Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby Anonimo » Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:26 pm

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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby Jerry Bembe » Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:02 pm

Leedy,

I do not see the crack you are refeering to. I donot deny that there is a greater potential for cracks with Gon Bops but I fail to see your point here with your example. (If it is there then it is extreemly hard to see.)

I own Gon Bops and I personally love them and their warm tone. These vintage drums require special care. Regardless, many vintage drums require special care.

The new ones are anybody's guess now. Lets give them a chance first.

Peace.
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby onile » Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:25 pm

Alafia Abures Mi!
I hope that you are all well and abundantly blessed!

I have had both experiences with Gon Bops, I owned a set of 3 Mariano series; 11", 12" and 14". They were INCREDIBLE, at least until a year later......
I had played them intermittently throughout the year and had put them away in their cases, when I was going to practice at home and then.....BAM! The quinto had a crack. Well the crack was actually between the staves, so I guess it wasn't an actual crack, but more so the glue just disintegrated. I was going to apply more glue to it so I took the bands off......stupid move on my part. I swear that this happened, and I laughed my ass off at first, but when I took the last band off at the top.........KABLAM! The drum just fell to pieces at my feet...I just stood there and my daughter came into the room and said...."what did you do?"

I swore off Gon Bops for life......then they were resurrected. I bought a set of the California Model from the "new" Gon Bops Company. Now, despite my previous experience, I totally dug the hardware (star wares) and the dense wood. They have a great sound to them, even though I took off the original skins and mounted some that I bought from Michel (Moperc) on them. I sold them to one of my students out of necessity, but they still sound great!

Not sure what these new Mariano Series are like, unfortunately you can't trust the sound from Youtube......they're only as good as the speakers on your computer guys/gals ...remember that. You have to be there to hear them yourself. And, despite someone else's recommendation, it's a matter of preference.....you have to hear, play, smell and taste them to be sure that they're what YOU consider playworthy! Okay, Okay...I just made that word up!

Stay well!

Onile!
Attachments
Mariano GonBops.JPG
These are the original Mariano's that I had owned.....that's my eldest daughter acting crazy...
post-14-87119-3_GonBops.jpg
These are the California models with the new heads on them.....
Que Nsambi les acutare pa' siempre!
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby Anonimo » Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:35 pm

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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby Jerry Bembe » Mon Feb 28, 2011 4:40 pm

I have had a Gon Bops drum disintergrate on me when I did the same thing as Onile. I will have to use round jigs to glue it back together and start from scratch. I regard this as a learning experience. I try to not get too emotional with vintage instruments. They can always be fixed. Regardless, the wood in these older drums are often superior to newer drums while they can be unruly at times. :(


Regarding warranties, Tom Alexander at Volcano has a 5 year warranty on his congas and I have heard from several satisfied customers that he has honored this warranty. The only issues with Volcano's work has been with experimetal woods and within the first year after manufacture when the wood is doing what wood naturally does. There are more Volcano congas in Illinois than any other region of the US so there are many customers and examples for this comment.

Who makes the best congas will differ from one person's opinion to another but Volcano is one of the best.
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby windhorse » Tue Mar 01, 2011 1:08 am

Those stands are Akbar's design.. I'm happy to see that DW went with his hardware for the stands.. When i went to his shop just before he sold to DW, He stood on the stands, then started jumping up and down on them! Not even the slightest stress! The guy is just a champ with hardware.. The wood!! The only way it's going to crack is if you use it as a boat, or you horribly mistreat it somehow - like slipping on snow and falling on them as they break your fall (yes, it happened to me!). IMO the Mariana's would be better if they had Akbar's hardware on the rims as well - the original GB hardware design they're adhering to is thin. I'll bet these are great drums and you'd be very satisfied with that price! But, I'd go ahead and get the all-Akbar CA series..
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby goingquinto » Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:32 pm

I just got some more info about these drums in an e-mail from Gon Bops. Here's body of e-mail from Kevin Laskey of Sabian:

Hi Dusty,

This is straight from Akbar:

They are made in Thailand and each stave is made out of two piece laminated light weight Durian wood and I only over see the production in Thailand.

I hope this answers your question.

Kevin

So......... unfortunately they are not made in US or by Akbar. But the laminated two piece staves could also mean they aren't as prone to cracking. I wish I could play some of them to see how they feel and sound.
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby Bongobilly » Wed Mar 02, 2011 6:17 am

Well even the best of drummakers have problem's . When i purchased my Junior conga in the early 80's this store on 42 st N.Y.C had about 25 Junior's in different size's ( Wish i had brought a quinto too) Anyway there was at lease 4 Junior's cracked at the stave line. This drum did crack a couple of year's ago and it was my first conga repair i did and yeah i was able to get a just like new seam out of it.
It's Mofongo Time!
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby Anonimo » Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:27 am

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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby Ernesto Pediangco » Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:49 am

Jerry Bembe wrote:Very cool. This is the first time I have seen this reissue. I find the Tumba sizes to be among my favorites. I hope these are Mahogony and US built. I hope other sizes will be available including the 14.25" XXL Tumba and the 9.75 Quinto.

