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Any opinion for the best "mainstream" maracas to purchase for salsa?
Wood, cowhide ? ... dare I say plastic?
No need to esotric ones like El Pierna's unless they are easy to get.

T

Speaking purely "mainstream" Id suggest the fiberglass model by LP as seen below, played by someone with good maraca technique and control, they sound great and project nicely through a large live Latin band:


Incedently, you can hear/see them played in my video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjNx14HZZxo

The best maracas Ive heard however were handcrafted from Venezuela, rawhide model, cant remember the brand, but wow, they sounded magical.

Not being a maracas expert at all, I find the yellow plastic maracas by LP
highly useful in salsa setting, because they cut through nicely.

Ive had some experience with the yellow & the black plastic LP ones, yes they do cut through nicely, however their sound is quite "plastic". Also used the LP rawhide ones which I found a little dry, but very nice.
HR make some beuatiful ones also.

Ive found the black fiberglass ones to be:

a) louder, b) brighter, & c) sharper in sound & projection.

All the above was tested in live 10, 11 & 12 piece Salsa/Timba bands.

All the mentioned maracas are great quality and sound, end of the day comes down to which sound your guy prefers. Get him to test some of these out. My favourite of the "mainstream" bunch are the black fiberglass ones. (keeping in mind to be used in large live Salsa/Timba settings)

I don't like the black plastic ones either. I bought a pair and never use them.

Rawhide maracas are by far better-sounding, that is for sure. For quieter settings,
I have some medium-sized Meinl rawhide maracas which sound very nice.

I LOVE THE SOUND OF MY MINI (PAN CON QUESO) RAWHIDE MARACAS!!! THE LARGE ONES ARE ALSO GREAT AS WELL; VINNIEL HAS A SET.

THE FIBERGLASS LP MARACAS RECOMMENDED BY ABAKUA, ARE ALSO AWESOME! THEY HAVE THAT MINI BEAD UNIQUE SOUND . I TRIED THEM OUT AT MY LOCAL GUITAR CENTER, AND YES, I PLAN TO GET A SET OF THOSE AS WELL.

I MUST SAY THIS THOUGH, I TRULY DISLIKE THE LARGE PLASTIC LP MODELS, BE IT YELLOW, BLACK, OR ANY OTHER COLOR.


CHARLIE,

Thanks for the recommendations !!

Fiberglass eh? Hey Abakua theres a guy that looks very familiar in the video They do cut through rather well !!

I think I'll opt for a fiberglass for live, and perhaps a rawhide one for recording.

I will stay away from the black plastic ones.

Charlie, yeah it must have been thinking about the Pan Con queso maracas.

Thanks .

T

Hey bro, did you mean me? yeh, thats me on tumbadoras in that vid up top...

Check out the other one I posted up in Open Discussion, my bro Tonio tears it up with a timbal solo.

Yeh those fiberglass maracas cut through heaps man.

Que? Yeah of course I was talkin' bout you.

I don't know man, the LP Salsa rawhide sounds good too http://lpmusic.com/Product_Showcase/Mar ... racas.html

Kind of in between the fiber and the regular rawhide. The macho rawhide is too low in pitch.

ah, what the heck I'll get both fiber and the salsa rawhide.

T

Tonio I picked up a couple of sets while in Colombia , these babys cut through and have that exact weight that you want to do the rolls, the drop of the beads or capachos ( the seeds inside ),makes them ideal for the Boleros. The maraca itself may be called capacho or capachas...they are very much part of the Joropo or Musica llanera from Colombia and Venezuela. The ones made out of raw hide are a bit duller, but they do have their place, and are predominantly used in salsa. I am posting pics of both sets and a set of pan con queso. They run around $30US .[attachment=0]maracas PQ.jpeg

NIce Olsongo!

But where/how can I get some?

Talking about Bolero, we need some maraca for a bolero tune. Thats what brought up this query

T

Going a little off topic here, but here are some pics of some hand made maracas brought back from Cuba....

I have 3 sets of maracas 2 are Pan con Queso i have the mini's and the full size. He also makes a mid size which i do not have but I did see them on ebay yesterday. I also have the large yellow plastic maracas from LP. So far to be honest my favorite maracas are the Pan con Queso minis. They are small but cut through and because of their size are easy to handle I love them. I also love the large Pan con queso's they have a beautiful sound that i love. Yambu also gives high praise to the LP mini maracas as pictured by Abakua.

I agree wit ABAKUA, LP Fiberglass, awesome crisp sound, Tonio, also consider this, if you are familiar with the "Swirl", technique the round maracas are no doubt the best, especially the LP's because they have metal BB ball's on the inside and not plastic beads.