Mike´s Gon Bops project

[Gallichio]

Nice project Mike. The drums are looking good and are worth restoring. I am in the middle of restoring a set of Vintage Slingerland and a friend named Jim Quinn is restoring a vintage quinto Gonbop. We are all having fun. Good luck with them.

[OLSONGO]

Have 8 GBs in restoration, 6 mahogany, 2 Oaks... lot of glue, clamping, sanding, re-chroming, re-banding , polyuratheining . And they will all be up for grabs.
Will post pics when finished.

Paz
Olsongo

[Mike]

The crack issues are abundant with Gon Bops as far as I can see. Despite the nuisance of mending,
I think once these issues are dealt with, these drums will be still very fine.
My GB conga & tumba will hopefully profit from the reinforcement that I mentioned above.

[Mike]

Further steps: lacquering the shells

lacquered conga

lacquered tumba

In appr. one week´s time, the shells should be ready for mounting hardware and skins.

both shells lacquered

[bongosnotbombs]

Those look fantastic Mike. I just spent some time cleaning up my older drums, it's a lot
of fun tinkering with old drums, thats for sure.

[congalou]

Whaoooowww !

Magnifique !!!

I have refinish Hardware for a old qunto gon bops few month ago, and it's one of the better drum I had in my hands. Wonderfull work.

Galou.

[Mike]

Thanks for the compliments, brethren
It is too bad I have to wait another week for the lacquer to harden completely
before I start the reassembling business. Itchy fingers..

[Congadelica]

Paitience is a virtue , mike Im sure the finished product will be most pleasing . poco a poco hermano , but be sure to post finished work on your project .

Im sat here tonight feeling very enriched from todays Rumba and also wishing I had the chance to seee Yoruba Andabo who are performing in London tonight .
It is hard to do everything . these Tumba dora`s will give you much pleasure of time to come and in time when you pass , they will be around to tell another story , that so cool keep the faith Hermano .

marco

[Mike]

Further progress:

I used some old bike tube as a protection of the wood on the sideplate
side, because after sanding, the shells did not have precisely the same
size, and to have a snug fit, the rubber is quite well I guess. At least my
old Meinl Live sound conga also has this rubber protection.

So let´s see what happens next

[Mike]

Now... here they are, my Gon Bops,
freshly mounted with mule skin, hinny to be more precise: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinny

It was an hour or so of fun mounting the skins in the nice summer sun

The only thing left is now to wait - and play after a couple of days

I am a happy camper now!
And I agree with Congadelica: Hopefully my two boys will be still playing these beautiful drums
when I am gone some day... carrying on the torch

[traumtyp]

Mike! FELICITACIONES!

Tienes unas hermosas congas gracias a tu gran dedicación en la restauración!!

Excelente trabajo!!

[KING CONGA]

Congratulations Mike those Gongs look awesome, I have no doubt that those tubs will be arround for a very long time By the way, what type of skins did you put on them they too look good

[seisporocho1]

Great job mike!

Those look like L&H mule skins. Are they?

Nice set of drums Mike. Congrats.

[bongosnotbombs]

That tumba looks especially good.

Coincidentially, the new California series Gon Bops also uses a thin piece of
rubber between the lug plates and the shells.

[Mike]

The skins are from Germany actually, there are a few rare mules hopping around here
But as I said, this kind of mule is a crossbreed of male horse and female ass/donkey.
Yes, they feel fine on these fine drums.

Coincidentially, the new California series Gon Bops also uses a thin piece of
rubber between the lug plates and the shells.

That is funny. BTW I even used this bike rubber inside, where the backing plates meet the shell, to balance
the compression, as the staves are not completely even.