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HELLO FORUM BROTHERS;

I'm bidding on this Bongo on ebay. Can anyone tell me about what year it was made. I've seen pics of them before but not these. The crown is throwing me off as to when it was made. It looks original but I've not seen it before or I just don't remember. Thnx guys.

In my opinion this set seems to be Gon Bops most likely from the 1970's.
You see back on those days Gon Bops had like 3 or 4 different style crowns/
hardware for their congas and bongos. The hardware on this bongo is all
original. Gon Bops back on those days even made a bongo set with five keys.
Initially I thought this set seems to be walnut but looking at the auction photos
it may be red oak with a dark finish. Cool vintage set. I hope this helps.

Thanks Ritmo, you always come thru. Hopefully I can get those cheap and fix them up. I finally got the LP Maywood Black Walnut Bongo. Except for the ripped skin, this thing is in mint condition for a 50 year old piece. Manito is getting me a new skin. I''m leaving the original Kip Hide on the other side.

One more comment on the Gon Bops; you are right do not over pay
for it. By looking at the auction photos I think that this Gon Bops
set is possibly cracked in various place. A good restoration project.

Now to that LP Maywood beauty. Congratulations, that's an LP
collector's dream. But you know looking at the grain figure on
the photo you took it resembles a zebrawood a lot but with a dark
finish, interesting. When you get a chance can you provide us
with more photos of the LP Maywood (inside etc) , if you were
so kind please.

HIS ZEBRA WOOD

MY BONGO

THESE ARE TWO PICS FOR COMPARISON. IS MINE ZEBRAWOOD OR NOT? NOT BECAUSE IT'S MY BONGO, BUT I'M LEANING MORE TOWARD THE ZEBRAWOOD.
WHAT DOES THE BLACK WALNUT BONGO LOOK LIKE? DOES ANYONE HAVE A PID OF IT?

RITMO
I'LL POST MORE PICS TONIGHT WHEN I GET HOME FROM WORK. ON THE GON BOPS, THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF IT. HOPEFULLY NOT TOO MANY PEOPLE WILL BID BECAUSE THEY HAVE MULTIPLE CRACKS. I RESTORE DRUMS SO IT'LL BE AN EASY FIX FOR ME.

THESE ARE JUANCHO'S BONGO SET. SAME CENTER BLOCK BUT I BELIEVE THESE ARE WALNUT. CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG PLEASE.


[attachment=0]IMG_0746.PNG[/attachment
MY BONGO

MACHO123 wrote:THESE ARE TWO PICS FOR COMPARISON. IS MINE ZEBRAWOOD OR NOT? NOT BECAUSE IT'S MY BONGO, BUT I'M LEANING MORE TOWARD THE ZEBRAWOOD.
WHAT DOES THE BLACK WALNUT BONGO LOOK LIKE? DOES ANYONE HAVE A PID OF IT?

Check the photo below, an LP PP Walnut . It seems the grain figure is just a tad different than yours
if you ask me; but then again it could be the same hardwood we are looking at but one could have
more quarter sawn staves than the other or the other way around more flat sawn staves. They are both
great vintage LP bongo sets for sure.

download/file.php?id=8391&t=1

Ritmo;
Thanks for the pic. As much as I would love for them to be Zebra wood, they look more like Walnut when compared to your pic. I'm posting the ones I took last night anyway. Here they are;

Beautiful grain figure. I think LP bongos back on those were finished
with some sort of matte oil. It may be the photos but the finish looks
dull, sometimes some people like to leave the patina as is which is
perfectly fine. Personally I would at least polish it with a paste wax
and bring some life back to the finish without actually altering the
finish.

The one on the photo I provided is top coated with spray gloss lacquer
and I think before I sprayed the lacquer I applied a coat or two of
Watco Danish oil. I think I am going to revisit this bongo soon and get
it dialed-in even more. Black Walnut is such a beautiful harwood.

Ritmo;

Yeah man, I want to keep the patina on it but it would be nice to shine it up a bit without refinishing it. I guess I'll sand it down with like 600 grit then spray some polyurethane on them. After I do this and replace the ripped skin, I'll post some more pics.

I think that LP Maywood wood grain is closer to this one.
The only thing is that I tweaked the wood grain on this
one with a water based dye stain that I custom blended
to make the wood grain look more uniform.

I'm not 100% sure but, The GB looks walnut,

The LP is not zebra but it doesn't look like the walnut LP used either. I've posted pictures of my old LP walnut, from the same era, late 60's, on some old threads, it doesn't have that grain. Martin did play around with different woods in the old days.

IMHO the wood used on those bongos is Pau Ferro.
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-ide ... pau-ferro/
The bongo in my picture I believe is Pau Ferro.