I wanna new drum!
These are the new bongos. So far I'm pretty happy with this purchase. So much smaller than that conga! And, they have a pretty good sound. The best part is that I got a killer deal. I got a $25 dollar gift cert from work to Best Buy. These sold at BB for $60. When the sales guy couldn't find any other units, I asked for a discount on the floor model and got it! All told, after tax, these cost me right at $40. Not bad. The books should be arriving in the next few days, so I think I'm off and running ... for once.
posted by Jericho Brown at 1/26/2009 07:34:00 AM
9 Comments:
I expect a video of you playing Babalu to be posted soon.
Wouldn't know how to play Babalu if my testicles depended on it.
However, I do plan to put up videos of myself as soon as possible. I've discovered that I am encouraged and motivated via public humiliation.
That would be the next time you, your bongos and your computer are in the same room - this evening, say.
Yeah, see, I have a problem there. I really can't play my bongos in the apartment. Our walls are thin. So, if I play, at least three other apartments will have to hear me, not to mention the people living in my apartment.
This was why getting a smaller drum was important. I am going to have to go find a place to play. I'll likely be playing on the roof top of a local parking structure or at the local Park and Ride. Since it's frakking cold, I'll likely be doing it IN my car!
The good news is that I have a new (to me) camera that does video. The other good news is that my books arrived - I have to learn to read music! ;)
Sheesh. If it's daylight, I say playing bongos in the apartment is fair game. It's not like you live in a dorm with quiet hours or something. Do you not play music on your stereo in your apartment?
Too curtius for your own good, m'dear. ;)
Usually if I'm listening to music in the apartment, it's on my head phones at the computer. Same as at work and on the bus. No wonder my hearing is going!
Daylight? Here in the PNW we get about an hour of that a day and it's overcast!
I kid. Actually looking out the office window right now, the sky is clear and an icy blue. I bet it it kidney freezing cold out there! We Seattlites are not used to anything below 40 degrees F. It hits freezing and this town panics!
How about these Bongos?
Those are ... nice? I hope. :)
I've just taken an excursion into bongo buying land. I really just wanted a solid feeling instrument that wouldn't cost me what a used car would go for. Seeing the bongos at BB in my price range and with the snazzy black hardware sold me.
However, turns out I might have bought something of a brand name. Might have ...
Gon Bops is a renowned bongo and conga manufacturer out of California. However, when I checked out their web site, they mentioned their "California" drum series and a series named after some musician, but they totally didn't mention their "Fiesta" series, which is what I bought. Why would they not talk about one of their products on their own site?
I went out and looked at how much Gon Bops bongos go for. Their California series bongos are about $250, that's their "low end".
As I looked, I found another manufacturer who had nearly identical bongos to what I bought at the same price; Toca.
I think someone licensed the Gon Bops name for their low end instruments. They may be doing the same thing for Toca, or maybe I actually own Toca bongos with a different sticker.
Just a theory. Not that it matters. I'm gonna beat the shit out of them until my hands bleed, then maybe I'll invest in something pretty!
Both Gon Bops and Toca are names in the Latin/ethnic percussion field.
It's not uncommon for larger musical instrument manufacturers to lease their name to "low end" manufacturers in SE Asia. A lot of these "low end" manufacturers actually manage to make some decent gear on occasion.
With the economy in the shitter, there is probably more money to be made leasing a name to low cost Asian outfits than in making $10,000 instruments in the US.
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