Maker
Latin Percussion
The American standard for congas and hand percussion
Martin Cohen founded LP in 1964 after failing to buy decent congas in New York, and the company effectively industrialised Afro-Cuban percussion: consistent, tunable, durable instruments where the tradition had relied on hide, rope, and luck. LP hardware — the Jam Block, the Cyclops tambourine, the Aspire student line — is standard equipment worldwide.
Models
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LP Americana Cajon
Hand percussion
The Americana groups LP's cajons — plain, snare-fitted, and slap-top — around the format that turned a Peruvian box drum into standard equipment for acoustic gigs.
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LP Jam Block
Hand percussion
The Jam Block is a moulded plastic block that mounts on a cymbal stand and does not split, crack, or go quiet — which is why it is on more drum kits than any wooden equivalent.
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LP Ridge Rider Cowbell
Hand percussion
The Ridge Rider is the standard kit cowbell: a reinforced ridge along the top to survive stick impact, and a mount that keeps it where it was put.
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LP Vibra-Slap
Hand percussion
The Vibra-Slap reproduces the rattling quijada — a donkey jawbone with loose teeth — using a wooden resonator and a metal pin box, which is both more hygienic and more repeatable.
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LP Cyclops Tambourine
Hand percussion
The Cyclops is built to be hit with a stick and mounted on a stand rather than shaken, with a moulded frame and steel or brass jingles depending on the model.
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LP Aspire Conga
Hand percussion
Aspire puts a real tunable conga with LP hardware into a first instrument, and is the drum most school and community programmes end up owning.
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LP Classic Bongos
Hand percussion
LP's Classic bongos pair Siam oak shells with rawhide heads and traditional bell-shaped hardware; they are the drums almost every recorded bongo part since the 1970s was played on.
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LP Classic Conga
Hand percussion
The Classic is the conga most people picture: Siam oak staves, LP's Comfort Curve rim, and hardware that survives being tuned hard and often. It is the drum against which other production congas are described.
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LP Galaxy Giovanni Series Conga
Hand percussion
Developed with Giovanni Hidalgo, these congas use a wider, flatter rim contour and a shell profile tuned for the fast, melodic hand technique he is known for.
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LP Salsa Timbales
Hand percussion
The Salsa series covers the standard 13" and 14" timbales pair with a stand, cowbell mounts, and a shell bright enough to cut through a horn section.
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LP Matador Conga
Hand percussion
Matador sits below the Classic on price and above most of the market on durability, in Siam oak or fibreglass, and is the line most often bought by players who gig with their drums rather than record with them.
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LP Tito Puente Timbales
Hand percussion
Tito Puente's LP timbales — brass or steel shells with the distinctive deep rim — are the reference instrument for the idiom he did more than anyone to popularise.
Categories
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Hand Percussion
Congas, bongos, djembes, cajons, timbales, frame drums, and the small instruments that live on a percussion table: tambourines, cowbells, shakers, and claves.
Representative model
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LP Classic Conga
Hand percussion
The Classic is the conga most people picture: Siam oak staves, LP's Comfort Curve rim, and hardware that survives being tuned hard and often. It is the drum against which other production congas are described.