Newest acquisition HR El Piernas

[salcero1]

Saludos a todos,
Today Adolpho Rocha personally delivered a new set of Bongos for me here in Ozone Park, New York. Sunset Fade with much lighter wood and hardware. 3lbs lighter overall and quite crisp and mellow in sound when playing a typical martillo pattern. For the price of $250 clean I obtained the drums, low toned wide mouth bell with beater and a light material case-not padded. No problem there I will just swap the previous case, which is nicely padded, to house this new set. The first set I bought from him came in @ 13.5 lbs these new bongos are weighing just 10.5 lbs. Easy on the calfs when playing seated and very comfortable playing surface. The man came through quite efficiantly this time around. He stated that these same drums could fetch up to $500 on the West Coast because they are in demand, so he claims. I think it's mainly a shipping issue with the added spike in pricing because his home base in the states is in New Jersey. Nonetheless I have what I sought and content to add to my inventory. Picture of the old and new. Peace.

[RitmoBoricua]

Super cool set, congratulations . One of them pictures have all kind of things I love. Bongo set,
Boricua cuisine book, crackers and last but not least a NY Yankees hat. You can't go wrong with that.

[caballoballo]

Saludos Salcero, beautiful indeed. Are you ready to cook some P.R cuisine? You have the recipe book out. Back to the HR, yes they are not as heavy in comparison with others I had before and yes the sound projection is what I call the old school. Also cost less,is well built with quality and have the right skins.

[salcero1]

Que Pasa RitmoBoriqua y Caballo,
Yes I do intend to do some serious Sancocho cooking along with many other favorites that used to be cooked at my home when my mom was still around, God Rest her soul. I became a NY Yankee Fan after the Mets lost the '73 World Series and the bigger blow was when they dealt the franchise pitcher Tom Seaver to the Cinncinnati Reds. I've always been a fan of Ritz Crackers plain or with a topping or even with just soup. The bongos are a very welcomed change to the heavier ones HR El Piernas was putting out. I guess they started to hear the demands of musicians and the weight problems for those who play seated with the drums resting on their calfs. Adolpho also included a small plastic jar of skin lubricant which is lanolin based and I rubbed some on my hands first and then rubbed the drum heads so that they can have a supple feel to them. They were very rough in texture without the lubricant but the sound is definitely old school and projects well. In addtiion I removed all the tuning lugs and applied a generous amount of white lithium grease on the threads of the lugs so that tuning will be effortless. What caught my eye at first was the color pattern and the actual hue of reddish orange paint that was eye popping. The hardware and wood composition are much lighter. I may or may not sell the 13.5lb one in the last photo depending on any requests from members of even family. If the latter asks I just might give it up as a gift to them. I thank Adolpho Rocha for not making me wait a long period of time from the initial order which was about 2 months this time around. I can certainly live with that. Peace.

Jorge.

[RitmoBoricua]

That's the way I eat my crackers too, with topping
and coffee also. I remembered when the Mets dealt
Tom Seaver to the Reds hard to believe even after
40 years. My Mom used to make sancocho too, great
stuff. That bongo is nice, enjoy.

[Psych1]

I've got 2 of the big and heavy old ones. The weight comes from the very solid hardware and the very very dense palo-santo wood. But, there is also a big and heavy sound that I don't get from my other bongos. Can only play them for extended times with a seated-player stand tho.

The new ones do look very nice - great price too. I'll have to try them.

[caballoballo]

Vaya Salsero, yes it is a great Bongó with a very old school sound. Cost a lot less than other not mass produce. I have taken my to various gig and really has a beautiful sound. The only improvement I did was to change the Macho head,the HR one was too dull, also thinking about installing a skindeep soon.

[salcero1]

Como te Vas Caballo, Psych and RitmoB.,
There are some minor visual improvements I will attach to this new set. I asked Adolpho to send me 2 metal company insignia plates that are mounted on the lower part of the macho & hembra shell body. I will attach them carefully with my Black & Decker drill. Aesthetically it will improve on how the bongo's appearance will pop to the naked eye. I like how the rawhide heads sound on both the macho and hembra but I want to purchase the tucked black and colorful patterned skyndeep macho heads from Remo. Molten Sea and Serpentine I believe were the patterns you spoke about on an earlier thread, Caballo. Those are the ones I would pickup as well. Psych you are correct that the hardware on the previous models were beefy and contributed plenty to the overall weight factor. I believe if lighter hardware is used, although Palo Santo is dense, you could subtract about 2.5 lbs of weight from the older models with the swap-out.Thanks for the compliments on the drums brothers. Hoping all is well with you and yours, Peace.

Jorge

[caballoballo]

Salsero I opted for the HR logo to be burn into the wood,it is kind of more rustic just like the inside not been smooth finish. You know, I di not get the cowbell or the small cream jar with my purchase. I should be writing Adolfo about that in a breeze.

About the Remo skindeep I think it is the best solution for the Macho head,last longer and really projects. I installed one on my Timbas Del Valle, molten sea pattern which really match with the shells red mahogany color . The problem with Remo is their availabiltiy sometimes takes too long to get into stores down here and it is the same thru the web. The molten sea type was the last on the store although they have black, serpent,tiger stripe and natural skin color types.