I have originals of this series and I find the naming of the sizes to not match the original Gon Bops. My Mariano Tumba IT 3300 is 11.5". Gon Bops had odd sizing and naming of their congas by size from the others but they are (in my opinion) the best sounding mass produced American Congas ever built (pre DW).

The original sizing goes:

IQ 9.75", IC 10.5", ICL 11", IT 11.5", ITL 12.25", ITXL 13.25" and ITXXL.

IQ = Quinto, IC = Conga, ICL = Conga Large, IT = Tumba, ITL = Tumba Large, ITXL = Tumba Extra Large and the rare ITXXL = Tumba Extra Extra Large.
Mahogany may sound warm but the soft woods are more prone to shell damage than the rest of wood drums. Dents & gouges deep into the shells & cracks are very common to soft mahogany Gon Bops. It is the most REPAIRED drum model out there.
Thanks for sharing this.

The sizing can vary .25" occasionally.
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby Ernesto Pediangco » Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:54 am

leedy2 wrote:
goingquinto wrote:I just got some more info about these drums in an e-mail from Gon Bops. Here's body of e-mail from Kevin Laskey of Sabian:

Hi Dusty,

This is straight from Akbar:

They are made in Thailand and each stave is made out of two piece laminated light weight Durian wood and I only over see the production in Thailand.

I hope this answers your question.

Kevin
Laminated staves are 2 times more dependable than solid staves that cracks can travel through the shell. The laminated stave is stronger & if used on better woods, make for a better strength to weight ratio. But laminated soft junk woods are only a mediocre drum since the shell is so prone to dents that they try to strengthen the shell & give it a more solid look by adding all the poly coatings that make refinishing a drum, 5 times more labor intensive.
So......... unfortunately they are not made in US or by Akbar. But the laminated two piece staves could also mean they aren't as prone to cracking. I wish I could play some of them to see how they feel and sound.
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby pcastag » Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:37 pm

Huh? I think Leedy's pic is an older Gon Bop, I still don't haven't heard anything about the new gon bops having issues with cracking, other than cucos bongos, I have heard of some hardware issues. I think the new marianos look pretty much like they'll sound good, probably not great like a boutique drum, just like the acunas, typical laminate Thai production, I got a set of three for 585(acunas) which to me was a great deal, lesst han 200 per drum, I really honestly would not want to pay more than 250- 300 per drum, they sound pretty much like all the other asian water buffalo drums I've heard. The ca's definitely sound different, but I didn't particularly like the sound, very dry.
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby goingquinto » Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:40 pm

Scratches and dents are not really a big issue for me. One of my best drum teachers ever has an old set of the original brown Marianos. The tumba has a huge dented place on the side where he uses a stick for Haitian style playing. I think all 3 of them have big cracks and definitely scratches and dents, but they still sound great. I personally own a 12.5 of the red style like the ones in a previous pic. It is beat up really bad, with 2 big cracks you can see through in the winter. The cracks close up in the summer. This drum still sounds awesome, even when the cracks are present. That drum has had a hard life though. Years ago, some friends and I were playing on the beach in northern Cali. We decided to take a little walk down the beach after we had played for a while. When we came back, my drums were gone....... I was in shock. Then a friend saw 2 congas in the surf rolling around. The tide had come in waaaaaaaay faster than we had expected. My drums had been soaking in salt water for 20-30 minutes. I figured they were ruined, but they survived. The Gon Bops cracked in 2 places the next day. The other drum was a Toca quinto and it was totally unaffected other than the salt on the head after it dried. I hadn't thought about it till just now, but I guess that is a testimonial of some sort for the Thai made drums. At least for their durability.

I guess I could put a coat of urethane on the new Marianos if I got them to make them a little more durable, they look like they have no outer finish.

I still just want to play the new ones to see how they are. And to windhorse, yes the Cali series Gon Bops are sweet looking drums, and I bet they sound great, but I think the price is higher than S.O.S. I can't see paying that much for them.
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby congamyk » Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:06 am

Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas at Rhythm Traders

http://youtu.be/1cU8sp05Bu0
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Re: Gon Bops Mariano Series Congas

Postby mydogsowner » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:59 pm

I just bought myself the Quinto off Amazon.com.

Free Shipping and an extra 10% price today. It cost me just over 200 for the drum.

Crazy prices right now on them, get them while they last I guess.
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