Firstly I should say that I am not really a percussionist, I started on Piano
& then Flute 50 odd yrs ago and went on to be a pretty nifty bass player in many bands + a few sessions, to cut a long story short, I got rather ill and as a result my finger tips became too big for fretting on my left hand
and my nails too unruly and thick for plucking on the right, but I still felt like I wanted to play music for the sheer enjoyment it brings, so I bought a Meinl slaptop cajon to mess around on a year or so back and its going well, thing is, for me, you need more to occupy the soundstage, so I started to try things out, jingles, a tiny cheap hi hat and some coffee tins tied to the cajon, crazy but it sounds great :) , but then a friend came over with some LP bongos to set up for him, they stayed for 2 days and I knew I needed some after messing around with them along with my cajon etc and that brings me to the Thomann Classic Bongo Set 7" & 8,5", I thought these will be ok, I couldnt afford the LP ones my friend bought although I didnt like the skinny rims they had to be honest, anyhow my Thomann Classic Bongo Set arrived today and after a tune up and a quick minor fettle, they are sounding better than the LP's, the tones are wonderful, closed slap, open tone + the ping off the rims all sound so good, the 2 ply mahogany barrel really sings, the fittings are all very solid and do exactly what you want them too and will last, even the heads are cool, they are quite heavy duty but once warm and tuned to match where the barrel sings the most, they play very well, with great response, they are made of cow-skin and the rims, well they are comfort rims, rounded off perfectly for very comfortable playing indeed, they make so much difference, but its horses for courses as they say, some people like those skinny hand bruising skinny rims :) don't know why tho', I need all the help I can get :) anyhow, to sum up, these are great bongos at any price, but at this price they are a steal! I don't want to stop playing them! So if you are wondering about bongos, wonder no more. go for it, I really do thoroughly recommend them for a beginner and expert player, although they are not completely perfect until tweaked, they are such amazing value that I have given them 5 stars all-round, also worthy of note was the relatively speedy delivery, that was surprising too because of living in the crazy post brexit UK - All in all the Bongos are great but brexit is still a joke :) Thank you very much to the crew at Thomann, you folks are great!!!
