Meinl Hand Percussion

94 RHYTHM DECEMBER 2008
EXCLUSIVE
M
einl might be better known
for its genre-defying range
of cymbals, but the German
gianthas designed and
developed a staggering catalogue of hand
percussion as well. Many of these products
have won trade awards and the company’s
innovative approach has garnered an
impressive artist endorsement roster. Meinl
has not only produced acomprehensiveset
of mainstream percussion instruments, but
has soughtout newdirections, resultingin
some pretty interestinginnovations. So what
has it got to tempt us with this time?
Build
First up is the Palito, which is basically a
scaled-down string cajon. While offering
many of the features of Meinl’s full-size
models, it definitely isn’t designed to be sat
on. Measuringjust 30cmx20cmx13cm, the
Palito’s body is constructed from Meinl’s
generic rubber wood with an exotic and
attractivemakah-burl tapa (playingsurface).
The side opposite the tapa has four rubber
PRICES
Palito £84
Headed Tambourine
(dual-alloy jingles) £34
Headed Tambourine
(aluminium jingles) £51
WahWah Tubes
£39-£45
Spark Shaker £17
Spin Spark Shaker £19
WahWah Shaker £12
UFO Shaker £8.50
SHELL MATERIAL
Palito: Rubber wood
body with a
makah-burl frontplate
FINISHES
Tambourines:
lacquered natural
wood
SUPPLIED HEADS
Tambourines: natural
goat skin
CONTACT
Active Music
Distribution
7Goose Green
Trading Estate
47 East Dulwich Road
London
SE22 9BN
Telephone
020 8693 5678
Website
www.meinlpercussion.
com
feet, so you can even play the instrument on a
tabletop. Even better, two steel guitar strings
lie against the inside of the tapa, giving your
strokes asubtle snap.
Following the Palito, Meinl’s professional
series 10"-headed tambourines areoffered
in various depths. They both feature a
beautifully responsivefixedgoat-skin head
and a choice of various different jingle sets.
Next in line are the ghostly Wah Wah tubes.
These surprisingly weighty steel tubes are
sealed with aplastic plug at one end and are
easy to playbystrikingthe other end with the
rubber-tipped beater provided.
Developed exclusively forMeinl by
percussion artist Bill Saragosa, the Spark
shakers consist of perforated black metal
casings containingfairly substantial shot.
They’re easy to cup and can produce many
tones and effects as a result. A variation on
this model – the Spin Spark shaker – features
aregular Spark shaker joined to acircular
metal base that radically changes the pitch.
The thirdshaker on offer, Meinl’sinnovative
WahWah, is small enough to be cupped in the
hand, made of wood and constructed with
twochambersjoined by aplastic membrane.
Finally, we have the curiously titled UFO
shaker – so called because of its ergonomic
shape.It’saneffortlessly playable instrument,
whether held in the palm or by its edges.
Made from black plastic,extremely light
and with a featherweight filling, this would
be a great choice for subtle live usage but is
perfect for the studio.
Hands on
After playing full-size cajons, you may wonder
what the diminutivePalito can offer, but if you
think morebongo-like you’ll be in the right
ballpark. The Palito possesses reasonable bass
tone in the middle of the tapa, with mids and
slaps responsiveand controllable if you
fine-tune the screws on the top. This means
youcan achieve moreorless snap to the
sound of the strokes.
The single row of dual-alloy jingle sets on
the Super Natural tambourine produce a
noticeably louder and higher pitch than that
created by the deeper-shelled, double-row
African Brown model, which is equipped with
lighter aluminium jingles.
The Wah Wah tubes sound great when
struck unimpeded, but by coveringand
MEINL HAND PERCUSSION
From £8.50 Meinl is back with yetanother innovative range
of instruments, as Charlie Price discovers
ESSENTIALSPEC
MAKAH-BURL WOOD
gives the Palito an interestingand
attractive playing surface
THE WAH WAH TUBES
produceaneerie sound when hit
with a rubber-tipped beater
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RHY158.gear_meinl 94 7/11/08 4:47:5 pm