congaplace.com

I never saw one of these before. It looks & sounds like a regular 70's GB mahogany quinto except for the lower shell design and the inlay that you see on oaks but never on a mahogany and a slightly different plate design. But inside there are clips that hold the top and bottom together. Pop the clips and the drum comes apart. All original, including the skin. It cam from GB that way. Anyone know anything about this?

I believe that Gon Bop design came from the late great conguero Lee Pastora... I say that cause I knew him at the time in L.A. and everyone would go over to see Tom at the Sunset blvd. Gon Bop store front he had one time...and Lee also had one of his own just like it..made in two parts....from what my memory can remember...Im talking over 30 years ago...ugh!..."JC"Johnny Conga

That is sooo wrong .

Well, there must have been a reason? Like the band was traveling in a VW, or, everything had to fit into the boot of a sports car, or, his old lady made him keep his drums on a closet shelf, or----------- No, I'm not going to cut any of my other congas in half.

Actually, it is a tight perfect fit with dowels a rubber seal and special clips with springs. There is no loss of sound and no rattle from the clips.

Thanks for that tip JC, I'm going to try to find out more about this one.

Never seen one like that before!

Looks like the bottom half is made to fit inside the top half for transport?
Sure would make storage easier. Cool find!

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ok Congatick what is sooooooooooo right then? Im talking about my personal experience..nothing more..didnt say it was totally true either..just something out of my memory...and I KNOW LEE HAND MADE A 2 PIECE CONGA drum cause i saw it and played on it in Los Angeles...or are u gonna tell me that is wrong too?...and when u say something like that please back it up...with facts..beside 'oh your so wrong!"....Tks "JC" Johnny Conga

Is this a one-off custom order? Or a regular line that GB used to produce?

Reminds me of the Gon Bops compact congas, with a sound tube that extends down when set up.
A friend of mine had a set and he always regretted selling them, they sounded great and were great for gigging as they fit into one hard case.

When I was travelling in Indonesia last year I met a conga player who made a pair of congas out of a single conga by cutting it in half and putting a skin on the other end.

JC - I'm sure he wasn't questioning your memory or anything you said. What I thought was he was questioning was cutting a conga in half. For those of us who love these tubs that is not a bad response. That is why I answered as I did, pointing out that even though he cut that baby in half at least he did a decent job of it.

Hey ain't that just the danger of email and forums! I too read (at first) that JC was being questioned ... read it again and realized what was being said was that cutting drum in half was what was soooo wrong. There are not enough emoticons in the world to replace reading faces, body language and tone of voice.

I bet most of the forum dust ups are due to this very thing

I am so sorry my remark was taken the wrong way. What I felt was "wrong" (and still do) is the image of what appears to be a conga sliced in half, even though it is an attempt at an original design by somebody trying to conserve storage and travel space. The image of that half-conga was just so startling, it felt "wrong". If I have offended, apologies, and will therefore avoid offering future commentary.

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