RockJam 7 & 8 Inch Wood Bongo Drums with Padded Bag & Tuning Key

Nicely made bongos the material very strong the sound is superb and the price reasonable, delivery time was fast and accurate. Will do business again

Looks nice, well made and finished, nice clear coat on it, great drum set for this price point. Even the inside..picked off one piece of wood, and yes, there is some glue runs...nothing terrible, and lets me know...enough glue was used! Pleasantly surprised. Awesome gifting for kids/grandkids.

First of all, I'm a hobbyist musician. I play a variety of instruments and have bought from many manufacturers. I'm used to buying on a budget, since it's a hobby, not a career. However, I recognize the good qualities of a product pretty often, and I think I'm pretty fair about the not-so-good qualities.These bongo drums are, first of all, a great deal. They play well, they sound good, they feel right. I can't compare them physically to any other bongos, but they seem pretty comparable to lots of the drums I've seen in videos while doing research. They sound about the same, too, after you tune them up properly. As for that, DO NOT EXPECT PERFECTION OUT OF THE BOX! These drums have been tuned a little to keep them from falling apart during shipping. I'll add brief tuning instructions at the end of this review, to help people who buy these drums get them playable in short order.Now, where was I? Oh yes. They seem comparable to other bongos out there. They're a good size, sturdy build, and with a surprisingly snappy sound. If you hear an overtone in the drum, you can minimize that somewhat by properly tuning the instrument. However, even pro-level bongos have this overtone aspect, so it may just be a thing all bongos do. (Overtone is a high-pitched ringing that occurs when you strike the drum.)Now, as for the bag, it's a pretty standard toat bag, although it has some padding to protect your instrument from bumps and bruises. It comes with a strap, allowing you to choose whether you're going to carry it by the handle on the bag or by putting it over your shoulder.The fact that this drum comes with a tuning wrench is pretty awesome. I've heard that many do come with it, but it's nice to see them putting in all the extra effort to get people playing right away.Now, if I like this so much, why did I give it 4 rather than 5 stars? Well, it's because I noticed several small but significant issues with finish and with the drum head itself. If I could, I'd give it 4.5 stars, but I can't, so let me describe what I noticed. First, there were some small areas of the wood inside the drum where the wood hadn't been checked for splinters. Several specimens came off when I rubbed them gently with my thumb. I didn't have to put effort into it, and the wood of the drum, while somewhat unsanded inside, isn't poorly put together. It just tells me that they didn't take time, at least with my drum, to check to be certain the wood was ready to leave the factory. The other issue with the drum head is equally small. Basically, there are little spots of either glue or extra skin or what have you hanging off the underside of the drum head. Not a deal-breaker by any means, just something to be aware of. I chose to leave them alone rather than risking the head's integrity by picking at it.Why do I care so much about the inside of the drum, the underside of the head? Basically, it's because I believe you can judge the quality of a product by how well-done are the parts you weren't meant to see.Thus, I give the bongos the rating of being well-made, highly-playable, and a good all-round value, especially at this excellent price.Basic tuning instructionsFirst, turn the bongos head-side down in your lap.Next, use the included wrench to loosen all of the bolts significantly. Loosen them in quarter or half turns per bolt, in order to prevent damage to the drum heads. Loosen the bolts in a circle around each drum until they are loose enough to turn by hand (using your fingers, not the wrench.)At this point, tighten the bolts back up using your fingers until you can't turn them by hand anymore. At this point, the drum, if you tap its upside-down head, would make a dull unbongoish thunk.Tighten all of the bolts around each drum one full turn. Remember to move in a circular pattern around each drum.Once you've given each bolt a full turn, the tone will begin to sound more like what you'd expect from bongos.From here, tune the hembra, the larger drum, up slowly using half and quarter turns to get the right sound out of your drum. Remember to turn your drum over and check its tone by striking it after going around all of the bolts on it. If you have a tuner handy, I suggest tuning it somewhere between middle c and the e just above it, to your tastes.Now, you can tune the macho, the smaller drum. This drum will need a little more tightening to get it to the higher, snappier pitch desired for this drum. Use half and quarter turns, turning the drum over and tapping it regularly to check for tone. If you have a tuner ready, I suggest tuning this drum somewhere between e above middle c and the a just above that.For a final fine adjustment, hold the drums rightside-up. Pick a drum, and place your thumb lightly in the center of the head. Then, strike the head near the lugs, where the tention hooks hang down. You should hear a ringing. Repeat all around the head. Tune each lug slightly to match each lug's ringing overtone. Repeat this process for the second drum. Then everything should be ready to play The Martillo!

