I always enjoy working on different bongos our customers ship to us for repairs, refinishing, hardware and skin upgrades. Each unique set gives us the opportunity to inspect the build quality.
I noticed a few things about this factory made Gon Bops Mariano 7″ x 8.5″ set. The bridge is quite wide. The hooks on the tuning lugs are unnecessarily long. The ears on the crown are very shallow- barely enough room to get the hook through.
While ultimately successful, mounting skins on these drums was challenging with the lug and crown ear clearance. I chose amber Middle Eastern Steer- 1mm on the macho and 1.6mm on the hembra.
AVAILABLE NOW! Contact us via messenger or email at info@manitopercussion.com if you are interested.
This set is made of locally and sustainably sourced spalted poplar wood from Athens, GA. Each drum begins as a solid log and is painstakingly hollowed and turned on our custom built conga lathe. Spalting is the process of naturally coloring the wood using certain fungi and is accomplished here in our shop. The inlays are made of natural pipestone. The bottoms are protected by a clear polymer foot which will not mark or scratch floors.
This set is built to be tonally matched to sing together and the internal geometry of each drum is individually designed to bring out the best possible tones from the drums. The skins have been meticulously chosen to match the harmonics of the shells and to create a symbiosis of sound across the entire set.
All Manito Percussion hardware carries a limited lifetime guarantee.
Super Tumba
Skin: 2.3mm amber Middle Eastern steer
Playing Surface: 14″ diameter
Height: 30″
Weight: 30 pounds
Hardware: 304 stainless steel 7-lug half round Moderna crown, heavy duty 3/8″ tuning lugs
Tumba
Skin: 2.2mm amber Middle Eastern steer
Playing Surface: 12.5″ diameter
Height: 30″
Weight: 27 pounds
Hardware: 304 stainless steel 6-lug half round Moderna crown, heavy duty 3/8″ tuning lugs
Conga
Skin: 2.1mm amber Middle Eastern steer
Playing Surface: 11.75″ diameter
Height: 30″
Weight: 27 pounds
Hardware: 304 stainless steel 6-lug half round Moderna crown, heavy duty 3/8″ tuning lugs
Quinto
Skin: 1.9mm amber Middle Eastern steer
Playing Surface: 11″ diameter
Height: 30″
Weight: 25 pounds
Hardware: 304 stainless steel 6-lug half round Moderna crown, heavy duty 3/8″ tuning lugs
Here’s another before and after. We recently upgraded the skins on these JCR bongos for a customer on the west coast. I mounted amber Middle Eastern Steer- 1mm on the macho, 1.6mm on the hembra. It’s always an honor to work with instrument history.
These bongos were made by Maestro Cali Rivera. “For decades, from a tiny and crowded space in a nondescript building in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, Rivera operated a place of magic and legend. Rows of gleaming cowbells — the shop’s speciality — each buffed to perfection by Rivera or his longtime workmate Pete Lugo, were stacked amid decades of history; old bongo shells and machine parts, boxes ready to be shipped to customers around the world and the metal working tools that have hardly changed since cowbells, or cencerros, were first used in Cuban music at the turn of the 19th century.”
Maestro Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez has passed away. Our hearts and thoughts are with his family and friends.
John Rodríguez Jr. (September 11, 1945 – August 17, 2024), better known as Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez, was an American bongo player of Puerto Rican descent. He was the long-time bongosero for Tito Puente, and also played with Tito Rodríguez, Ray Barretto and Alfredo de la Fe. He belonged to several popular bands of the salsa era such as Tico All-Stars, Fania All-Stars and Típica 73.
Moderna Crown Rims are hand crafted from 5/8″ 304 stainless steel half round bar for added strength and comfort. Each crown is custom fabricated to order to fit any sized drum, and includes a complimentary flesh hoop.
Thanks to all those who have taken the time to send photos of their upgrades and review us and our work. Our goal is to contribute to our drumming community in a positive and sustainable fashion. We are here to help. manitopercussion.com
These solid shell poplar bongos were made with wood sourced sustainably from Athens, GA. They feature our handmade stainless steel hardware and steer skins.
Wood: poplar
Height: 6-3/8″
Width: 7″ macho, 8-3/4″ hembra
Bridge: spalted maple with lapis inlay
Shell Inlay: lapis
Skins: 1mm steer on macho, 1.8mm steer on hembra
Hardware: 304 stainless steel, half round moderna crown
These solid shell apple bongos were made for a customer with wood sourced sustainably from Athens, GA. They feature our handmade stainless steel hardware and steer skins.
Wood: apple
Shell Height: 6-3/8″
Shell Width: 6-3/4″ macho, 8″ hembra
Bridge: spalted maple with pipestone inlay
Skins: 1mm steer on macho, 1.6mm steer on hembra
Hardware: 304 stainless steel, half round moderna crown
Weight: 10 lbs 14 oz
Manito writes, “I would consider these to have a similar attack to maple wood for sure. The macho has a very responsive open tone and super crisp and loud slaps. The hembra is beautifully resonant but without noticeable overtones. I like to build bongos with that old school gut punch style tone on the hembra with little to no ring. A very sort of Cuban sound.
The geometry of the shell design also contributes heavily to overtone ring. Most drum makers don’t take into consider that they are building resonating chambers where the dimensions really need to be in harmony for the sound to be smooth. For me that fact is a passion and I work very hard to craft not only the most visually beautiful but, more importantly, the most sonically beautiful instruments. I actually came very close to keeping them for myself.”
I recently upgraded the skin to 1.8mm Middle Eastern Steer on this old oak Caribbean Rhythms requinto. While the shell is constructed of wide staves, its out of round. The hardware leaves a little to be desired, but hanging in there. manitopercussion.com
