Manito is busy roughing a new batch of solid shells to season for next year. He allows the logs to sit outside to acquire spalting before the roughing stage. Spalting is any form of wood coloration caused by fungi. The unique coloration and patterns of spalted wood are highly sought by woodworkers.
Manito recently finished fabricating new 304SS bottom rims for these HR bongos.
We all get older. We all have health problems. We all need help at times in life. We are all part of this wonderful drumming community. https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-john-rodriguezs-road-to-recovery
Here’s a before and after. I recently mounted new steer skins on this set of Manito solid shell spalted maple bongos- 1mm on the macho, 1.6mm on the hembra. This was the fourth set of bongos Manito made many years ago. They arrived with a macho skin that had been replaced, and mounted without removing all the folds in the skin.
Here’s another pro tip. When mounting skins on bongos, I always remove the center block. This makes it very easy to mount the skins and trim the excess evenly. I also use 6.25″ mounting lugs, and replace them with the original lugs later.
For those of you that mount your own flat skins on your drums, here’s a pro tip for trimming the excess. I use a utility knife with a ground and deburred hook blade. Deburring is the process of removing the small imperfections known as burrs from machined metal products. This prevents me from accidentally cutting the playing surface. I’ve used this very tool to mount tens of thousands of skins- one of my best friends here in the shop.
We recently had the opportunity to work on these vintage LP, Palisades Park, NJ bongos. Manito fabricated new 3/16″ round SS304 flesh hoops, and I mounted 1mm steer on the macho and 1.6mm steer on the hembra. This mahogany set was obviously well cared for.
One of the first steps in making a solid hembra shell is roughing on the lathe. He’ll core, seal and kiln dry the rough shell for months before putting it back on the lathe for finishing. To do this correctly requires a great deal of patience, skill and talent.
I really enjoy working on different drums and the opportunity to understand the build quality. Manito recently refinished these Timba bongos. I mounted new steer, reassembled and reinstalled the badges on the set. Now they are off to California. If you need help with a project, get in touch.
