Mike´s Gon Bops project

[bongosnotbombs]

Because you also mentioned the brittleness of the mahogany wood, I will consider the idea of backing plates,
as they they spred the tension more evenly.

Still another thought (and it is really fun, this project): You have got cow skins on your Gon Bops congas, do you?

Not tension, compression.
I have cow on these. My opinion is mule would be too much for mahogany Gon Bops.

[Mike]

I have cow on these. My opinion is mule would be too much for mahogany Gon Bops.

.. which is why I am considering to reinforce the upper part of the shell with some inward layers of fiberglass,
to prevent the drum from going eggshape, a problem that appears often with these Gon Bops as I have heard.

Yes, cow skin will be fine I think. But I am not as far as that. Despite the upcoming weekend, there is still the family, the garden, etc.

[bongosnotbombs]

If they are not egg shaped now, after all they have been through, I think they will
be fine. If you use fiberglas, you won't have that vintage Gon Bop sound. You might
end up with some hybrid fiberglass wood sound.

The mahogany may not be the strongest wood out there, (it's not weak) but its what gives these drums their
character.

[OLSONGO]

BNB interesting that you say to stay away from the fiberglass , I happen to have a couple of GBs that have original factory fiberglass reinforcement on the edge. Mike I recommend the metal plates as in the Lps, the weight is not much of a factor as the Gbs are already very light, and if you want to prevent the egg shape... I put an alma , but only on quintos; where we have a tendency to tune high 6 to 8 turns, the tumbas and congas in most cases we only do 3 to 4 turns .

Paz
Olsongo

[Mike]

BNB interesting that you say to stay away from the fiberglass , I happen to have a couple of GBs that have original factory fiberglass reinforcement on the edge. Mike I recommend the metal plates as in the Lps, the weight is not much of a factor as the Gbs are already very light, and if you want to prevent the egg shape... I put an alma , but only on quintos; where we have a tendency to tune high 6 to 8 turns, the tumbas and congas in most cases we only do 3 to 4 turns .

Paz
Olsongo

Thanks for the input, BnB & Olsongo, I am still pondering the question of fiberglassing, only a small area below the bearing edge should not alter the sound too much in my opinion (I am thinking of my older LP Classic quinto with this glass reinforcement, and the sound is the "classical" wood sound).
But still I am in two minds about that, as I really do not intend to crank up this conga and tumba set. So it is not really necessary, apart from the fact that I have never done this so far.
As to backing plates, those are not much of a hassle to make for me.

Again to skins, I prefer unbleached cow skins, but the original Gon Bops seemed to have white ones.
Your opinion or experience?

Anyway, have a nice weekend everyone!

[bongosnotbombs]

BNB interesting that you say to stay away from the fiberglass , I happen to have a couple of GBs that have original factory fiberglass reinforcement on the edge.

Paz
Olsongo

I've never seen one of those. Gon Bops really did come out with a lot of different techniques. I'm familiar with them fiberglass coating the
outside, but I've never seen the fiberglass on the inside before. That's a new one for me.

Mike, maybe you can try renovating these drums to original specs first and see how it turns out. You can always add more things like
almas and fiberglass later. Sometimes changes can be harder to undo than to do.

[docarroyo]

Hey Mike I own 8 Gon Bops different woods and models and two of them are reinforced with fiberglass around the lower edge as yours. The only thing I would advise is not to finish with too dark a stain let the wood grain show its beauty. Some guys here like the smeared Hershey bar finish and I wonder why in that case not just paint the wood? In any case good luck I've owned GP drums for over 30 years and love them they make great drums for all applications.

[Mike]

Mike, maybe you can try renovating these drums to original specs first and see how it turns out. You can always add more things like
almas and fiberglass later. Sometimes changes can be harder to undo than to do.

Yep, that is certainly right.
I think first things first. These drums are new to me, so I will check out the sound of the conga
in original condition first - with new skins of course.

As to the finish, Docarroyo, my plan is to sand them carefully until the varnish is off, and let the original
mahogany color shine through a layer of clear varnish (matte).
I certainly do not favor any candy bar finish, this is what the drums have got on them now already.

[alabubba]

Nice project! That is something I would like to do someday, but one doesn't see many old congas in north Alabama!

But as to skins, maybe I can add some useful input to your project. I have just re-skinned 3 newer Gon Bops (tumbao pro quinto, conga, & tumba) with thick cow from msb501clave, and although I just did the tumba today and it will be several days before it dries and can be tuned up, the effect of thick skins on the quinto and conga has been profoundly gratifying, to say the least.