These are really nice. Great sturdy construction. The sound is great. Bought these for our 1 1/2 year old granddaughter. She likes them. They come with a really nice bag to carry them in.

This is my first time playing bongos, so I first searched for a good priced set, and any mentions of "beginners" - this set met those criteria. The bongos are exactly as described in both words and pics. Before doing anything with them, I checked out a "playing bongos for beginners" YouTube video, and was HAPPY I did. The two issues I noticed after unpacking my set were (1) they weren't tightly fitted onto the little block of wood between them, and (2) the tone seemed flat. The guy in the video addressed both these issues right from the beginning, assuring me they were perfectly normal and EASILY adjusted. The small wrench that comes with the set fixed both issues with a few turns of the wrist. Once that was done, I went to another video and started learning some basic patterns, and now I can't stop smiling!

I did not imagine that this penguin would be so wonderful, powerful, and have a wonderful sound as well. It was sent quickly, and when I received it and opened the box, I was surprised to find that it was identical to the musical instrument used with large musical bands. It has an extremely excellent sound, as well as a beautiful shape and ease of adjusting the skin , Thank you.

I purchased for my son to drum on, I was really excited for my son to get to play with this. When I was in the process of tightening down the top circle part of the 8" drum one of the V shaped part broke off. This made the drum useless as it wouldn't keep the drum taught. When I inspected were the V part broke it was at the welds. These welds are pretty crappy welds. I'd be happy to have a replacement part sent out instead of having to send back the whole drum. I've reached out to the seller via their Facebook page and emailed them. I've yet to hear anything back. I hope this review catches their attention and will work to resolve this issue. If the issue is resolved I'd be happy to give a better review.

These are ok for beginners but the crimping on the skins come up over the edge just a little. Inside there was a minor crack near one of the wing nuts. The sound is ok. Gig bag is nice, tuning wrench included. If I like playing I will buy a better set. If they last a year they are worth the money and if I hate playing I am not out too much money.

Verwacht geen professionele instrument maar voor kinderen ideaal.

Regalati al nipote per la sua gioia

Muy bonito el acabado en pintura, en general están bien para empezar a prender.

My grand son two and year old was very excited and happy, he is now learning to play. highly recommended to music lovers. thank you

I really can't fault this product. I bought these for my two and a quarter year old son (important to keep track of the fractions at this age ;-) ) because he'd loved his plastic drum as a baby but broken it by standing on it. He'd also loved the game where we put some Brian May on the stereo and then drew some "drums" and a "guitar" on paper and played along (air guitar and head banging are also a big hit but that's another story). I'm not such a fan of electronic, primary coloured "instruments" (e.g. Leapfrog Learn & Groove Colour Play Drum ) which automate the playing of tiny tunes, I'd prefer to introduce George to the real thing so I took the plunge with these bongos. They are great quality, have a natural hide surface and are well constructed from varnished wood. They come with a spanner for tightening/tuning them and also (an unexpected bonus) a decent quality padded carrying case. My son and I love them, they produce an excellent authentic (and non irritating to parental ears) sound and they have a that tactile involvement you are never going to get from their electronic plastic equivalent. And, important to mention, they are great value so that, whilst they live on a shelf to avoid any "accidents", it will not be the end of the world if something happens to them. ...next stop, ukelele? ;-)