Gon Bops California Series lower prices? - fewer finishes

[JimG]

Hi all... The Gon Bops California Series have been through some changes in the last 8 months. Yikes, they lower the prices a bit to clear out the current materials / inventories was my guess. Then only newer drums at a 40% increase retail? Add to that, they no longer use custom fitted calf. It's a Remo NuSkyn exclsuive to GB... blech. .

I first bought a GB conga to test the waters. I used InstrumentPro.com and a rep, Carlos. I ordered over the phone and used a coupon for 10% off. I loved the drum and ordered a tumba. Then three months ago ordered a quinto. It came with the Nuskyn... as a shock to me. Went to the GonBops.com site and sure enough the info had changed from "and fitted with custom-sized Grade A cow skins. " to.. "Remo NuSkyn heads for optimal tunability and consistency, and that world-famous Gon Bops sound." Fortunately, I was able to exchange it for a calf skin laying around I guess. Again, Carlos at InstrumentPro.com really helped and gave good service. Personal taste, for sure, but I don't care much for synthetic skins. And living in the upper midwest and humidity changes, I don't mind tuning every time.

I read once somewhere, that GB CA series were going to be brought more in house. And that even by using produced hardware and other cost savings areas of production (compared to custom made), CA series were not making money. I cannot confirm where I saw this and I don't know much about their production processes, but it would make sense to me. These are very high quality, NA red oak, great skin, hardware and sound. So, CA was coming inhouse with a more personal, hands-on quality controlled production, thus the price increase. Purely conjecture and my opinion. But, $1000 per drum is pretty high for me. I hope they find success.

Cheers!
Jim

[Congadelica]

Check out these prices on e bay .
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-DW-Gon-Bops-T ... 240%3A1318

they are so cheap , Im tempted myself

[doctor bloor]

Check out these prices on e bay .
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-DW-Gon-Bops-T ... 240%3A1318

they are so cheap , Im tempted myself

Conga--

Those are the "Tumbao Pro" line, which have the California series hardware but are made of rubberwood and I think are made offshore. Some others on the board have them and like them, but they're not the California line.

I had a chance to sample one of the CA line quintos and loved it, even with the Nuskyn, but I can't wrap my brain around the $1000+ price tag and honestly don't know where their market is for them. If you're ready to spend that much money, why wouldn't you go to Matt Smith, Isla or Jay Bereck? You get the custom made craftmanship, and have enough $$$ left over to get something really nice for the significant other so she doesn't throw you out of the house for buying the drums.

[bongosnotbombs]

One thing about the DW Gon Bops is you can see them and try them out in stores, at least around here.
SOS and Isla and others you need to know someone that has a set.
Still, the prices are way high, some other makers are pretty high too.
The DW Gon Bops are really nice, I think the Alex Acuna series is the bargain from them now, I think it's the same drum except made of Ash as the California series and are 100's of dollars cheaper.

[JimG]

I had to stop myself yesterday from picking up a Gon bops Tumbao Pro Series quinto/conga/bongo deal for $498 plus tax in tobacco burst. I played and played for about an hour in the store. (which is why he was so ticked when I declined...) I played them next to Lp classics. It's always a personal choice, but I liked the GB over the Lp's... and for one hundred dollars less per drum! I've owned Lp classics and they are good drums, I just felt the tumbao's were just as good. Make no mistake, these are not the old tumbao series with the comfort curvey style rim. Still with a buffalo skin, but a well built solid and attractive drum. If I buy another drum, it'll be this.

Cheers,
Jim

[umannyt]

...I played them next to Lp classics. It's always a personal choice, but I liked the GB over the Lp's... and for one hundred dollars less per drum! I've owned Lp classics and they are good drums, I just felt the tumbao's were just as good. Make no mistake, these are not the old tumbao series with the comfort curvey style rim. Still with a buffalo skin, but a well built solid and attractive drum. If I buy another drum, it'll be this.

Cheers,
Jim

Jim,

I think your talking about the GB Tumbao Pro. As you may already know, its rim is identical to the sleek, half-round, hybrid-traditional rim of the much more expensive GB California Series. (Apparently, this rim has influenced the design of the latest rim of the equally-excellently-crafted Volcano congas. See pictures of Gallichio's latest Volcanos somewhere in this Forum.) IMO, all other properties being equal, the rim design of the GB Tumbao Pros is enough reason to prefer it over similarly mid-priced or intermediate-to-advanced category congas.

