Out of round is out of bounds? - I dont see what the big deal is...

[Omelenko]

Enclosed 1981 SOS perfectly round (these have almas).Always untuned after rumbas and gigs,proper and frequent lubrication. Dario

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

[yambu321]

DARIO,
VERY NICE LOOKING DRUMS, AWESOME! :;):

JOHNNY CONGA, NICE INPUT ABOUT THE EPOXY RESIN.

THIS TOPIC IS HEALTHY, WITH PLENTY OF GOOD INPUTS

[caballoballo]

En su Corcel cuando sale la Luna aparece el Bravo Caballoballo. Great topic you all. 1 of my Bongos (El Piernas ) is not perfectly round. I do not think is the age because the wood is very thick,may be is one of the first made by HR. Anyway,I get that Mule skin crank up and you notice other players looking wondering how the Caballo gets so much sound projection. Sound is what counts. Hey yambu nice poem ,te quedó muy bien. Omelenko you need to schedule a dance for all your drums,no te quedes sin bailar. Every gig I take a Different Bongó out to dance. This is agreat forum,we have a little of everything, players,collectors, collector players,amateurs, Iam also a dancer, ect ect and we all contribute with great topics to enrich the knowledge of all. Talking about dance (salsa) it makes you understant better the clave.



Edited By caballoballo on 1186450393

[windhorse]

Yeah, the sound is where it's at for me.
I've been in on some discussions here about tuning and detuning where it looked like I was the only one not detuning, and I can see that several people are willing to stake their lives on detuning being the best treatment of a drum. After Tony's statement in another thread that you can either tune to the current head's state - tension tuning, or the current lug ring's state, and that the latter will lead to a straighter lug ring with less bend; I now see the whole thing about head tension a bit differently. Thanks Tony for speaking with intelligence.
I've never detuned.. Though we play our drums with low tension - not salsa band stuff - Rumba only. So, maybe that's why we get away with it.
And, I've only owned these for 6 years - plenty of time to screw up and find out later that we were stupidly doing it wrong. :;):
The drums are still happily round. They're Mahogony without alma, so if anything's going to deform it'd be mine.
What I'm doing is careful small tunings with regard to which side of a lug ring I tighten to keep the ring as staight on the drum as possible.
I'm not yet ready to go hogwild and detune everyday yet. But, you guys are working on me.. :O

Here's a little analogy. As a skier, occassionally people would stick a pole on your skis or even ski across the tops, but I'd always just say, "It's OK, I don't ski on the top side of the ski anyway."
Which is like saying, "Go ahead, scratch the shell, I just play the skins of the drum."
Admittedly, I am most definitely NOT a collector. But the last thing I want to do is sacrifice the SOUND of my drums.
Thanks for all the conversation lately.. All of you!



Edited By windhorse on 1186451405

[jorge]

Hi,
Although we all like to see a perfectly round drum head, and probably the resale value of a drum would be lower if the head is out of round, sometimes the sound of an egg-shaped drum is great. In 1985 I had the opportunity to go to Matanzas to see Grupo Afrocuba de Matanzas play. Regalao, who plays quinto with Afrocuba, is my favorite quinto player, and that day he sounded even better than I had heard him before. His tones had a pure, sweet sound, and the secos were beautiful, dry, hollow sounding. It was over 90 degrees and he played a real fast columbia for about 20 minutes, and was barely sweating. After they played, I went to talk to him and noticed that the head of his quinto was very egg-shaped. The drum and skin were old, I did not look inside to see if there was an alma, but I doubt it. He let me play it, and that drum was the best sounding, and easiest playing, quinto I have played. It didn't have the sustained tone that a lot of quintos have, the tone was shorter, sweeter, and drier than most quintos I have heard, and it felt like the response was quicker. A one handed slap sounded beautiful and perfectly dry, no hint of ring, and I remember getting a good slap even hitting the drum softly.
I have tried many skins on 3 quintos I have had, and have never been able to get that sound, even with an old skin. All my drums have almas, and I have not dared try to make the head out of round. The physics of a circular head predict clear resonant tones and a longer sustain, whereas an elliptical head would have much more complex and less clear resonances, with much faster damping of the tone, so the theory seems to agree with the reality.
I am not saying we should all let our drum heads get out of round, but maybe the "ideal" of a perfectly circular head does not always give the sounds that we prefer.

