Best Synthetic Heads to buy ?

[conguera]

I want to start off by saying these heads are not going on my drums. I have no desire for synthetic heads on my congas.

I am going to start playing the congas at my church and my worship leader is set on buying synthetic heads for the church's drums. I don't know much about conga heads at all much less synthetic ones, so I'm pretty much at a loss as to what to look for. I offered to help him decide because I want the best possible sound out of the drums and he knows even less about heads than I do. I have no idea where to start though. Evans only makes one kind of head right ? Remo has so many and I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. I played some Evans heads in Guitar Center once and they sounded like garbage cans. I guess it could have had to do with the room the drums were in and the tuning, but I'm really only interested in Remo heads.

The drums are LP Fiberglass Palisades drive congas that I'm sure are older than me. I'm going to measure them when I go to church tonight, but I'm pretty sure that any of the heads I chose should fit since LP is the standard for synthetic drum heads.

It's hard because you can't try the heads out before you buy them. I know I can find some of the heads on youtube and on Remo's vimeo page, but that's not the same as hearing them in person. I've watched all of Remo's videos and I can't really hear a difference in the way the different heads sound.

I am simply looking for the best sounding synthetic conga heads. If anyone can help me out I'll really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

[Gretschhead]

conguera, I just posted a reply to your post on congaplace. I recomend remo fiberskyns, the rest are junk in my opinion.

[luv4congas]

No matter what, you have to take the rims with you to the store that way you can see if the head will fit right! If I can take a stab at it I think Remos would be a M7. The Nuskyn is not to bad.
L4C

[conguera]

Thanks Gretschhead and luv4congas,

I didn't know you had to take the rims with you, but I'll definitely remember to have my worship leader do that. The drums have traditional rims do you know if that will make it harder to find heads that will fit
them ?

[Gretschhead]

Thanks Gretschhead and luv4congas,

I didn't know you had to take the rims with you, but I'll definitely remember to have my worship leader do that. The drums have traditional rims do you know if that will make it harder to find heads that will fit
them ?

I believe they make a different head for traditional and comfort curve, but I'm not 100% sure. Taking the rims to the store is definitely a good idea to size it up correctly. Those fiberglass originals should be easy to find heads for though.

[luv4congas]

Thanks Gretschhead and luv4congas,

I didn't know you had to take the rims with you, but I'll definitely remember to have my worship leader do that. The drums have traditional rims do you know if that will make it harder to find heads that will fit
them ?

Trust me, it will make life a alot easier! I had to make two trips across town in traffic because the first time I brought the heads home and thay didn't fit. Went back with the rim to find out they didn't have anything that would fit my rims!

[conguera]

The only Remo heads for traditional rims say "Traditional Rim 5/16 lugs - Valje." Does that mean those heads will only work on Valje drums ? All of the rest of the heads are for the comfort curve 2 rims, the soft strike rims or the easy curve rims. The drums at my church look like the picture I have attached except that we have the Quinto and the Conga not the Conga and the Tumba.

[Gretschhead]

The only Remo heads for traditional rims say "Traditional Rim 5/16 lugs - Valje." Does that mean those heads will only work on Valje drums ? All of the rest of the heads are for the comfort curve 2 rims, the soft strike rims or the easy curve rims. The drums at my church look like the picture I have attached except that we have the Quinto and the Conga not the Conga and the Tumba.

I believe the LP "Valje" line are the only drums that still come with traditional rims, as far as I'm aware the rest of LPs lines use some form of the comfort curve. You would think they would make heads for the traditional rims though, there are way more trads out there than comforts. You might contact LP or Remo, or both. Those Palisades look sweet, I'd love to get my hand on an old PP fiberglass set!

[conguera]

The drums pictured are from the internet, but the ones at my church are identical. Theses congas are amazing. I believe the head on the quinto was replaced within 12-15 years ago, but I don't know about the head on the conga. The head on the quinto split about 8 years ago and the drums haven't been tuned in over 10 years, but they still sound pretty good.

The drums haven't really been played in about nine years, so I'm going to clean them, replace the washers, and clean the lugs. I don't think the lugs have ever been lubricated since our church has had the drums. They were donated by a church member when I was a toddler, so they've been there as long as I can remember and though we've had people bang on them every once in a while we've never had anyone really play them. I can't remember ever seeing anyone tune them de-tune them or perform any other kind of upkeep on them. The washers are stripped, so we'll have to get a splitter to get them off in order to replace them. I guess I'll be doing a mini restore job on them. They have a few scratches here and there, but for how old they are and the fact that no one has taken proper care of them they're really in good shape. Each lug has two washers on it; what does that mean ? I know I read somewhere the reason why you need to put more than one washer on a lug, but I don't remember what it was.

