by Psych1 » Thu Sep 15, 2011 7:47 am
I've learned a lot about repairing old Gon Bops, from this board and Tony's blog. If it was mine I'd fix it myself. That is a big crack. When you glue it it will stress the shell and you will have other cracks soon - but not right away. So if you take it to a pro for fixing you will have to take it back - unless he takes it all apart - big $$. The good news is that once the staves have been reglued, with new modern super-strong wood glue, the repair will last for at least another 40 years, maybe longer.
The best way is to shim the crack with matching wood but way that is out of favor on this board.
The traditional way is to just clean up the old glue in the crack, use Titebond to fill the crack, make loops with strong 1"rope, use pipe or dowels to crank the shell closed, clean up the excess, wait a day, play the GB until the next crack comes, repeat until all stave separation stops, then adjust the bands and refinish. It's actually fun, not hard, and you did it yourself.
Nice drum.