congaplace.com

As I took a closer look at the vintage11.5" Gon Bops I bought recently,
I noticed that there was not any finish on it, you could feel the wood and the grain
very well. Unprotected wood? No, José, so I decided on giving it two layers of a good
floorboard lacquer, just like I finished my other two Gon Bops, which are also from
that International series.

But after I did it, I wonder why I did not think of a good layer of epoxy first ?
At least that is what they had done years ago at the Gon Bops factory, hadn´t they.
Now I am worried the wood will probably suffer - or do you think that will be OK?

Well, another thing I am wondering about is the production date:
Can the serial number provide some cle as th when the IT-4125 was manufactured?
It says 630xxx or probably 630xxxx, hand-written, in the inside of the shell. Is there a database or
something like that to track down the year?

I asked the same basic question many moons ago:

Here is the post, but the short answer is the number doesn't help with the date. The type of badge does give an indication of age. Glued on = later late 70's /80's IIRC tin badge = earlier. Other know more and will no doubt give better info

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2909&hilit=+numbers

I got that backwards - glued badge older - tin badge newer

Your drums should be fine Mike, I've got several drums with just oil finishes and they endure quite well.

That´s cool, I am feeling relieved, BnB, thanks!
The drums look really cool. The latest 11.5" is one the left.

BTW there is this strange inscription inside, apart from the model#.
Can anyone figure out what that is supposeed to mean?