Shalloch congas
Shalloch congas
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
For most of my musical career, I’ve played instruments with strings and frets: guitars, basses, mandolins and such. When Steve Hudspeth and I built Trifecta Studio (1992-2002), I started expanding my horizons a bit. It’s not very efficient to spend a client’s session time calling potential harmonica players, banjo players, keyboardists or drummers when Steve and I could just as easily learn a part ourselves. Over the course of ten years, I dare say I got to be a decent harmonica player, a passable banjo player, and a pretty good drummer.
After the studio years, I started thinking about the instruments and equipment I’d need to begin playing and recording again, and near the top of the list was a drum kit. I still keep the kit at the house where I rehearse with The Grape Ape Trust: keyboardist Justin Chastain has been kind enough to dedicate a room in the basement for this purpose. The truth is, it takes a lot of time to tear down, pack up, transport, unpack and set up a drum kit. Some parts are heavy, some are fragile, some are both. I needed something to play at home and at small gigs that didn’t take up so much space, time, and heavy lifting.
Before I was introduced to a spiffy little instrument called the cajon (pronounced “ka-HONE”), my choices for a simplified percussion set were pretty much limited to bongos, a djembe, or congas. Bongos are small and portable, but don’t offer much in sheer sonic power. A djembe offers a powerful tone, but definitely carries a certain flavor that doesn’t mix well with all types of arrangements. Congas, on the other hand, have a good blend of power, tone, ease of setup, and tonal and dynamic variation.
Technically speaking, calling them “a set of congas” isn’t quite accurate. The conga is the larger, lower-voiced of the two drums, and the smaller, higher-voiced drum is called a quinto. To be correct and proper, a two-piece set would be called a “conga and quinto.” But for simplicity’s sake many people will call the pair “(a set of) congas,” as I do here. The set can be expanded with a third, even lower-voiced drum called a tumbadora.
The price of a good set of congas can be a bit daunting. Locally here in Des Moines, they tend to run in the range of $500 and up, which definitely was not in my budget. I spent a long while scoping out pawn shops, but the few sets I found there were either poorly maintained, badly beaten up, or just plain ugly. I finally found this Shalloch set online at Musician’s Friend for just under $200, with free shipping. At the time, in 2007, Shalloch offered four colors, including the “natural” finish that I wound up choosing. Currently, only the natural finish is available.
While I wasn’t expecting superior quality at this price, I have to say I was quite impressed. The shells are made of Siam oak, assembled like a barrel, with a beautiful high gloss finish. The heads are rawhide, with four tuning pegs. The black three-legged baskets are sturdy and height-adjustable. I get a great tone out of them, either with bare heads, or muted with a scarf as in the picture above. Other percussionists who’ve seen and played them were astounded when I told them what I paid for them. The Shalloch congas are a great value for the money.
Photo by Rob Straughn