congaplace.com

Greetings fello Bongoceros,
while I'm here searching for clues to my new Conga skin mystery, I thought I'd share a couple of pics of my home made Bongos that I recently completed. The hardware is LP Matador, ca 1990. The wood ist Cumaru, aka Brazillian Teak. I found just enough of discarded, old stair treads in the back of the building where I have my studio last Feburary to squeeze these out of. With the exception of ripping each tread once on a table saw, they were completed soley with hand-Power tools: Planes, Tenon saws, Chissels, Files and Scrapers and no sand paper, hate the stuff. The lines you see in the staves are the remains of the flutes on one side of the treads that I survace planed down for aesthetik charm. The Macho Shell thickness is 1,5cm and the Hembra 1,7 cm.
The wood is wonderful to work with, a little hard on the blades, ( often resharpening ), and the grain can turn corners on you from time to to time. And it surprisingly took the glue extremely well. It's very hard and durable as well; the washers for the recessed center block don't even make the slightest hint of an impression in the staves. I just put the Cow skins on about ten days ago.

Good Vibrations,
Blavonski

Bravo Blavonski, beautiful indeed. Wish I could have the skill to make my own Bongos. One suggestion is to add a metal plate inside the shells to reinforce the center block and prevent cracking although that wood is a very hard one.

Handsome home made bongo,
Good job!

Very nice!

No sand paper! So did you do all the smoothing with a plane? You are a good wood worker my friend.

Derrell

Thanks for the compliments on the Bongos. I'm glad some of you like them. I was fortunate to be able to rescue this beautiful and versatile wood.
As I mentioned, the skins on them are cow and the difference in sound, compared to the young Bull skins I have on my Meinl set was striking. These are lighter in sound and feeling as well as playing response. For lack of a better term, they sound like what I recognize as an authentic Cuban Son, Bongo sound. Also, the hard wood and the facetted inside shells may play a part as well.They sounded a bit strange at first and I thought I made a misstake in the skin choices. Both Bull skins on my Meinls are 1mm so I went with 1mm for the macho here and 1,2mm for the Hembra. But, it's a diffrent gender/animal; live and learn and I've been learning a lot lately regarding drum skins.
Ifind the Bull skins at the same thickness as Cow to be denser. At any rate, I'm more than pleased with them.

burke wrote:Very nice!

No sand paper! So did you do all the smoothing with a plane? You are a good wood worker my friend.

Derrell

Jup, I used a Stanley #4 smoothing plane and stanley block plane for finishing and flattening the top and bottum edges.
The wood polishes greatly with planing and also darkens after its been worked. I finished them with two coats of old style Furniture wax paste... a coupla Photos from the process.

Good Vibrations,
Blavonski

Very very nice work.

Is the bearing edge completely flat?

Psych1 wrote:Very very nice work.

Is the bearing edge completely flat?

Hello Psych1,
yes, the top of the bearing edge is as completely flat as I could get it with my Block plane. Why do you ask?
The outside edges are rounded of course.

Good vibrations,
Blavonski

Flat is not a typical bearing edge for bongos, they are usually slanted or at an angle.

A rounded edge is easier on the hands and also tends to accentuate better during martillo.

bongosnotbombs wrote:Flat is not a typical bearing edge for bongos, they are usually slanted or at an angle.

Hello bnb,
You may be right, a flat bearing edge is not typical.
However, I did some research on drum bearing edges a while back and there are about four different types, including those you mention. And one theory that seemed to make sense to me, is that, given the fact that when the skin has more wood to rest on while vibrating, the over tones, ( ringing ) are greatly lessened; of course the thickness of the skin also plays a role here. Well, last spring, I experiemented with this theory on my Meinl Bongos which have a slanted, almost conical bearing edge,(the shells are only 1,3 cm thick )and took over 3mm off of the top edge by flattening it some, which naturally widened the bearing edge. And that bit of additional contact area made a slight difference in the open tones of the Hembra. So, I thought I'd make the edges on my Bongos flat, with of course the outside edges rounded over; I could always angle them inside if I wasn't pleased with the result, but that isn't the case.
It may not be typical, but it feels and sounds good to me. And although, the cow skin on the Hembra is a bit thinner than the young Bull skin on my Meinl set,the open tones are more centered and dry.



Hello Caballoballo,
I have been playing the Bongos regularly for two weeks now and have noticed no adverse effects to my fingers with the flat edges as apposed to totally rounded or conical edges. I actually find the flatter edge to be some what user friendly than the totally rounded or conical edge when striking. And as for accents on the Martillo go, I find I get more of an even slap, which can be varied, with the fingers on 1 and 3, as well as tonal variations on the macho while accenting with the left or right hand. In short, I have found that the flat edge allows for more tonal control. However, if at some point I notice any discomfort from playing, or am not happy with the edges as they are now, I can always remove wood from the inside edge with out compromising the hight of the shells. But, I'm really enjoying playing them and have no reservations about making any changes to them.

Good Vibrations,
Blavonski

Whatever works! The sound is the most important.

Another way your bongos seem different - with most custom bongos I have seen, either the shells are of the same thickness or, when different, it is the macho shell that is slightly thicker because of the extra stress on the macho shell.

But again, I am very impressed with what you have done. I have often thought about making my own bongos but can't get past the thinking about it stage.

Ya, a proper bearing edge on any hand drum is really important. It's indisputable.

Great first effort, but they're not quite finished yet.

Cheers,
RR

They feel good to you, they sound good to you, they look great.

I'd say they are done.

I agree, You have done some fine work making those shells. They look to be complete to me. Great job!!

Madlatin

Thanks for the propers on the my Bongos Fellas.
I agree too...they're finished and indisputably satisfying, to me.

Psych1 wrote:Whatever works! The sound is the most important.

Another way your bongos seem different - with most custom bongos I have seen, either the shells are of the same thickness or, when different, it is the macho shell that is slightly thicker because of the extra stress on the macho shell.

But again, I am very impressed with what you have done. I have often thought about making my own bongos but can't get past the thinking about it stage.

@Psych1, I made the shell of the Hembra 2 mm thicker to accommodate a wider bearing edge as an experiment regarding the overtones. Of course, in the absence of a thinner shell and the exact same hide and thickness, I have no way of knowing whether or not those 2 mm made a significant difference. However, it was successful in as far as ignorance is bliss and I am pleased with the sound.

Good Vobrations,
Blavonski