Drumskull Congas

[Garvin]

Drumskull Drums is a shop out of California
(Drumskull Drums). They provide the highest quality African drums of anyone I've found in the whole US. They built this set of congas and was wondering if anyone had ever played anything like these. They are solid shelled and obviously they are tuned with rope rather than hardware, which I think is awesome! I would love to pull a knot instead of turn a wrench. How would they compare with a more traditional Afro-Cuban set of congas? What about the rims, anyone see any issues with those? I'm curious about these and becoming kind of obsessed. Any thoughts or experience would be greatly appreciated.





Edited By Garvin on 1184935968

[deadhead]

Have played their djembes and dun duns, and they are very nice quality and excellent sounding instruments. I've only dealt with the guys at drumskulls once, but was a very pleasant experience, they custom made some flesh hoops for me. I imagine the solid shells provide a great sound and projection. I'm curious as to what wood and skins they are using however? Very beautiful looking drums in my opinion, and you got me interested now .

[Garvin]

Yeah, these guys are great. I hung out at a drum camp recently where they had a tent set up. I watched them put together several drums and checked out a bunch of their other stuff. Great operation, really knowledgable about their craft. I emailed them for the specs, prices and wood. Looks like it could be the same wood they use in their Guinea djembes, Lenke I think it's called. The same wood they make balaphones out of.

[taikonoatama]

I hate to report this, but keep in mind that it's only one person's experience.

A buddy has a set - tumba/segundo. He told me they were Drumskulls and I was already familar with the company from their African drums - they look just like these in the pics.

Anyway, they're just about the ringiest congas I've ever played. They have that kind of ring that comes out really loud even in the bass notes, when you plant your palm or whole hand and leave it there for a second. It's gotta be the shell ringing, and not the skin, when it comes out in that stroke, as the skin is completely muted.

The workmanship is very good - beautiful, solid one-piece West African hardwood, (with the same distinctive wood I've seen in some high-end djembes), great ropework (not something I'd like myself, on a conga, but that's a different discussion), and cow hide.

I was really hoping they'd sound great, but I'd like to hold off complete judgment until I'd played some more of them.

~james



Edited By taikonoatama on 1184952186

[pcastag]

I would assume that it's going to be very difficult to get thick enough skins on the drum to give it a true conga sound. Thinner skins can obviusly be tuned with the mali weave, but I would wonder if it's possible to tune up a nice thick cowhide using that system to a playable level.
PC

[taikonoatama]

I wish I could remember the thickness of the skins on these - I'll check the next time I see them. They were tuned relatively low (and nicely), but I'm not attributing the low tuning to any inherent tuning limitation with the Mali weave - from my djembe experience, and having roped many djembes, I'd be surprised if this was an issue. That being said, I've never tried it with thick cow skin.

The basic sounds were actually really nice, with the open tones being very full-sounding. I liked the core quality of the sound, but then this sort of delayed ring would kick in, almost with a wave-like effect. Shell-ringing and skin-ringing have different qualities - it's difficult to explain, but if you've heard them you'd know.

[OLSONGO]

I am interested in cost.

A thin head would also cause that ringing sound.

Paz OLsongo

[Whopbamboom]

Couldn't a little bit of foam rubber weatherstripping strips be stuck inside to get rid of the ringing?

[Derbeno]

Here is a previous thread on 'solid wood vs staves' congas. Some has thick cowhides and ringing was not much of an issue. I tried a set at Motherland Music in Culver City LA, sounded fine but I do rememebr that these babies were bloody heavy

http://www.congaplace.com/cgi-bin....83;st=0

[Garvin]

Hey, thought I'd post their reply to me since it answers some of the questions raised here.

"Great timing! We have a new shipment from Mali that we are picking up
today that contains quite a few sets of Congas. We can sell them in any
quantity you prefer. The best value is to go for the set of 3. The
quinto is $575, the conga $585, and the tumba $595. However, you receive
an automatic 10% discount on a set of three, which drops the total from
$1755 to $1552.50, a savings of $202.50.

We head them with thick cow from guinea. These are sweet skins with a
great feel. They really have character, for lack of a better way to
explain it. We do use the traditional djembe weave, as you saw at bantu.
The reason for this is that we feel it gives the drum a very even tuning
and really creates a great sounding and feeling conga."

It goes on, but I thought this gives some idea about their approach to why they do the weave etc... They are heavy though. My friend has a set of those Motherland congas. They are beautiful and sound great but they are heavy as hell. I'm not gigging enough for that to be a deterrent yet. Also, as far as the skin thickness goes, I played on thick cow a few times and as I recall it was like hitting a cinder block. Definately not easy on the hands, but I think as with any conga, your technique will overcome things like that. Plus it'll keep the yahoos in the club from messing around on em'...



Edited By Garvin on 1185212512

[Garvin]

Can anyone help me decide what type of shell to get? The picture with all three drums are Lenke Wood, the pair below are Dugaru, the single conga is Hare. Any input on these?

[Garvin]

Bump!

Well I ordered a set of these back at the beginning of August. They will hopefully be here before January. I have to decide whether to go with the rope-tuning or use some Sol hardware. I keep going back and forth. Any input? Oh, I ordered the darker Hare shells. The actual set is being carved in Mali as we speak.

[Thebreeze]

Garvin....I have a solid shell Conga that I think you would like to see in an email pic to get an idea of what your drums would look like with tuning hooks. I really love this drum and it weighs a ton since the wood has to be at least one inch thick. Not a drum to take repeatedly to gigs, but more as a stay at home showpiece for me.

[Thebreeze]

Garvin... my email is willie267@hotmail.com

[Chupacabra]

Greetings!
I have been buying percussion instruments from the guys at Drumskulls for a couple of years now and they definitely have a really good line of instruments. Last year I bought 3 shells and a full African cow hide from them: quinto, conga and tumba. Eventually, I found a maker/supplier who would sell me a nice set of hardware seperately - Michel at Moperc percussion. I got to work mounting the hardware and heading them as they arrived. They were bought over a few months. When the hides were fully dried and ready to be played I started to play and was shocked at how terrible they sounded! But I didn't let that discourage me. I started looking into it and asking for advice (this was before I knew of the existence of CongaPlace!), and generally just playing around with them. I had to rehead the quinto but the tumba and conga have finally started coming around. Now, I love the sound of all 3! The tumba still has a ring but that's because it doesn't get played as much as the quinto and conga. It was a very good learning experience and these are a one-of-a-kind set, for sure. The carved shells and African hides give a rich, earthy sound that no fibreglass or DrumTron3000 robot-made instrument can create! Does the sound fit in with any particular Cuban or African music? I'll have to let the experts decide - I'm just a white kid in the 'burbs. We practise Bembe, Rumba and little bit of Salsa with a couple of other novices on Saturday mornings and sometimes go to workshops put on by visiting performers from Cuba and some of those players seem very fond of them and have asked about them.
Yes, the drums weigh quite a bit and I would not recommend these for someone who transports them frequently, nor for anyone who can't keep them in a climate that is drum-friendly, as frequent or drastic temperature changes can make carved shells crack. Lug-tuned you can easily loosen - Mali weave is a little more playing around to loosen off.
Would I recommend buying Drumskull Congas? What do you think? Give them a call and find out what they have that isn't on their website yet (hint: tuning).
I also made a set of staved Dunun shells here and sent them to Drumskulls to get them headed with the traditional method (no steel rings) and they applied the same care and expertise as would with their own drums and I am extremely happy with them.
Hope this ramble has been helpful!



Edited By Chupacabra on 1196659270