New Skins for Gen III

[Marcus]

Been playing my new Gen III bongos for a few weeks now and I am already getting a bit tired of the stock skins. Being water buffalo they have that typical ringing after effect and I am looking for that seriously dry buttery sound. Natural steer on the hembra and maybe a thin mule on the macho but I would like to try a thin natural steer on the Macho first.

I was expecting a siam oak plywood shell but these bongos are solid staves as far as I can tell-grain patterns match from inside to outside of the shell. Actually I was pleasantly surprised with the hardware and construction. Heavier than expected but they fit real good for playing.

If someone has reheaded a GEN III I would appreciate hearing your story.

peace, marcus

[caballoballo]

Saludos Marcus, I may suggest to contact Manito percussion for those skins. A thick steer skin 1/8" at least for the hembra and a thin 1/16 " for the macho. That would be my recipe.

[Marcus]

That confirms my original thoughts. Work with Manito in the past and he has great skins. thanks Caballoballo.

peace, marcus

[JOHNNY6]

Hi Marcus,
Just got a mule skin for macho of a Gen.2 from Manito,and I love it! I'll be ordering thick natural steer for the hembra from him soon,my advice for the thick skin buy it loose and not premounted,it will be easier to mount.But Josean is probably more of an expert onthat subject than I am.Enjoy your new bongos!!!!J6.

[JOHNNY6]

Oh,I forgot.... I really like the wood on my Gen.2,solid staves oak like on the Gen. 3./these 2 bongos with the right skins are very solid and nice sounding bongos...

[Marcus]

Hey Johnny6,

I thought about ordering a Manito set of bongos and due to that custom appeal, yet I am just began with the bongo so the stock LP or another is just fine right now. But skins are a different story. I also like the flat skins for mounting--more fun to soak apply trim and dry then tune up. When I received the GEN III I took the heads off and cleaned up everything. The bearing edge was a bit dirty so I wiped and sanded a bit. Then I rubbed parrafinn wax along the surface and took a hair dryer and basically melted the wax into the surface with a paper towel wipe to remove excess. Cleaned the lugs and lubbed.

I like the boutique custom bongos but to tell you the truth I am not experienced enough to appreciate the difference at this point. A year or two I will get on waiting list with Manito. Always like to buy for my needs. Will consider the mule for the Macho.

peace, marcus

[JOHNNY6]

Hi Marcus,I never talked about Manito ' s bongos in this thread,just his skins....you must have read another thread in which I was talking about his bongos....

[Marcus]

I diverged into custom bongos because of our conversation of ordering skins from Manito.

[JOHNNY6]

Marcus,
It is easy to do and tempting,since they are pieces of art.....I salivate when I see his bongos!!
But like you,I will wait a little before I buy from him (may be sell a couple,before I buy his.Have a good 1.J6.

[Marcus]

While looking at nearly every bongo pic on this forum, I have noticed there are basically two methods to soak skins. One method is to soak til al dente however that tends to create those white stretch marks as the skin is pulled over the bearing edge. The other method has no stretch marks which brings me to think that the skins were soaked very well and very plyable. Very beautiful mounting however.

I am tending upon the lightly soaked process as that might produce a dryer sound. I have noticed this with reheading congas. The more skin soaking produces a more "wet" sound.

Got the Manito skins and decided to get custom rings rather than reuse the LP stock rings. The weld points really did not look very strong and I just could not reuse them.

peace, marcus

[caballoballo]

Saludos, do not let the skin soak too much because it may become too thick thus making it more difficult. Just let it soak until it becomes manageable which will depend on the thickness.