I’m sat here with what seems to be a riot shield in my hand.
In all seriousness, obviously I know what it’s for and the type of thing you’d play on it. But, as someone who doesn’t really play percussion beyond a tambourine, it seems huge compared to the X-Click that I recently looked at (here – http://mikedolbear.com/reviews/gruv-x-x-click/) which is something I was very familiar with and do use.
The Mundo is an instrument which, sound-wise, is a cross between a wooden shell and the side of a metal timbale. It is played on the side of the body with the stick, commonly being mounted on a larger drum, producing that half wood and half metal sound.
The Gruv-X Mundo is made from American Rock Maple and copper and has a Tone Hole in the upper half of the body that the company says was found to lower the pitch closer to that of a large timbale shell. It mounts to a drum with the proprietary [Gruv-X] Mono-Mounts, will fit on any drum from a 10” 6-lug to an 18” 8-lug, and is just over 9” wide and 7” deep.
Now, while I did try the Mundo in my studio I can’t play Afro-Cuban percussion patterns so I’m going to defer you to Gruv-X’s own YouTube page where the Mundo is being put to proper use –
So, my own inability to play the Mundo as intended aside, like the X-Click before it, it is really well made. It feels quite substantial in the hand, hence the opening comment and fits easily on a drum.
While, as an instrument, it clearly isn’t intended to take a heavy hammering, it does feel like it could take one. The sound it produces is clean and bright, and quite cutting.
It’s not cheap, but at the same time I think this is one of those occasions where you get what you pay for as I genuinely think this will last a long time and a lot of playing.
More over at – https://gruv-x.com/home
David Bateman
October 2021