Bongoloid thread - You like your Bongo because...?

[Grand Wazoo]

I love the Bongo because Im still having to prove it. I love the bongo because I think it was a unsafe move for a company to try and most would have given up....It makes me happy because it proves to me that I still have the same ideals and mindset that I had 25 years ago....I wanted to try to create ergonomically sound instruments that we would be patient with and refine. It started with the Silhouette guitar and when I lose that perspective Ill join the old mans morning golf group and fade away. It may sound strange that I'm happy for what the Bongo means to me because by some standards it was rejected. The standards I count it has been a hit and when I read new converts it makes me happy. I love that you guys have a name Bongoloids The one that tops the whole deal is that Bongo shows that I am my fathers son. My Dad thought differently and didnt get too upset or distracted if someone thought his ideas were bizarre. He was creative and a classic serial entrepeneur

As a bass player I still play a Bongo. I actuall play a little Sterling 5 also. I have a bunch of our stuff but usually have no idea where they are...but I always have a Bongo as my go to bass. It will be interesting to see if I end up with the 25th as the replacement as it really is the next step..those new humbuckers are classics

BP many thanks for your own personal insight, it is refreshing to read your first line in your post "I love the Bongo because I’m still having to prove it" believe me when I tell you that the work your father pioneered couldn't have been taken forward by a better man than yourself.

In my original post in this thread, I have mentioned a "culture shock" well that is exactly what I have experienced and perhaps the other bassists here have too.
The Bongo shakes the foundations of the conventional belief of what the mass think about the electric bass guitar.

I've bought my Bongo using a dealer which I have been a client of for over 22 years, these people are a very good family owned 6 strings guitar only shop, however because of their selling top line guitars such as Gibson, Fender, PRS and of course EBMM products, they can get me any bass I want including EBMM. It is through them that I have bought my 2 Stingrays and when it came to get the Bongo I thought of no better dealer than them.

The day the bass arrived I was away at sea and only managed to go and collect it a couple of days later when I disembarked the ship, they did what they do with any instrument they sell, i.e. they give it a PDC "Pre Delivery Check" where they do a general check, and setup action and intonation, neck relief where needed.

When I went to collect it, I had so many compliments about it, it was really flattering, they referred it as "that monster in that case you've just bought" is awesome, we've never tried one before and by God that bass is ####ing scary, it plays amazingly well, and sounds great both on the magnetic pickups and on the piezo. When I played it through one of their bass amp all the other guitar clients were equally astonished and gathered around to see and hear, swearing that their respective bass chums should all have one.

It is definitely "culture shock" and definitely a pioneering instrument that will continue to be appreciated by players as time goes by, mark my words, I am not sure I'll be here in 20 years time but I firmly believe that by that time the Bongo will be the solidly established as the standard by which all other basses are built and copied and as popular as the Stingray is today.

Thank you Mr. Sterling Ball

 

[DTG]

pure and simple.....its the tone,no other reason needed

 

[fidooda]

great post BP. thanks for unleashing this wonderful beast into this world.

i wanted to add another thing. I realised i enjoyed playing with my 2x10 more since i got the bongo. My other cab is 2x12. i prefer the 12s for the sterling and SR5, but there's a growl that is out of this world when the bongo is paired with 10s.

can't wait to try it out on a stage!

 

[bovinehost]

Way back before the Bongo, I mostly played a Stingray 5 called "Heinz". Some people - most people, in fact - thought Heinz was ugly. I considered it 'unique'. For years, I was known throughout the intertubes as the guy who played that ugly thing. Truth be told, it bugged me at first. But then I learned to embrace it and I realized that there is something to be said for having a bass that other people notice. Of course, Heinz was meanwhile one of the best sounding and playing Stingray 5's in existence, so let 'em giggle.

And then the Bongo came along. Truthfully, I never understood the naysayers regarding the design. I still don't. I saw the photos from NAMM that year and knew I had to have a Bongo. (I didn't know at that point, however, how many Bongos I really had to have.) Maybe I'd learned how to be the guy playing the funny-looking bass, I don't know, but the Bongo never struck me as funny-looking at ALL. Could be just me.

When I got my first one, I said, "Oh my." I'm not sure I've ever been quite that excited about a bass - or about being a bass player. Really. I played it and then said, "Oh my" again and again and again. I might even have used stronger language.

I took it to blues jams. People stared. I played it on some Army band Christmas gigs. People stared. I did some pick-up gigs with an uber-talented chick singer. People stared. And they asked me about it, especially after hearing it. "What IS that?" Quibble with the design, the looks, but everyone said that same thing about the sound: it killed.

One of my best friends (and a very talented bassist), Chuck Moses, thought it was from outer space. Then he played it a little, heard it a lot, and has many times over the years offered to buy that first Bongo of mine. I don't blame him one bit. If it wasn't mine already, I'd want it, too.