I played along at worship practice yesterday and the heads are definitely dead, but these drums have just about no ring which is rare for fiberglass congas. I played a nice amount of fiberglass congas when I was in the process of picking out a set and none of them compared to these drums even though they're not in the best shape. I know a lot of the people on the forum have restored congas, so I'm wondering how I should clean the congas and all the hardware when I get them taken apart.

I'm going to try to get in contact with Remo today. If they can't help me I'll contact LP. I've seen tons of congas with traditional rims, so you'd think they would make more heads for them, but...

Gretschhead, if you're ever able to get your hands on a set of these drums go for it you will not be disappointed. I think if you're going with fiberglass I'd definitely go with a set of vintage LP's. I've played several of LP's newer fiberglass models and they cannot compare with these drums sound wise and I'm sure not quality wise. These drums will probably outlive me. I would love to have a set myself, but for now I'll just have to settle with playing them at church. I just hope the synthetic heads won't take away from their sound too much.

P.S.
Does anyone know about when these congas were made ? I think I might have heard that Martin was at Palisades Park at some point in the '70's but I'm not sure. It's just a piece of trivia I'd like to know.

[Gretschhead]

The first LP congas were made in the late 60s in Palisades Park, I believe they came in only Black until the early 70s. LP moved to Garfield in late 70s early 80s. So those congas are probably 71-78ish.

As far as restoring them, I've never tackled a fiberglass restoration myself, so I'm not sure how you would go about it. I imagine the shells can be sanded, though I'm not sure how easy it is or what to use. On the hardware use a super light grit sand paper like 600+ or steel wool to clean the rust and tarnish off. You can use chrome polish, but I've found that a little soap and water works just as well.

[conguera]

Thanks Gretschhead ,

You sure possess a great wealth of information. What kind of congas do you own ?

So these congas are probably somewhere in their thirties. Wow, you wouldn't know it looking at them. I plan to give them a thorough cleaning before we install the new heads. Surprisingly the hardware is in great shape. There's no rust or tarnish. I just want to clean them up and have everything looking shiny again. So you said plain soap and water should be good enough for the hardware. Can I wash down the fiberglass shells with soap and water too?

[luv4congas]

The only Remo heads for traditional rims say "Traditional Rim 5/16 lugs - Valje." Does that mean those heads will only work on Valje drums ? All of the rest of the heads are for the comfort curve 2 rims, the soft strike rims or the easy curve rims. The drums at my church look like the picture I have attached except that we have the Quinto and the Conga not the Conga and the Tumba.

Those drums look very familiar Are those Robert Flechers drums he was selling on ebay? If they are I bet they have the best cow skin on them! I've bought skins from the east coast and the local bay area and no ones skins are as fine as Robert Felcher! he has the smoothest American Cow Skins!

[Gretschhead]

Thanks Gretschhead ,

You sure possess a great wealth of information. What kind of congas do you own ?

So these congas are probably somewhere in their thirties. Wow, you wouldn't know it looking at them. I plan to give them a thorough cleaning before we install the new heads. Surprisingly the hardware is in great shape. There's no rust or tarnish. I just want to clean them up and have everything looking shiny again. So you said plain soap and water should be good enough for the hardware. Can I wash down the fiberglass shells with soap and water too?

Conguera, it is always a pleasure, I do my best to share what knowledge I have and am constantly trying to learn everything I can from others. I play on vintage Gon Bops, I have 3 oak drums quinto, conga, tumba, and a mahogany super tumba. Sounds like the LPs are in pretty great shape for being in their mid 30s probably. Soap and water or a glass cleaner like windex will probably do the trick on the hardware and the shells as well.

[conguera]

luv4congas,

I'm not sure who's drums they are. I found the picture when I googled Palisades Park congas. I think they are from ebay though.

Thanks again Gretshhead. I'll pick up some windex later on this week and start work on the congas within the next two weeks. I've heard a lot of good things about vintage Gon Bops congas. I'm sure you have some great drums. I would like to purchase at least one Gon Bops conga at some point in the future.

Again thanks everyone for your input it was all very helpful. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the fiberskyns as long as I can find some that will fit the traditional rims. I hope you all have a great day.