front of the congas like 6 to 8 inches above it. It's very easy to get to when I want to put accents here and there. I hope that was helpful.

I am pretty satisfied with the Meinl TMC Bongo Stand. Sturdy, too. Only thing, when playing seated, you cannot turn it down very much. For me as a tall player it´s OK, but I wouldn´t recommend it for bongo-conga- combinations like Simon says...
But the MEINL stand is good for playing my $%&/-heavy Afro Bongos, as these otherwise good drums hurt the legs when playing seated by its sheer pressure on the veins. Arrghhh- amputation No, I ain´t a sissy...

Bongo stands that secure the bongos by the center block should not be used. This puts way too much stress on the thin walls of the shells and soon you will find that they are cracked. It is best too look at stands that cradle the drums instead so there is no danger of cracked shells.

RetroVintageDrummer wrote:Bongo stands that secure the bongos by the center block should not be used. This puts way too much stress on the thin walls of the shells and soon you will find that they are cracked. It is best too look at stands that cradle the drums instead so there is no danger of cracked shells.

I cannot say I agree here. At least if the bongó itself stands firmly on a bar while secured at the centre block, that should not pose much of a problem (unless the blngó has very brittle shells of course).

Mike wrote:
I cannot say I agree here. At least if the bongó itself stands firmly on a bar while secured at the centre block, that should not pose much of a problem (unless the blngó has very brittle shells of course).

As long as the weight is being distributed evenly on the bar and is not fully on the center block that should suffice. It's when all the weight is just being suspended on the separator block that there's a problem.

RetroVintageDrummer wrote: It's when all the weight is just being suspended on the separator block that there's a problem.

That is surely right.
Another reason for cracking shells are thick skins which are not detuned, especially the hembra.