Head Treatment (for congas) - Do you brothers know what it is?

[onile]

Alafia Abures!
May you all be well and swimming in wonderful blessings!

I have been looking for this information, but haven't been able to find it. Years ago, before I put mule and buffalo skins on my drums, a fellow conguero told me about a certain treatment for the conga heads which, as some of you might remember used to be white (bleached?). I can't seem to remember it's name, nor the actual process. I was looking at the Bobby Valentin ¡En Vivo! 35 Aniversario DVD, and I noticed that "Cachiro Thompson's congas appeared to have this process on the heads! Does anyone know how it's done and what it's called?

I have treated my heads, no matter what kind, with (manteca de corojo) palm oil almost forever.

Many blessings my brothers!

Onile

[caballoballo]

Onile, que pasó,

I know a friend which is a Conguero who is a close friend of Cachiro. He should come by tomorrow to pickup his Bongó ,I will ask him about it or I get Cachiros Phone so you can call him. I know he use ceboflan on his hands before playing. I remember years ago, my percussion teacher use to buy manteca de corojo at the Botanica to rub his Congas,that manteca kept the cueros flexibles so next time you come to visit the Island drop by the Botanica and buy some. Pa' Encima

[onile]

¡Mil gracias papa!
I have been trying to figure this out for the longest time.

¡Romp’ese cuero mi hermano!
Onile!

[franc]

onile,
here in puerto rico there is no ''manteca de carajo'' what i use is menteca de cric....jajajajaja i mean manteca crisco and the burning sun of p.r. also since i have greasy hair i lift my congas upside down and rub the congahead against my greasy ''trompo head'' since my head looks like a trompo, jajajaja!! i go outside with the conga on top of my head and stay a couple of hours treating my conga heads under the burning sun. jajajajajaja . solo vacilando, mi bro!!me gusta como tu tener un buen sentido de humor en ocaciones!! cuidate y áche. i use crisco lard for treating my conga and bongo heads. i put them under the sun for two hours and they sound great. como te dije, cuidate, mi pana. tu pana, franc :laugh:

[onile]

¡Oye Mi Pana, la vida es pa’gozar y la ‘mistad pa’ vacilar!
Me da gusto en conocer hermanos como tu, que saben vacilar y gozar lo ma' importante en esta vida!

You know, I get my manteca de corojo from the botanicas on-line, I use it on my congas regularly. I mainly use it when I play, and when I do, no se me rompen los dedos!
The funny thing is though, that no one wants to play my congas after I've put the manteca on them, they get really greasy, and I know about greasy hair, si el mio esta grazozo tambien

What I was looking at though, are the congas that Cachiro played on the Bobby Valentin DVD 35 aniversario. The skins looked like they had been treated, almost like a film was on them. Today, almost all of the skins are dark and so the treatment isn't as clear on them. Here are some skins I had put on my LP Patato's, son de bufalo, mula o mono no se cual!


Que Papa Dios te me bendiga Pana!
Onile!



Edited By onile on 1127965574

[onile]

Aqui estan los cueros mi pana!

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... _Model.JPG

[tamboricua]

Hi Onile,

Hope all is well! Are the drumheads on the attached image the ones you are referring to?

Saludos,

Jorge Ginorio



Edited By tamboricua on 1127967789

Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... ompson.jpg

[onile]

Alafia Tamboricua!
Espero que todo este bien contigo mi hermano!
That's the man, but no the congas he was playing were actually black LP Fiberglass Salsa models (28") and the heads, well, eran de cuero! I have the DVD, but I can't figure out how to stop frame it to take a snap shot to post!

Tu te recuerdas que en aquel tiempo, los cueros casi todos eran blanco, no como los de hoy triguenos.

Many blessings Pana!
Onile!



Edited By onile on 1127970585

[tamboricua]

Onile,

I will have to check out that DVD you mentioned. Everytime I had seen Kachiro playing on film he either had Remo NuSkins or Fiberskins on his LP's.

Saludos,

Jorge Ginorio

[onile]

Alafia Tamboricua!
Espero que todo este bien contigo mi hermano!
I wonder if maybe the drums were on loan for the gig! The DVD was shot in la Penitenciaria Estatal “Oso Blanco” in Rio Piedras PR! It was an incredible concert. The one thing is that it can't be copied, shhhhh! I tried, but couldn't. Ooops! did I just admit to that?

If you haven't seen it before, it's really worth getting. There is a guest appearance with Giovanni (one number in the begining, and then a jam at the end). There are several guest singers, Marvin Santiago Ibaye!, Luigi Texidor, Rubén Blades, Cheo Feliciano. I wish I could get a copy of this to you, it's great to watch. Also, Cachiro lays down this solo on one of the numbers that Luigi is singing, that is hot!
Adelante Cachiro!

La bendicion hermano!
Onile!



Edited By onile on 1128014872

[franc]

onile,
great congas you have there. i have to go with tamboricua. i have seen the dvd. but quite far back. i don't remember. i second what taboricua is saying. now a days is mostly synthetic skin. ''que Dios te bendiga tambien ,mi pana. tremendo sentido de humor. take care always. i have the giovanni galaxy series with real skins and they sound awsome. franc

[onile]

Alafia Franc!
¡Que Papa Dios te traiga muchas bendiciones mi hermano!
¡Chacho! Si podía, te hiciera una copia del DVD, esta tremendo mi pana!

¡Oye! Una pregunta mis hermanos de Puerto Rico, ¿es más popular el cuero sintético por el clima de la isla a comparación del cuero real?

English:
May the creator bring you many blessings my brother!
Yo! If I could make you a copy of the DVD I would, it’s tremendous mi pana!

Listen, I have a question for you, my brothers from Puerto Rico, are the synthetic heads more popular than the real skins, on the island due to the climate?

I've heard some of the drums with the synthetic heads, and you're right brother Franc, they do sound incredible. I just can't get myself to stray over to the "darkside"

¿ay cariño o no ay cariño?

con mucho Ire mi pana!
Onile!



Edited By onile on 1128048884

[SkinDeep]

Edited By SkinDeep on 1137304521

[Tonio]

??????

[Tonio]

Onile, Gon Bops used to have the "white" skins and I used to wonder about the same thing. Wonder if they used bleach?
Actually I have a cowhide skin I put on a LP, that turned whitish on me. We do have hard water here in CA, so maybe it was a fluke? The segun is not a as white, and the skin came from the same animal. Though the more I tune it up and some use, it does get whiter.

T