best professional bongos - question

[Bacalao]

Thanks for the input.

[bongosnotbombs]

here is a little known secret. the following people own this bongo
armando, spiro, santos, santana ..... and many more

I have been to Simon's house and seen these, well
sort of, none were assembled, they are carved from solid
wood, not made of staves, no idea how they sound, but
hope to get a set when he gets all the parts....G!

[Mike]

IMHO the former AFRO Elite bongos I have got (now owned by Pearl) offer a good sound at a moderate price (8 years ago: 120€), but I agree: the comfort curve rim makes the bongos awfully heavy... That´s why I tend to play them mounted on stands.
As a part-time bongocero I am a bit too lazy to change my bongo heads for s.th. better, but I´m pretty sure that would improve the sound considerably...
BTW: Does mounting new skins on bongos mean simply the same procedure as with congas, only on a smaller scale??

[caballoballo]

Yeah Mike,use the string method picture in one of the post on the Conga section. You can always change the comfort rims for the traditional ones. I did it on a set of Pearl Elite using the Timba rims.

[Mike]

Sorry, my English is not good enough.
Do you mean sewing the ring into the skin? Like with the congaheads (LP Aspire etc.)?

I thought the "wrapped-in" ring (i.e. the "tradidional mounting method with congas) would bring more stable results...

But perhaps I misunderstood you completely...?? ???

[caballoballo]

Mike,check in the conga section under mounting troubles,there is a picture posted by Onile on how to use the string methode plus another way to cut the extra Skin. Since you are from germany and on the event that you may like to change the comfort rims,Meiln percussion woodcraft Bongos use traditional
Rims 7.25" and 9",those may fit your Bongó.

[Mike]

Thanks a lot, caballoballo,

having found the post you mention, i will certainly give it a try!

As far as the rims are concerned, yes I guess 7,25" and 9" rims would do on my Afro Elite, that seems to be the size, so i´m going to check out meinl woodcraft rims.

Thanks again!

[caballoballo]

Mike,before I sold the Pearl Elite I was able to change from comfort rims to taditionals using the rims use on Bongos by Timba Percussion,they fitted perfectly. The Pearl Elite was 7.25" & 9". You may want to contact Timba percussion online.

[Mike]

Yes, I will definitely try Timba. Let´s see what they say to shipping to Germany...

By the way, Meinl rims (Woodcraft bongos 7+9") would be 100,-€ a pair.

[Mike]

Excuse me, caballoballo, could you give me Timba´s internet address, please?

Thanks.

[zwar]

ho mike

timba link

zwar

[Mike]

yo, thanks!

when considering the relatively high prices for new hardware for my afro elite bongos (to save weight), i have been pondering the question if the seated stand by pearl could not help better...

[caballoballo]

Mike ,vas is los. It is a good idea the seated stand but it is another thing to carry. 100 for the Meiln Rims is a good price, I think I pay about the same in dollars for the Timba ones. One advantage of the Traditional over the comfort should be the the easy way to mount new quality skins.

[Mike]

Hello caballero I admire your German I am no Boricua, so I can´t reply in proper Spanish, sorry!

and, yes, I´ve been thinking of mounting new skins and I wonder how you can fiddle the skin under the comfort curve rim.
and: a-ha, if you say 100 Euro-bucks are a good price for meinl-hardware, OK. I just wonder about the prices these days in general - has steel become so rare ???

BTW I wish I could speak Spanish...! Such a beautiful language! But unfortunately, I don´t have the time. I already have a nice and hard job learning and practicing all those rythms...

[Firebrand]

I'd have to say that I haven't played a set of bongos better than a JCR model. I had just finished playing the set with my LP Generation II wood bongos (professional and very good themselves), and I borrowed a JCR custom-made bongo from a friend.

WOW! The sound volume projection was almost 33% to 50% louder than my LP Generation II. The sound was nice and crispy on the Macho and big and low on the Hembra. In fact, the Hembra and Macho both had 5 lugs instead of 4...they were larger bongos. They were heavy and uncomfortable in between my legs, though...

But, in any case, nothing I've played has yet beat that set of JCR bongos.

For a good, pro-quality bongo, LP Generation II is good enough...for more volume, get a fiberglass set.