Post #95470 by tiki mick 1 on Wed, Jun 9, 2004 12:10 PM

I love my bongos now!

I think that they are my favorite drum sound of all. I like them even more then congas or even my pro-quality dumbek!

The sound is instant exotica, in fact, you NEED bongos for exotica!

After I learned how to tune them properly, I was rewarded with that high slap sound and open tone...like a hammer hitting a nail..the "martillo" sound!

I think the secret lies in the quality of the bongos, and the quality of the head. My Drums are fiberglass american made LP...this company has some bargain brands too, like Aspire, Cosmic Percussion and Matador..and they all suck...I had a pair of the matadors and the aspire, and the tone was dull....boring...not inspiring at all!

These fiberglass bongos must weigh about 30 pounds! The heads say "hand picked" on them, and that is where they differ from the bargain brands...which are lesser quality end-cuts from the hide.

The tone is crisp, and they record very well indeed!

All in all, if you are serious about playing bongos..(which I am) then spend the extra 150 and get the fiberglass, or generation 2 or 3....and for the most top of the line, 350 will get you the Galaxy Giovanni Hidalgo signature...and those things are beautiful indeed!
I was listening to the Very cool Martin Denny double CD last night, and noticed how predominant the bongos are, out of all the other percussion used..those bongos were the show piece on so many great songs like "oro""mau mau" and others!

I was jealously readng the euro guy's post, regarding starting an exotica band....man, I wish I could find the same thing here in SoCal!

I am down to only one band now (quit my rock band and my jazz band), the fabulous smokin menehunes...which satisfies my desire for great authentic hapa-haole style Hawaiian music....but I am "jonesing to one day start an exotica band...

it;s either that or I try to kidnap the ENTIRE Fisherman vibraphonic!!

And then NYC would hate me forever!