Rogers bongo head recommendation needed, please.

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Fullerton 9/72

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I bought a pair of black Rogers script 6" and 8" bongos recently to use as tiny concert toms. They're in great shape, but they came sans any heads. Which new heads will fit them, assuming that 'fit' is an issue, and which sound the best?
 
Remo Emperors are available in 6 and 8", and they will sound good and be quite durable. I am not a Rogers expert though, so I don't know if they did anything weird with their head sizing.
 
bongomania said:
Remo Emperors are available in 6 and 8", and they will sound good and be quite durable. I am not a Rogers expert though, so I don't know if they did anything weird with their head sizing.
Emperor bongo heads, or heads for regular drums with standard bearing edges? Note that bongo heads are not anything like regular drum heads.

I have a set of 1960s Rogers bongos and I tried to find some true calfskin and even mylar replacement heads. Nothing I found fit over the Rogers rims. Today's bongo heads have a smaller diameter "collar" and they don't fit the Rogers bongos.

That said, I bought a set of 6" and 8" standard rims, and Aquarian Texture coated heads in the proper sizes. They fit perfectly. However, the bongos are choked in this arrangement, and they do not project well when hit with sticks. The bongo bearing edge is not suitable for regular drum heads and rims. I tried this arrangement at a couple of gigs and gave up on it.

Any additional input on this debacle would be greatly appreciated!

Here's the setup with bongo heads. I gave up on this because the drumsticks distort the bearing edge!!! Thank goodness I didn't gig with this, and checked the edges after practicing for only a half hour or so with this arrangement:
(broken attachment removed)
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Here's the setup with generic 6" and 8" rims and Aquarian Texture Coated heads over the stock bongos. I thought this would be a way cool project, but the results were less than spectacular. No sonic quality, due to bongo bearing edges being radically different from standard 45 degree edges. The only way to make this work would be to have a drum expert recut the bearing edges to a fit standard rim/head design, ie, 45 degrees, like what Rogers did on their regular toms in the era. Bottom line, it wasn't worth it. I did not want to ruin a perfectly good set of Rogers bongos.
(broken attachment removed)
 
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Very good points you raise. I was thinking of some vintage trap-kit bongos I've encountered that were basically just little concert toms. They took standard kit heads. But for bongos that are designed more like "real" bongos, with thick shells and wide-rounded bearing edges meant for hand playing, especially if the hoops are to be below the bearing edge, you're right that normal kit heads won't work. And, as you discovered, it's a bad idea to play that style of bongos with sticks since the bearing edges can get dented up.

If OP wants to play these bongos with his hands, then I'd recommend custom-making some heads just for those drums. Here's how: http://www.bongomania.com/eng/articles/newskins1.html

There's really no way an off-the-shelf bongo head will fit properly or sound good, since the diameters and bearing edges won't be close to the standards set by LP.

If OP wants to play using sticks, then it may be necessary to have the bearing edges recut to fit modern standard heads.
 
Thank you for your thoughts, gentlemen. I should have done my research before buying the bongos. Now I know why they were sold without any heads.
 
bongomania said:
Very good points you raise. I was thinking of some vintage trap-kit bongos I've encountered that were basically just little concert toms. They took standard kit heads. But for bongos that are designed more like "real" bongos, with thick shells and wide-rounded bearing edges meant for hand playing, especially if the hoops are to be below the bearing edge, you're right that normal kit heads won't work. And, as you discovered, it's a bad idea to play that style of bongos with sticks since the bearing edges can get dented up.

If OP wants to play these bongos with his hands, then I'd recommend custom-making some heads just for those drums. Here's how: http://www.bongomania.com/eng/articles/newskins1.html

There's really no way an off-the-shelf bongo head will fit properly or sound good, since the diameters and bearing edges won't be close to the standards set by LP.

If OP wants to play using sticks, then it may be necessary to have the bearing edges recut to fit modern standard heads.
Bongo, thank you SO MUCH for the instructions on making bongo heads. This is a project that I will be doing for sure!
 
Ludwig makes Weather Master bongo heads in 6" and 8" sizes that fit very nice on vintage bongos.
 
plemon1 said:
Ludwig makes Weather Master bongo heads in 6" and 8" sizes that fit very nice on vintage bongos.
That's what I have on my Rogers. Ludwig heads!!!! They came with the bongos...
 
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