[Tonio]

Hola Jorge,
I would greatly agree with you. It really depends on the context. In rumba/folklorico genre's the dryer (at least to me) seems appropriate and sounds great. Regalao's quinto may have been egg shaped, but sounds good and to the context., definately a good reason to keep using it !! Of course (as you know) its how you play it too. Sometimes you want it dry , sometimes you want some sustain.

Dario, nice congas !! I noticed the fyberskin on the Junior quinto, must be for salsa? did you make the chekeres?

T

[Tonio]

Forgot to mention, for a dry sound , some tape(on the underside) can be used to muffle the sustain. Judicial placement/thickness can be used to muffle it out.

I have never tried this ,but it seems to work based on my friends "taping" madness.

T



Edited By Tonio on 1186458460

[blango]

Nice tip JC,

Ive also seen a very simple metal ring, like the one inside the skin.

It looked really easy to install, about an inch from the top, with four u nails to hold it in place.

Im not sure its worth getting an alma hand made and start drilling holes in an old tub, just to keep it from getting out of round. But why not beef up the construction of something you want to protect with a simple, yet effective fix.

I talked to Matt Smith about this, and he said that if it touched in three or four places, it would be effective at keeping it round. The problem is that the old tubs are uneven inside, with one stave thicker than the next etc.

JC's epoxy idea would lock down a ring so it would support each stave. I like it.

There is this filler epozy gel that would work great for this, if you can work fast enough!

Does anyone know of a more slow cureing epoxy?

Tony

[109-1176549166]

Here's my analogy: Given the choice between a woman who's gorgeous but no character vs. a woman who's got character but not gorgeous, I'd definitely pick the latter. But, if you can find a woman who's got both, then IMO you've just hit a jackpot! :;):

Same with congas: I'd rather have both great sound and great looks. But, if my only choice were restricted to just having either great looks (including being "perfectly" round) or great sound, I'd definitely choose the latter 'cause my top priority (with any instrument for that matter) is the sound.



Edited By mjtuazon on 1186463726

[109-1176549166]

There are 3 things in real estate: Location, Location, Location!

IMO, there are 3 things with percussion instruments, including congas: Sound, Sound, Sound!



Edited By mjtuazon on 1186475790

[Charangaman]

Here's my analogy: Given the choice between a woman who's gorgeous but no character vs. a woman who's got character but not gorgeous, I'd definitely pick the latter. But, if you can find a woman who's got both, then IMO you've just hit a jackpot! :;):

When I was 14, I hoped that one day I would have a girlfriend.

When I was 16, I got a girlfriend, but there was no passion, so I decided I needed a passionate girl with a zest for life.

In college, I dated a passionate girl, but she was too emotional. Everything was an emergency; she was a drama queen, cried all the time and threatened suicide. So, I decided I needed a girl with stability.

When I was 25, I found a very stable girl but she was boring. She was totally predictable and never got excited about anything. Life became so dull that I decided that I needed a girl with some excitement.

When I was 28, I found an exciting girl, but I couldn't keep up with her. She rushed from one thing to another, never settling on anything. She did mad, impetuous things and made me miserable as often as happy. She was great fun initially and very energetic, but directionless.

So, I decided to find a girl with some real ambition.

When I turned 31, I found a smart, ambitious girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground and married her. She was so ambitious that she divorced me, and took everything I owned.

Now, I am much older and wiser, . .

so I am looking for a girl with really, big tits.

[TONE74]

Keep sampling thats funny bro.

[Whopbamboom]

Charangaman, I'm dying here! Ha hah

[Diceman]

:D

[bdrbongo]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: That's some funny chit mon!