Mike wrote:It is not a bad idea to discuss personal preferences and dislikes
of your own models, as you do not see as many timbales photos
as conga photos (naturally in this forum).
OK, my 13+14" Afro timbales are from the 1980s, they are brass shells,
and I bought them without a stand or a cowbell holder. So I had to make
a stand (the upper part incl. welding).
Luckily an old LP cowbell holder fit perfectly.
Here are two pics from my basement:
What I like about the drums is their sound, rather dry cascara and
a decent sound that one might describe as old-school or vintage or the like.
What I do not like is the position and length of the sideplates,
as they are often in the way while playing.
Quite the opposite in sound is my Matador Karl Perazzo timbales set in Italian/Mexican colors,
which is quite eye-catching.
The 14+15" steel shells produce a very bright sound, the macho with a thin head especially. I put an Aquarian
skin on the hembra so that the deeper tone is not as ringing, a bit muffled, but with a good punch.
The downside of this set is definitely the flimsy cowbell holder.
The Matador-style way the shells are mounted are questionable too as far as stability is concerned,
but the plus is that you can demount the set fairly quickly.
That´s it for me. Keep the comments and photos coming!
leedy2 wrote:Omelenko1 wrote:Vaya Cuco, pa' que gozes. Leedy Ludwig Humberto Morales solid brass 13"x14", as you know, the best ever made. I have had them for about 35 years.
Dario
I sill have my second set of Leedy timbales I ever owed, my first set I had traded with a guy named Chorolo for a set of Rogers and I wanted a set of Leedy so bad that one day I was working at night club in New York Named Havana San Juan I was with Joe Cotto and Chorolo was working with his band at same place, so I ask him to trade Rogers for Leedy my rogers were brand new I had just gotten.Chorolo's set was all beat up with extra holes but I wanted a set of Leedy so bad we traded. One day as I worked at night club,My teacher and good friend Henry Adler walked into Havana San Juan and saw the timbales I was using and said to me where you got that piece of shit, so I told him I had trade with Chorolo he just shook his head. The following week when I got to his store for my lesson he ask me to go to his storage room and bring a timbales case with timbales inside I opened wow a brand new set ,he asked me how I liked those timbales . I told him they look great the were brand new set of Leedy timbales . He told me they are yours give me $75.00 don't have to pay me right away you give $20.00 a week till paided and so I did. And to this day I have them this was 1962. The set I got from Chorolo were sold to Johnny Almendra he also was looking for a set of Leedy real bad back then.He is a photo of that set and set own by chorolo which was by the way a Leedy & LUDWIG. Know this is only one of the many sets I have .
Ernesto Pediangco wrote:ErnsMy Hybrid retro vintage Leedy style w/ Afro / Pearl shells, Leedy lugs and custom Rim mounted system uses early Rodgers stand w/ 3 extension tubes to allow low to high positioning and fits into my bass drum. For some reason, even though I used the original backing plates, the cascara sound is to muted and I will make newer ones that I can cut to a smaller lighter weight until I get the cascara sound I desire. These Afro / Pearl shells have sharp bearing edges that will mold the plastic heads to a sharp fold that does not allow much tuning range since when you de tune such drums, the plastic is not elastic like calf and dead spots occur when the plastic changes from the position it is molded to. I prefer a sound edge that has a rounded egde as wide as 1960's Slingerland which is ideal for both calf & plastic heads, allows the bearing edge to seat the head and still be seated in a variety of tensions. My Meinl ~ Luis Conte model were like Lp design but the shell diameter was to large and the heads were binding to the shells and hard to de ture so fine tuning was hard also. The Rims were to small in diameter & did not fit plastic heads correctly and made premature contact w/ the plastic instead of the skin wire. Regardless of brand...drum making is an art and crude Asian designs are not as developed as old American models !
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