Anyway, I know your feeling and I'm totally with you, if not for the fact that I already own 4 GB CAs (1 quinto, 2 congas and 1 tumba). They're 2007 models which I bought early this year. I was very fortunate in that my GBs not only had the old price (The 2008 models cost over $1,000 each.) but also went on sale at my local GB dealer. Plus, they still came in one of the many and fancier color (Purple-to-Black Fade Satin) choices of the older model, instead of the 2008 model's severely-limited-to-2 color choices of either Natural Stain or Mahogany Stain. (Nevertheless, Natural Stain and Mahogany Stain are still very nice and classic colors.)

Since I play mainly in 2 Rock/Blues/R&B/Funk/Latin Rock bands (one playing all-original music and the other playing cover music), not only are my GB CAs my personal choice of congas (due to their louder volume, more-cutting sound vis-a-vis my Islas which sound warmer and are my preference when playing unplugged) but my drummers for both bands, whom I play adjacent to, insist on my using them. They tell me that they hear both the sound and my beat much better with my GB CAs.

Best,

[JimG]

Manny, you are correct, I was talking about the Tumbao Pro as I mentioned. They are a solid well built and attractive drum. With a better skin, they would really sing.

Your CA drums are purple burst or fade? and 1 natural conga? If you ever want to sell that natural, let me know.

If I buy another drum, it would be these Tumbao Pro and skin it up.

And another note... I thank all those you keep adding their insight and information on this board. It illuminates my path and I appreciate it.

Cheers,
Jim

[umannyt]

....With a better skin, they would really sing.

Your CA drums are purple burst or fade? and 1 natural conga? If you ever want to sell that natural, let me know.

If I buy another drum, it would be these Tumbao Pro and skin it up.

And another note... I thank all those you keep adding their insight and information on this board. It illuminates my path and I appreciate it.

Cheers,
Jim

Jim,

You're more than welcome!

Yes, with better skins, I strongly believe that those GB Tumbao Pros would really sing!

You're right, 3 of my GB CAs are in Purple-To-Black Burst Satin Oil color and 1 in Natural Stain Oil color. The Natural conga was the only 2007 left with my dealer when I initially bought the first 3. I suspect that another customer had bought either the quinto or tumba individually or a set of quinto and tumba. I would have preferred it to be another P-T-BBSO, but with the killer price, I just couldn't pass it up. So, I grabbed it. Besides, my dealer told me that, if I were to have DW/Gon Bops re-stained to P-T-BBSO, it would cost me an arm and a leg.

Yes, if and when I decided to sell the Natural, I'll definitely PM you. However, frankly speaking, the possibility of that happening right now is kind of remote. For gigs, I frequently use a 2- or 3-drum setup. But, I'm slowly but surely integrating the 4th conga into my playing. 4 congas definitely make for a more melodious set than either 2 or 3. I tune all 4 so that I'm sometimes able to play either a complete "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and/or a portion of "Jack And Jill" (C, A, G & F for quinto, conga, conga and tumba, respectively) in between my tumbaos, especially when I'm soloing. It's never fails to draw an applause from the audience.

Have a good weekend,

[umannyt]

Jim,

I just noticed that when I responded to your email of Friday, Oct 31, 2008, 11:36 am, I didn't realize that there were 4 earlier-posted emails (from you, Congadelica, Doctor bloor and bongosnotbombs) that I hadn't read. So, in my response to you, I unintentionally repeated some things that you and they had already said. Thus, some of the points I made in my response are redundant.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that your 3 GB CAs in Natural Stain Oil color look simply immaculate, as expected from the workshop of Akbar Moghaddam/DW!

Btw, were you able to try playing your quinto with the Remo Nuskyn head before exchanging it for a calf skin? If so, how did it sound? And how would you compare it with your now-installed calf skin? I'm quite curious.

Although, I'm not thinking of making the switch to synthetic heads (right now or ever), especially on my own GB CAs, I do like very much the fact that they retain their tuning, especially during gigs. (I know 'cause I have Nuskyns on my pair of beater Toca Player Series fiberglass congas.) That'll just leave me one less but important factor to worry about. Besides, with some of the world's best congueros (such as Raul Rekow of "Santana", legendary Anga and many others), it's not beneath them to use synthetic heads.

Thanks in advance,

[JimG]

Manny, Make no mistake, I am nowhere near an expert on skins...or much else for that matter. My first concern was that I didn't order one, why did I get one? I then went to the InstrumentPro website (from where I purchased) and it still said they came with the calf. But the GB site had changed to the Remo head. I don't know when they changed. I played it for a week.

IMHO...

