We recently completed and shipped these solid shell walnut bongos. They were made with wood sourced sustainably from Athens, GA. They feature our handmade stainless steel hardware and horse and steer skins.
Wood: walnut
Shell Height: 6-3/8″
Shell Width: 5.75″ macho, 7.25″ hembra
Bridge: spalted maple with magnesite
Skins: .9mm natural horse on macho, 1.4mm natural steer on hembra
Hardware: 304 stainless steel, half round moderna crown
Weight: 9 lbs
Raw Artistic Productions writes, “After many years of excessive searching for the dream congas of my life, I can now say I have finally found them:
Say hello to my Manito Percussion solid shell „Spalted Poplar“ tumbadoras, matched set, made from the same tree.
Each drum begins as a solid log and is painstakingly hollowed and turned on Manito´s 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 turquoise, lapis lazuli and magnesite stone.
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 amber Middle Eastern steer skins have been meticulously chosen to match the harmonics of the shells and to create a symbiosis of sound across the entire set.
Much love goes out to Ryan “Manito” Wendel who built these exceptional unique instruments, a true soul brother who inspired me with his endless passion for handmade drums.
I highly recommend these wonderful instruments to all Congueros, true masterpieces of craftsmanship. Sure they are high priced, but: “Quality exists when the price is long forgotten”.
Dreams do come true as long as you keep dreaming.”
These solid shell walnut bongos were made with wood sourced sustainably from Athens, GA. They feature our handmade stainless steel hardware and horse and steer skins.
Wood: walnut
Shell Height: 6-3/8″
Shell Width: 6″ macho, 7.5″ hembra
Bridge: spalted maple with turquoise
Skins: .9mm natural horse on macho, 1.4mm natural steer on hembra
Hardware: 304 stainless steel, half round moderna crown
Weight: 9.75 lbs
Black Gold™ buffalo is Brazilian. It produces warm tones and rich bass. It also has medium action and a slightly dimpled supple playing surface. As with all our flat skins and PreMounted™ heads, it is available in natural, amber, and chocolate colors.
For answers to many common questions visit our FAQ. White glove customer service available. info@manitopercussion.com
Looking for studio conga skins? Peruvian steer is warm and classic with crisp slaps, round open tones, rich bass and highly controlled overtones. It has medium action, and is ideal for the studio. Available in natural, amber and chocolate colors as a flat skin or PreMounted™.
These solid shell curly birch bongos were made with wood from Athens, GA. They feature our handmade stainless steel hardware and horse and steer skins.
Wood: sustainably sourced curly birch
Height: 6-3/8″
Width: 7″ macho, 9″ hembra
Bridge: leopard wood with carbon inlay
Skins: 1mm horse on macho, 1.6mm steer on hembra
Hardware: 304 stainless steel, half round moderna crown
Weight: 11 lbs
In the past we offered what we thought were thick “mule” skins for congas, but a DNA test from a major agricultural university revealed that they had absolutely no horse, mule or donkey (equine) genetics. They did have bovine DNA markers, and were likely Nili Ravi water buffalo marketed as mule.
They are beautiful high quality skins that we call Fat Cat™ Buffalo. It is Middle Eastern Nili Ravi, and produces dry/woody tones and has low action at thickness above 2.5mm. The playing surface is slightly dimpled and dense- ideal for folkloric styles. This skin type is not to be confused with Thai water buffalo common on factory made drums.
It is available in Natural, Amber and Chocolate colors, and in thicknesses up to 3.3mm as a Flat Skin or PreMounted™ Drum Head.
Just upgraded the skins on these JCR bongos- .8mm horse on macho, 1.3mm steer on hembra. I generally mount a slightly thicker steer skin on an hembra, but there was very little space between the crown/rim and shell. I try to create a contrast between the bright resonant crack of the horse on the macho and deep throaty punch of the steer on the hembra.
These solid shell curly birch bongos were made with wood from Athens, GA. They feature our handmade stainless steel hardware and horse and steer skins.
Wood: sustainably sourced curly birch
Height: 6-3/8″
Width: 7″ macho, 9″ hembra
Bridge: leopard wood with carbon inlay
Skins: 1mm horse on macho, 1.6mm steer on hembra
Hardware: 304 stainless steel, half round moderna crown
Weight: 11 lbs
A thicker skin will control overtones (ring) produced by any drum. The thicker the skin, the dryer and more woody the sound becomes. Skin thickness is recommended relative to the shell size- the larger the shell, the thicker the skin. This produces a balanced sound across the entire set of drums. Fiberglass shells require even thicker (+ .2mm) skins than the recommended thickness for wooden drums below.
The skin thicknesses below will produce a warm and classic sound with crisp slaps, round open tones, rich bass and controlled overtones:
Bongo Macho: 1mm
Bongo Hembra: 1.4mm
Requinto: 1.8mm
Quinto: 1.8mm
Conga: 2mm
Tumba: 2.2mm
Super Tumba: 2.4mm
Djembe: 1mm