I had wondered about how to set up the drums for very pure tones. Because the skins that come from the factory these days are pretty thin, they have a lot of overtones. Not that this is necessarily bad in a live setting, but I wanted something more pure for recording purposes.

So, when I was in Santa Barbara last spring, I stopped at a drum shop which had an old quinto sitting there with a really thick cow head, and it had the tone of my dreams! So the new skins I got are 3-4 mm thick, and all from the same cow.

I don't know yet if I "should have" got mule for them instead, but later this year I will probably be ready to re-skin another Gon Bops conga and tumba for my son, and for his drums I will use thick mule. In this way, I will learn from my own ears and experience what the difference is, and if I prefer one over the other strongly or not.

At this point, I am using the quinto tuned to my previous conga pitch, and the conga tuned to my previous tumba pitch. I am thinking that I will stay there and not crank the quinto high; just use the quinto as a conga, and the conga and tumba as tumbas of different pitch. The quinto shell and hardware seem stout enough for high tuning, but the quinto, conga and skin combination seems to have found sweet spots for the drums as tuned right now, and I don't want to lose that sweetness in the tone by cranking them higher.

[Mike]

Hey Bob,
Thanks for your post about skins.

I do think, however, that we own two totally different drums, so there is basic difference in what type of skin and how thick it is that you can mount:
In comparison with your GB Tumbao Pro congas which you have shown here viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4056 (beautiful drums!) the shells of the 1970s mahogany GBs I own are far too light and brittle to kill them with too thick skins. You see, the fiberglass reinforcement that I was thinking about in my prior post would be necessary even to only tune them up high I guess!
So that is why I do not think mule skin or a 3 to 4mm cow skin would be a good idea. BTW I have these skins on various other congas of mine (such as LP Classic, Matador, Afro Elite) and they are terrific in sound! The hardware and the shells of these drums are far more solid though, they can take the tension and compression.
Well, to cut it short, I have not decided on a particular skin yet. Restoration will not start before next week.

BTW I have seen and heard a very horse skin on a 1970s oak Gon Bop quinto lately and I was like blown away by the cool sound, very folkloric, but I do not know if this rare to find skin would be good for a conga and tumba as horse is very tough too.
All in all, a decent, densely textured, not too thick cowskin should be fine - you cannot go wrong with cow in most cases in my opinion. To be honest, my question as to whether bleached or unbleached skins are better was a bit rhetorical, because I really tend to use ´natural´skins, i.e. unbleached. I was just curious why they used those white skins at Gon Bops in the past. Maybe the sound is drier?

[docarroyo]

Hey Mike just my two cents again I have three 9.5 inch GB drums all have thicker skins and in my opinion sound great, even the great Cachete Maldonado thought it was a fantastic sounding drum. I advised Tato a fellow forum member to get a thicker skin for his and he went to JCR and got one mounted by Cali. Two of them are mule one is bleached cow/steer. I've tried thicker skins on other drums but have not attained the same results. I have no problems with the sturdiness of the shells two are mahagony one is oak all are 70's vintage and still going strong. I attached a photo of two of them.

[bongosnotbombs]

Well I put a medium cow on mine from Fat Congas.
I could not have asked for a better sounding easier to
play drum. I feel like it really brought out a lot of this drums
character.

[vinnieL]

BNB what did Fat congas charge you for the skin? aren't they very expensive from them?

[bongosnotbombs]

BNB what did Fat congas charge you for the skin? aren't they very expensive from them?

I can't say I bought it from a friend that had originally got it from Fat Congas.

[Chupacabra]

You have a lot of work ahead of you on this one! I wish I could find the nice fixer-uppers around here like the ones you guys manage to get!

If you're still wondering how to get the foot ring off I would suggest covering the heads of the tacks (they're actually called escutcheon pins if they're used on something artsy-craftsy) with a big square of sticky cloth tape like duct tape or something similar - at least an inch. Then you take a file and file away the head of the pin that is covered by the tape. As you file, you'll go through the tape and into the head while still leaving the metal ring covered with the tape and not damaging it with the file. File until the heads are gone and then remove the ring. The remainder of the pins will be sticking out of the wood and you will be able to pull them out with pliers.
You can find replacement pins here: http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page. ... at=3,41306 . This store has a lot of extremely useful tools for woodworking in general. I spend WAY too much money there!