Timba Going out of Business? - Can anyone confirm or deny..

[ozrivera]

Saludos Hermanos

while browsing through e-bay i saw a set of Timbas for sale and the seller claims that TIMBA is going out business. does anyone know if this is true?
sad to hear considering the fact that we lost Junior, and that jay is semi retired. looks like pretty soon all congas will be mass produced since there only but a few master conga makers. either way heres the link
[url=http://cgi.ebay.com/CONGAS-Made-by-Hand-TIMBA-Gon-Bops-Skin-on-Skin_W0QQitemZ330076741935QQihZ014QQcategoryZ62
2QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem]http://cgi.ebay.com/CONGAS-....iewItem[/url]

OZ

[pcastag]

Akbar is still making congas ( for gon bops) matthew Smith makes drums, and then there's the folks at isla. Yes the old guard is passing on, bu there's always someone new willing to take up the torch. I never really heard much positive about Timba. Anybody have any opinions on them? Apparently the owner is selling the remaining inventory at list prices, like 700 per drum!!
PC

[caballoballo]

The Bongo Group forum had an article about Timba Percussion going through some changes. Anyone who wants to purchase Timbas will need to contact
Timba's business manager Silvia Cunningham, her number is 909-292-6143. It's only an internal business thing they're dealing with,the message did not said anything about them going out of bussiness.

[ozrivera]

A few months ago when i was looking to purchase some new drums, timbas were on top of my list. after some due dilligence (some here in our forum) i found out that they've had some issue's with their drums cracking. even the set currently on e-bay has one that was previously cracked. after i found this out i decided not to go with them. by no means do i want to bad mouth them, i am sure that there are some brothers here that swear by them.
but if they are going out of business, maybe this attributed to their demise.
anyone here currently own a set of timbas or know of something that they care to comment. i really hope its not true, Timbas are among the world's most beautiful drums. just my :;): :;): cents


Oz

[twinsbongo]

i just spoke to silvia today and she did not mention anything about it. i think they are probably going to do some changes internally. prices are still high no discount or no clearance..good luck timba saludos julio texas

[yusef33]

I don't know what is really going on at TIMBA. I do know that they make a good looking drum, but I have friends that purchased TIMBA congas and are having problems with the staves cracking and the tuning lugs shattering due to being excessively hardened (Too Brittle). Thank God there are still a few craftsmen out there keeping this art alive.
I want to mention that I purchased a set of Bata drums from ISLA Percussions. They make an incredibly beautiful drum. They sound awesome. The hardware are all stainless steel. I've played a set of congas at the ISLA facility. WOW! I was blown away by the tone and the incredible slaps that those congas produced. As you all know the best drum ever produced was by JUNIOR TIRADO out in Brooklyn,N.Y. may GOD rest his soul. I want to add that the folks at ISLA are carving each stave to shape just like JUNIOR did back in the day. All I know is that I've seen vintage JUNIOR congas that were made in the 70's and those drums are still in tact. I did not see any cracks nor diminished glue. ISLA has taken the same approach but stepped it up a notch. STAINLESS STEEL HARDWARE come on folks we all know that those drums will be around for generations.
BTW Check out my Bata set.

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