Meinl Percussion BE1R Berimbau, Red

The product is a simple instrument involving a stick. There were no stick in the package. It is ridiculously expensive and a false advertisement of a supposedly brazillian string instrument. Its been more than a month and we are still waiting for our refund. Legal action against amazon will be iminent.

the berimbau is useless as it is shipps armed and the wooden stick is already so bent that it no longer has good tension in it when armed. NEVER arm a berimbau unless you are playing it.Plastic cabaca is nice but not worth $160 the entire berimbau costs.I don't know who arms the berimbaus, but please guys, don't do it. This is NOT a guitar. It is important to have the stick straight and have enough tension for playing it. ONLY arm when playing, NEVER leave berimbau armed for long time after playing.

This is the 4th one I have ordered from Amazon. I really wanted to love this instrument. It is a beautiful red color that even my Mestre was excited about. But the sound of the instrument is just anemic. It goes beyond just sounding "gunga" it sounds muddy. It gets completely drowned out in the batteria. I feel that There is no way to get enough tension on the arame, as the verga is too flexible (being made of very thin fiberglass). The very first one I ordered had a sound that was perfect but had a crack in the verga so I returned it. Every other one have gotten sounds dull and lifeless and muted. I suspect that the QC in the factory is not done by anyone who knows what a berimbau should sound like. If you are looking for something to noodle around on and not disturb the neighbors, this is a great find (but expensive). If you want to be able to stand out in roda and bring the axe look somewhere else. I really hope that Meini can hone their production process as I think the idea of this Berimbau is amazing and would order another one in a heartbeat provided it sounds like a berimbau.

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This berimbau sounds and looks like crap 🤣

It is a very pretty berimbau, and it is usable, but it isn't particularly good. The slickness of the fiberglass, the paracord used to attach everything, the fact that the cabaca is also super varnished... everything slides around. After 10 minutes of playing, the cabaca is sideways. Another reviewer mentioned the fact that the fiberglass verga can't seem to get enough tension, which is true... although for me, if I do manage to get much tension between the verga and arame, the cord will often slide up and lose that tension because everything is soooooo slick. I had a more traditional berimbau, and it worked fine. I was hoping this would be an upgrade, but... I would really recommend going with something made of wood.

This lame picture with the cabaça backwards (standing on the opposite side) cannot be a good sign.