There are some vintage ludwigs on Grand Rapids CL over here by me. I dont know anything about congas either though I'm afraid.

I love Latin/Afro-Cuban music and, like you, wondered if I could learn to play the congas. About three years ago I got a set of Latin Percussion congas at Costco...I think they were $249. The quality is certainly good enough for the limited use I give them. They just don't have all the chrome plating that their more expensive models might have. I found a lot of conga instruction on the web, in particular some graphical diagrams of "standard" conga rhythm patterns. A little practice to develop the muscle memory and I found I could begin to improvise. Now I enjoy playing along with Santana (Oye Como Va), the Buena Vista Social Club, and Gloria Estefan...just for fun!

I recently bought a set of Toca Players series fibre-glass congas on kijiji for $150 including the stand. Nice black color. The stand is very good quality as are the drums. You can't go wrong with the Toca or LP brands. Well-made with a great sound and tune up very easily with a spanner wrench. The fibre glass construction (very thin) makes an excellent resonant chamber and is impervious to humidty troubles

I've played them in church a couple of times so far to the delight of the people there.

-kellyj

These are great! I had a pair in the Red Wine color. I love the tones, but they can get ringy if you don't tune them to the day's humidity levels. (actually, all conga drums are like that, humidity affects them lie calfskin)

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/schalloch-2-piece-conga-set-with-stands-black-hardware/671200000000000

Yep, congas are great! I join local musicians in Mexico every year and have a ball! Sure wish I could find some Stars sometime.

I shopped around for congas a couple of years ago. The local ethnic drum shop gave me an extensive base of knowledge about congas. I decided to go with some LP Matadors. With the LP congas, according to the people I spoke with, the shells are all the same except for the finish, the hardware, and the quality of the heads. Technically speaking, they said, you could buy a set of Aspires and rehead them with high quality skins, and you'd have yourself a cheap set of congas that sound like the Classic II series...

@kellyj Where did you get them?

congas show up quite regularly on CL or Kijiji

Congas are a fantastic, cool, fun and really versitile instrument that take no technique at all to begin playing. In my previous performing life, conga was my main instrument. I started with cheap fiberglass congas, BT quickly got a wood set. Unless you spend a lot on a fiberglass LP set, the congas by LP, Toca, CP, Rhythem Tech...are lighter shorter than standard sizes and wood congs sound WAY better. This is only important if you want to learn traditional technique in which you sit on a throne behind your drums with your "conga" between your legs and your other drums positioned to the right (for a rt handed player). The light, fiberglass drums tend to move around a lot. It you're just gona mess around, or are simply interested in learning conga rhythms, the cheaper fiberglass drums will do great. I still have my set of Matador congas by LP consisting of a conga (the main drum of the set) and a larger tumba. Many professionals use 3 drums, adding a super tuba on the deep end, or quinto on the high end.

If your interested in vintage, look for GonBop. It's owned by DW now, was the first American manufacturer of Cuban style congas beginning in the 50's. LP has been making congas for a very long time, and their curved drum ring design (like a slingerland stick saver hoop) is the most comfortable to play IMO. Ive seen GB and LP on eBay & CL ranging in the $200-700 range, but you can score individual drums, even pairs, at much lower periodically. I actuall have a single, in fair condition, GonBop California series, conga from the 70's I was thinking about selling. I'll post pics if you're interested.

There are tons of instructional videos on YouTube. I just found this one by "El Rey"(the King) of the congas, Poncho Sanchez. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQ3dLJKgro&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQ3dLJKgro&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame] It's a nice introduction to conga technique. seating position, vocabulary, etc... Truth be told, I learned by playing along to music I liked and learned technique and specific rhythms later on.

Have fun!!!

BrianWalking