Bongos:hand made fom the dominican republic

[Thebreeze]

Hi Mr.Conga and thanks for the nice words. Yes, the inside of the shells is that way I got them and I am sure that they were stained, although I can't say what color or type of stain it was, but it looks nice and I did not want to go through all the trouble of sanding the insides of the shells too. I like the way it contrasts from the outsides.
I will post the pics as soon as these are completed and I might not retire completely but I have to handle my priorities in the proper manner and that's not happening at this time for me.

Those words were from Paul the Apostle's letter to the Roman's 1:16
the Niv shows it this way..

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Gentile meaning everyone else in the world. You and me Mr. Conga.

[Jaisen Torres]

hey will those bongos are coming out unreal kid , love them i cant wait to see your project when its done , i would bank on them sounding as beautiful as they look , you realy did your thing kid , im happy for you... Jaisen ...

[Thebreeze]

Thank you Jaisen, I value your opinions most highly and will be trying my best to put the skins on this weekend. I am really looking forward to finishing this project and I think that they will turn out extra special with the nice dark Mule Skins I have standing by from El Greco.

Will.

[caballoballo]

Breeze, you are an artist . The only thing I may suggest IMHO is to use wing nuts instead of the regular type at the center block preasure points. Although you have the cracking preventing plate it is always better to apply preasure by hand than with a wrench.

[Thebreeze]

Arre....Thanks for the tip. I agree with you because when you tighten with a wrench you have a tendency to give it that extra turn for good measure and it just could be the one that causes the wood to crack. Knowing this, I took extra measures to keep myself from doing that, and I also used quite a thick piece of metal there. I believe I gave it just the right amount of tension so it is not torqued down too tight. I really appreciate the info because other members can benefit from it as well. How many times do I learn something new for myself by just reading these posts! If I ever do another bongo project like this I will definitely get wing nuts and I will make sure that they are the heavy duty ones, nice and thick. I have a set of older meinl fiberglass bongos that had the wing nuts, but they were very thin and they even bent a little when I would tighten them so I replaced them.



Let us pray for each other so that we can all come to know God one day before we find ourselves before him at the judgement, not knowing if we are saved or not.

[Thebreeze]

Well....I have managed to put the heads on the bongos. I am very happy at how the Hembra head turned out. It is quite a thick piece of Muleskin I got from El Greco and even though the heads are not dry yet I can tell it is going to sound great. As far as the Macho head goes..I wish I would have mounted it just a little higher because once it is dry and it get's tuned it will drop about a 1/4 inch or more than what it is now. As you can see in the pictures, the bongos have a few issues in order to be perfect.
1. The heads are too far apart from each other. I knew it would be but you have to put everything together to make an accurate measurement. They are about 1inch and 1/8 inch from each other so I need to shave about 3/4 inch from the middle block in order to get a small space of about 1/4 to 3/8 inch.
2. The two shells do not line up level with each other. This will be an easy fix once I have the middle block off I will adjust the angle on it so that the shells will line up evenly. That's due to the poor quality construction of the original maker of the bongos.
3. I mounted the macho head too high. I don't want to waste a perfectly good mule skin from El Greco so I will leave it as is and if I have to in the near future, I will replace it with another mule skin.

It will take me about two weeks, and then i will repost additional pictures of the bongos with the corrections made.

I hope everyone has a great Sunday. Take care and God Bless you all.

Will.

[bongosnotbombs]

Looking good Will, some seriously chunky hardware there!
I think that macho height is fine, my machos are around there, or lower.

What's the weight on those btw?

[Thebreeze]

Thanks BNBs, The hardware is like you say, Chunky. The tuning lugs are 3/8" and you need a 9/16 wrench to tune them. I just weighed them on my Doctor's scale and they weigh in at just under 12 lbs.

Will.

[caballoballo]

Usually I mount the Macho head about 1/8 from top. That way as it stretch over the time the range would be longer.

[Mike]

Yes, Will, I do not see much of a problem with the height of the macho skin either.
I had a mule skin for Bongo macho from Isaac/JCR which noticeable stretched after 3 months or so,
so you need not worry about yours in my opinion.
BTW: Awesome-looking set, from the pictures is can sense this unique bongó
is surely great!
And the hembra skin seems to be a killer mule indeed!
Great job, Will!

Take care,

Mike

[Thebreeze]

Thank you Arre, and Mike for your inputs. I listen to all your inputs seriously. I will still post another picture in a couple of weeks with the bongo heads a little closer to each other and with the heads level to each other. Again, thanks for the comments.

Will.

[caballoballo]

Oye Brisa, That thickness on the Hembra will ensure a very deep old school sound. All my Bongos have one like that. I know one has Mule & the other 3 have a thick PuertoRican Cow Skin. Keep working on it you almost to the point of perfection.

[Thebreeze]

Thanks Arre. I will be getting a new mule for the Macho soon. Like you said, almost to perfection. A new Macho skin and the middle block a little narrower and it should be done. El Greco has very graciously offered to send me another head. He is the best in my book. Thanks El Greco!.

[caballoballo]

Brisa, why is the need for a new Macho head ? The one on the picture look fine, if it is because of the height, do not worry the skin has a long way to stretch down to the center block. I only have Mule on one of my Bongos, the others have Cow & I can not complain about the sound which is not too different from the mule . Regardles of the skin type they will all stretch to the point of been useless (crack,break, ect ) soon or later depending on the use time.

[No.2-1820]

I agree, the head on that macho looks perfect to me. Just like the one on my jcr macho. It took a while to settle down but now is almost unfairly easy to play and produce the crisp, dry tones that we all seek, I just give it a couple of cranks, not too tight as it's easy to close off the tone, and then it can be played with the lightest of strikes.

Barrie