congaplace.com

Here is an auction at german eBay:
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Gon-Bops-Conga-/ ... 3384b3b062

The seller seems to be Jost Reiche who builds congas himself.
http://www.reiche-trommelbau.de/

p.a.dogs1

Translation: Hight 77cm, diameter 27cm, mahogany, no cracks, teardrop crown, original skin.

p.a.dogs1

Nice one!
If I did not own three Gon Bops mahogany congas
I would be seriously in danger of pondering the investment
of that teardrop model.
Or maybe a Jost Reiche conga itself would be the real deal in the first place
Have you ever tried them out?

I got 3 of those Teardrop Gon Bops.

Mike wrote:Have you ever tried them out?

No, my first teacher in percussion (in the early 80ies) owned a couple of Marianos.

Mike wrote:Or maybe a Jost Reiche conga itself would be the real deal in the first place

This is the most interesting question. What makes him selling a legendary instrument (which possibly helped to design early Reiche congas - or even served as a model)? In my eyes there are some obvious similarities between some Gon Bops series and Reiches: mahogany, deep belly, rather straight shaped above the belly. I would not give away such an instrument before building better congas myself. So ... just some thoughts to speculate



And of course, the prices for Reiches are really sensational.

p.a.dogs1

p.a.dogs1 wrote:What makes him selling a legendary instrument (which possibly helped to design early Reiche congas - or even served as a model)? In my eyes there are some obvious similarities between some Gon Bops series and Reiches: mahogany, deep belly, rather straight shaped above the belly..

My thoughts exactly too. And yes, the Reiche congas are somewhat a copy of Gon Bops with unique features.

I would not give away such an instrument before building better congas myself

Well, of course there are always personal circumstances that might lead to such a decision,
but that is mere speculation.
One thing is for sure: The Reiche congas ARE top-notch, and to me they are more than on par with Gon Bops.
At least the Reiches a friend of mine brought along the other day had a heavenly sound
and the build quality was outstanding . I could confirm that my buddy had made a great purchase at a relatively low cost.

I added a Photo while editing my post.

Seems that you can get the congas in different surface-qualities. One of the two shown bodies is brilliant, the other not.

p.a.dogs1

Mike wrote:... and to me they are more than on par with Gon Bops.

Just look on the skins!

Wow, amazing! So far I have only seen the matte lacquer version.
The other one looks very beautiful too, the mahogany grain comes out wonderfully.

Looks like the skin on that conga is also different from the tumba, not whiteish, but brownish. Still looks awesome,
Reiche drums are known for superb German cow skins.

is it my imagination or does the "bright" version have flat sawn staves whereas the mat version has quarter sawn?

rhythmrhyme wrote:is it my imagination or does the "bright" version have flat sawn staves whereas the mat version has quarter sawn?

If so, would there be any difference in sound? I am just curious.

EDIT:
According to Tony here, yes: http://congadr.blogspot.de/2008_08_01_archive.html:

The ideal stave is quartersawn and close continuous grain from head to toe, meaning you can follow the same age line from the top to the bottom of the stave. Matt [Smith] believes, and i agree, that this continuous grain increases the sonic resonance of the shell, giving more projection, without as much ring.

There is an interesting thing to add... the warping of the wood is lessened and is more stable in quarter sawn oak, but the resonance is better, meaning the wood is more stable, and more flexible in its sonic characteristics, at the same time, if you follow me. These 'micro' movements of vibration that produce sound is not the kind of movement that would cause a well made conga to crack, usually. Wood that is not cured correctly, stress from the hardware, or warping of plainsawn staves, and dropping your conga off of a tall building will cause cracks. The Plainsawn Oak is more rigid, if not more stable, thus the ringing issues.

Very interesting considerations! Thank you rhythmrhyme, thank you Mike.

Maybe we are not in the correct forum to discuss constructional questions. Generally I would agree that the better quality results from using quartersawn wood. But possibly we should distinguish between bended staves and sawn staves.



I think it is rather obvious, what I mean. - To get quartersawn staves you need a plainsawn board:



p.a.dogs1

Here is an oak model with teardrop crown:

http://kleinanzeigen.ebay.de/anzeigen/s ... ref=search

p.a.dogs1