Garfield era Wood ID LP and CP

[PowerSemantic]

Hello,

Its been a while since I've posted. I hope everyone is well.

Thanks to all I've learned reading this board, I have amassed a mini-collection of LP bongos made in the original style. See the picture below.

The top three are all from the Garfield era of LP production. From the top they are:

1) CP bongo with the paper badge long since rubbed off
2) CP bongo with an oval-shaped metal badge
3) LP bongo with the "Garfield" metal badge
4) My old unbranded Gon Bops for comparison

So, are these all mahogany, or what? Is there a walnut in this lineup? Close-ups below for comparison.

CP1.png (173.51 KiB) Viewed 5605 times

CP2.png (173.15 KiB) Viewed 5605 times

LP.png (166.34 KiB) Viewed 5605 times

Thanks in advance!

[Psych1]

No walnut. The Gon Bops are mahogany, some of the others may be, not sure.

My understanding is that there never was an era of Garfield production. By the time that LP closed the operation at Palisades Park, all production had moved overseas, mainly to Thailand. Garfield was a warehouse with some admin offices. Some metal work, bells and toys, were farmed out to New Jersey guys for a while but even that soon moved overseas. Some design, and maybe some prototypes, may have been made at Garfield.

I believe, but not sure, that some of the early CP bongos were made at Palisades Park of the same mahogany as the regular LP models but with lighter hardware. Most were made in Asia with cheaper woods.

If the label says “Garfield, New Jersey” it was made in Thailand.

[RitmoBoricua]

Those CP's wood is what is called morado or pau ferro.
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-ide ... pau-ferro/
I think is more widely used by guitar makers than drum makers,
referred to as tone wood.
http://www.suhr.com/guitars/tone-woods/ ... -wood.html
I think these CP pau ferro bongos are in the same boat with LP zebrawood
bongos where production was limited by the way zebrawood is widely used
in guitar making and known as tone wood as well. Then of course that was
when LP was producing bongos with truly interesting exotic woods, a bygone
era.

[PowerSemantic]

Thanks for your prompt answers:

Psych1- You confirmed my suspicions that walnut is not included here. I have owned beech, cherry, ash, durian, mahogany, and, of course, "siam oak" drums, but have never had a walnut.

I get what you're saying about the Garfield production. I think it may have been finishing etc, and if the drum shells are identical to the old Palisades Park models, and I think they are, maybe they were old stock? Also, consider how new LP Cowbells still sport the "Made in the USA" imprint, so what you say about bells makes sense.

The CP hoops are definitely not up to the same level as the LP's, although the lugs are very good. I have actually owned another version of the second drum from the top, which is the most ready-to-play, and ended up parting it out and keeping the extra long lugs. They have repeatedly come in handy skinning drums where the included lugs have been too short to stretch the head down initially.

I have always associated the Thailand operations with rubberwood/siam oak construction, and the shells pictured here are definitely not siam oak. You may be on to something with the shells being PP-era leftovers. All are light and have the proper vintage tone.

RitmoBoricua - I am a bass player, so I have heard before of pau ferro in instrument construction. Maybe these are the final gasp of that bygone era.

[RitmoBoricua]

Those CP's you have there If I remember correctly are pre-Garfield era
as a matter of fact the stickers on those were not metal but just rectangular
shape cellophane stickers. Those stickers said " Cosmic Percussion, Presented
By LP". No mention of Garfield or Palisades Park on the sticker. Now once LP
shift production to Thailand (Garfield era) LP used rubberwood to make CP
bongos and the sticker became metal, oval shape and if I am not mistaken
those had Garfield, New Jersey on the sticker. It seems to me that perhaps in
the beginning CP bongos were produced for LP by another maker. I do know
I saw CP bongos and congas in Europe almost 30 years ago. To my knowledge
LP bells were always made in New Jersey.

[PowerSemantic]

I played with a guy who had a set with the paper stickers intact. They were definitely cosmics.

The oval, metal badges on the second set actually do not mention the location. I tend to think of these bongos as the same era as the vintage CP congas with the triangular badges, which do say Garfield. See the attached picture from a fiberglass drum. That era wood congas definitely were siam oak, but these bongos are definitely something else. Really intrigued that they might be pau ferro.

So much about percussion making is not widely known. Somebody should write a book!

[RitmoBoricua]

For some reason I think those oval badges on your
CP bongo sets look slightly different than the badges
on the rubberwood CP bongos. I think the badges were
a bit smaller on the rubberwood CP bongos with Garfield,
New Jersey on it. I know for sure the center block bolts
on the rubberwood CP bongos are thicker gauge than the
ones on the CP Pau Ferro sets. The rubberwood CP bongos
came after the Pau Ferro CP bongos. I think those same
rubberwood CP bongos later on became Matador bongos, and
then CP was relegated to kiddie grade instruments.