Yes, tuning was real simple and the sound was ok by itself. When played with the other drums with calf, I didn't care for the difference. To my ears, it wasn't very melodic and sounded plastic-ey. Again, when played with other drums. I play exclusively in my studio (so far) and the recording was most noticible, again, to me. While the touch and feel was different, it was comfortable and fairly responsive. I didn't notice it so much as being the "classic Gon Bop sound" as GB asserts. Perhaps if every drum was synthetic, or maybe a requinto as an accent. Just my opinion.

With other drums as calf or steer, not tuning just this one was not a consideration. But true, if conditions change, I see that GB offers replacement heads from Remo. I would also guess, that as with any manufactured product, there might be a return policy? It might be possible to order a set, try em and if you don't like, return? Better make sure first.

Btw, my favorite single drum in the set is the conga. To do over, I would have just got another conga instead of the quinto. The conga is very versatile and good playing surface area. Same to say about the Isla congas...

Cheers to ya!
Jim

[umannyt]

IMHO...

Yes, tuning was real simple and the sound was ok by itself. When played with the other drums with calf, I didn't care for the difference. To my ears, it wasn't very melodic and sounded plastic-ey. Again, when played with other drums. I play exclusively in my studio (so far) and the recording was most noticible, again, to me. While the touch and feel was different, it was comfortable and fairly responsive. I didn't notice it so much as being the "classic Gon Bop sound" as GB asserts. Perhaps if every drum was synthetic, or maybe a requinto as an accent. Just my opinion.

With other drums as calf or steer, not tuning just this one was not a consideration. But true, if conditions change, I see that GB offers replacement heads from Remo. I would also guess, that as with any manufactured product, there might be a return policy? It might be possible to order a set, try em and if you don't like, return? Better make sure first.

Btw, my favorite single drum in the set is the conga. To do over, I would have just got another conga instead of the quinto. The conga is very versatile and good playing surface area. Same to say about the Isla congas...

Cheers to ya!
Jim

Jim,

Thanks a lot for your response! I appreciate it!

Re: ordering Remo replacement heads, I doubt if you can return them after you've tried them. Casio Interstate Music, an online store, won't let you return a drum head (including conga/bongo head) once you've installed it--even if you never played it. I know 'cause I experienced it first hand with them. I bought a pair of Remo Fiberskyns for my pair of beater Toca Player Series fiberglass congas hoping to get a better sound than the stock water buffalo heads that originally came with them. Upon installing them and trying them briefly, I quickly realized that the difference in sound (plasticky and indeed synthetic) wasn't worth their advantage of staying in tune.

On one hand, I can understand where CIM is coming from re: their return policy. They don't want to receive back heads that have been stretched and/or have stick marks on them (in the case of kit drum heads).

On the other, it sucked that I shelled out almost a $100 for a pair of heads that you're not crazy about and not being able to return them for even a store credit, much more a full refund. So, up to now, I'm stuck with those Fiberskyns. But, what the heck, my Tocas are "just" beater drums.

Re: conga being your favorite single drum, I totally agree with you. If I had "just" a 3-drum setup then, it'd be 2 congas and 1 tumba. But, since I have a 4-drum setup, then there's definitely a place for the quinto.

Hope you had a great weekend,

[bongosnotbombs]

I just got a California Gon Bops requinto a few days ago, and wouldn't you know it?
Even though the retailer describes the drums as having skin it came with plastic

Now I am in the process of getting a flesh hoop. The remo skin is attached to an aluminum
ring which is a little too big for a skin. The aluminum ring is kind of a rectangle section, not round.

I'm glad I swooped on this wehn I did. The price was $540 minus an additional 10%, but just a few days after
I got mine I noticed the price is now $799. Really great drum though. I'll post pictures when it
has a real skin on it. Too embarrassed to post plastic heads.

[KING CONGA]

I just got a California Gon Bops requinto a few days ago

BNB I thought that you were going to stay away from congas and switch to Batas? What happened? I think I know... a conguero can never have enough congas. I just picked up my third set, 1992 CP with Old School hardware, not a bad drum but a set of GB Calis. would be the bomb!, no pun intended. Please be sure to post pictures once youve replaced the synthetic and congratulations

[bongosnotbombs]

I just got a California Gon Bops requinto a few days ago

BNB I thought that you were going to stay away from congas and switch to Batas? What happened? I think I know... a conguero can never have enough congas.

Well I only picked up the one drum, and you know the price was right at the time, and this drum
matched my set real well, and my friend talked me into it, etc, etc, etc

It's a tight little drum, and I just know it's going to sound fantastic, but that plastic skin

[KING CONGA]

BNB You are absolutely right, that plastic head does that beautiful drum no justice, cant wait to see it with a real skin