And, if you weren't around these parts for the initial days/months/years of the Bongo, it's really hard to describe the reaction and what a crusader I was about the thing. I knew that if just a few people would shut up and play the damned things, there would be converts. And there were! And there continue to be! And I have to admit it, every time one of you guys gets a Bongo, it makes me feel great!

It is the bass I always wanted, always needed - and didn't even know it. You Bongoloids know what I'm talking about, I don't need to convince you or tell you about the tone, the feel, the ergonomics, the ability to destroy small cities and so on.

I love the Bongo because Im still having to prove it.

I know exactly what you mean, but the Bongo proved itself to me the first time I picked it up. I surely didn't know what it would lead to, but I'm still grateful for everything. I've always felt fortunate to have the Bongo as "my bass" - and I have a bunch of interesting friends and quite a few adventures along the way, all because of that crazy Bongo.

I have more reasons than most people realize to love the Bongo. And here I am, nearly six years later, and I still get excited when I pick one up.

Jackie

 

[oddjob]

Amen, Jack!

 

[Psycho Ward]

I know I was a big pain in the butt with my constant begging for a left handed version of the Bongo and I apologize for that. But I vividly remember the day it became officially offered, I ordered mine instantly!

I agree with everything everyone else has said and the one thing I personally love about the Bongo is the preamp. I wish it came in a stomp box version so I could get a few of my other basses to sound right.

Thank you BP!

 

[darkblack]

For myself, a Bongo (in my case, the Bongo 6) combines a lot of subjective qualities that many instruments possess singularly into one instrument - representing a net savings on cartage fees, among other more important items.



It demands your very best to play it, although not due to unbalanced construction of design elements (like some instruments that promise much but deliver much less) - rather, to maximize what it can offer in the exchange.

A Bongo offers satisfaction of tone and response to the player that is quite exemplary. In my opinion, it should be regarded as a new benchmark of performance for the electric bass guitar.

 

[adouglas]

...the one thing I personally love about the Bongo is the preamp. I wish it came in a stomp box version so I could get a few of my other basses to sound right.

I don't think that could be done.

It'd melt right through the stage like Alien blood.

 

[Mogee]

It took me a long time to come around to the non-traditional design. It was through this forum that I bought one on blind faith. I can't imagine playing anything else. Except for the BP Bongo. (Does it count as a BP if it has a Piezo?) Hmmm.... what color...

 

[koogie2k]

It's real simple for me - it is the best metal bass on the planet. It looks great and sounds great. It can take a beating and continue to give them as I am a VERY aggressive player. Funny part is....when I walk into a club...most people don't know me (make up not on) and when they see me pull out Warhammer...instant recognition. My bongo is more popular than I am and that sits well with me.

 

[Bongodude]

I mean, just look at her..

 

[Black Lake]

The most comfortable neck and body ever made, and that huge sound that just fits what ever you play. I have gig'd my Bongos with classic rock, blues, country (old school and new), and my current steady gig is jazz standards. Anything I have asked that bass to do, it has done without complaint. It does attract attention: the guys tell me they think it looks funny, the gals tell me they think it looks sexy, but all agree on the amazing sound.

Cheers to BP on sticking to his guns and creating a fantastic instrument that has broken the mold in both aethetics and sound. That being said, it's time to go hug my Bongos.

 

[CFA]

I won't lie, the first time I logged onto the MM site and saw the Bongo my reaction was somewhere along the lines of "EW! What is that?! That's the stupidest bass I've EVER seen. I just LOST respect for MM for it."

Then, over time (Before I ever came here) I matured and started lecturing people who judged instruments over looks, saying repeatedly that I'd play the ugliest bass ever built, if it had a better tone then anything else.

Next, I signed up to this forum and looked through the Bongo head thread... and by the time I was done I had decided I wanted one. And when I heard people tell stories of people dissing the looks, and then being blown away by the tone... I decided I NEEDED a Bongo.

I love my Bongo for a lot of reasons. I like the neck, I love the design now, I love that MOST people STILL hate the design, I love the feel of holding it, and I love the way it looks from my perspective when I'm playing it. And of course I'm sure I'll love the tone when I get to hear it plugged in with new strings....

 

[MrMusashi]

the bongo is powerful, very powerful!
a small twist on any of the eq knobs and you got another ballgame goin on

also my stealth is one of the coolest things ever... completely black! infact, the only white thing on em is the nylon washers between the strapscrews and the body itself

it was actually the first eb bass i got, while waiting for the mighty 20th sr5

MrM

 

[Psycho Ward]

Just look at it!!!

 

[AnthonyD]

Attitude... It's in there...

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

Just look at it!!!

Too many strings...

 

[oddjob]

Just look at it!!!

That is still just the best!!!!!!!!!


(even if it is a lefty)

 

[Bongodude]

How did you get that jewel-inlay there? Very nice looking bass!

 

[Psycho Ward]

Wayne C. Henderson did it for me, while I waited.