Giobvanni Series History (galaxy)

[pcastag]

Anybody know much about the wood galaxy series development? I remember the first ones were made out of oak and they were just galaxies. Apparantly they had lots of problems with cracking so they changed them to ash. Then Matt designed the newer ones, but in between it looks like there may have been some giovanni galaxies that had the traditional Lp roundish design. Take a look at this one and where the belly is and how the drum dosn't really taper off, it's fairly round .

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LP-Latin-percus ... 3f18bb864f

now in these later models you can clearly see the ritmo influence, the staves straighten out below the belly and the belly seems a little higher. Are my eyes playing tricks on me or do these look like two distinct designs?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LP-Galaxy-Giova ... 2ebf2be742

PC

[Madlatin]

Your eyes are fine. I also noticed that difference and figured the older ones were more like the original classic drums. I picked up a conga and tumba a couple weeks ago that are rounder. The date inside is 1998. Even though they are the rounder shell, the tag on them read Premium Ash. The wood is not the same as my old CPs or Matadors. Any info would interest me also.

Madlatin

[docarroyo]

According to Matthew himself the ones he designed were the Palladium models. if you look at those his influence is very clear. The original Galaxies did have problems not with the wood but the glue, they split along the stave lines. They changed the lumber for economic reasons. I have some of the older ones before the Gio endorsement and have had to reglue them. There are some photos of the pair I own on here.

[pcastag]

Interesting, if you look at the later gios to me they have some of the same design characteristisc as ritmos particularly if you look at how the tuning plates are placed in relation to the belly, it's obvious to me now that the shape of the later drums is different. I wonder if they picked that up from his drums? If would be interesting to see two side by side. Thanks for the clarification on the early galaxies, I knew they had some trouble with them but I was told it was the wood that was cracking because it was improperly dried or they used the wrong species of oak. How is the sound of the oak drums?
PC

[docarroyo]

I do not see the similarities Ritmo is taller, belly breaks different, plates are higher on Ritmo. But I have had it next to a Palladium and they are similar in shape and hardware placement and like I stated Matthew Smith told me it was the Palladium's he was involved with. these all have the same side heads for comparison purpose. I find the shape on my Classics and Galaxy drums the same though the main difference is heavy or thicker hardware. As far as sound most ears could not tell them apart except that the classics have synthetic heads and Galaxies still have original skins, skins giving different volume and mellower sound. Also note that the original Galaxy drums also had the small badge that read Classic model which was removed with Gio's endorsement. check the photos Ritmo next to Galaxy and Galaxy next to Classic.

[pcastag]

The later galaxies are different, take a look at these and you'll see exactly what you mentioned, the lug plates higher, the way the belly breaks, you can see the staves below the belly are much straighter on teh later gios than teh earlier ones.


LP gio by pcastag, on Flickr

IMG_0178 by pcastag, on Flickr

Notice the difference and the similarities to the ritmo?
PC

[RitmoBoricua]

Actually the Galaxy seem to have more Matthew Smith influence than the Palladium but then
again I would not be surprised if LP "borrowed" the plain Galaxy shape from Matthew Smith and
then later allowed the man to contribute on the Palladiums.

[pcastag]

Yeah that's kind of how they look to me too.
PC

[ABAKUA]

Ok, correct info from most sides here.

The original Galaxy (prior to Gio endorsement) shape are clearly different in shape to the current model sold. I have a friend with trhe original Galaxy's he has a Conga & a Tumba. At a recent latin jazz gig we borrowed his 2 drums to join them with my bro's 3 Galaxy Gio series to play with 5 drums. As we are conga geeks, we instantly noticed the shape difference regarding belly placement so went on to compare them. The lugs/plates dont seem to have changed, what has changed however is the LP badge, originally just LP circle with Galaxy below it, then LP circle with Galaxy below it followed by Giovanni Series badge below that. Now its back to a LP circle again different from the original 2 circles, and no Giovanni series badge. The design of the badges artwork has also changed along the models. Also the height of where the badge goes has changed along witht he series. When comparing my students brand new 3 Gio Galaxys with my bro's older series Gio Galaxys, the badge height definately changes.
Also, the orginal 2 variations of the Galaxy have a different rim. The newer series are slighly extended internally. People with some of the older series Gio's wont be able to fit the prefitted LP skins as the rim placement is slighly smaller. The newer rims are extended.
Another change seen in the series were the comfort curve rims changing to the later series. As well as the later series having the 2 triangle like grooves etched into them near the hole for the lug. Also witht he later series, the bracket on the 1 x lug was added per drum.

All this also aside from the wood changing. The problem with the faults on the originals was so bad worldwide that the only way to rescue and recover the name reputation on the series was to have Gio endose them and have his name on them once the problem was rectified. This was explained to me by someone quite high up in LP while under Martin Cohen.

Now regarding the whole Matt Smith thing, the newer Gio's are design based on the drums he made in ash, LP 'borrowed' them. Gio also went to Matt and had him make him an ash set or single drum (cant remember the qty) with the bands, trad rim etc etc... From there, the rest is under the table so to speak and Matt is unofficially accredited to the design of the Palladiums except for the rim/crown and plates. Shape, design and plate placement however are all based off Matts design.
Matts original design for the drums also included the added height like the Palladiums, though my Ritmo drum is of the stadard 30".

Back to the Gio, here is a photo of my students brand new Gio's. Below that a photo of my 2nd generation Gio Galaxy.





Below some pics of my 2nd gen Gio Galaxy next to my Matt Smith Ash requinto, and the solid shell congas I had custom made in Havana based on my design ideas, for comparison of belly height/lug & badge placement.

[ABAKUA]

.

Now check my previous post above, click on the last image in the post and notice the badge design on the Galaxy. (zoom in)



Now compare it to the following image of my students brand new Galaxy (later series)




Now again, compare to the current Galaxy model being sold.




Seems belly placement/shape has been kept since the change from series 1 to series 2, the current shape is still same as the series 2 it would appear. I think the current model are a series 4/generation 4 of Gio Galaxy congas.


Also the drums are available in either chrome or gold hardware. Gold being the predominant. However my bro has a set of 3 with the chrome hardware. Far nicer in my opinion. My bro's drums below.