congaplace.com

I'm sure this topic has probably been covered somewhere, so a referral by forum members to a previous post would be helpful to this forum newbie.

Have two old GB's, a conga with a 10 1/2"- 10 3/4" head and a quinto with a 9 1/2" - 9 3/4" head.

I know GB is history, but where and how and from whom do you GB owners out there go to replace original GB heads. Need a match for the quinto which is starting to show a few edge cracks. And BTW, pardon my ignorance, but what do they mean by mounted versus unmounted heads?

CongaTick

I may be wrong on this but here goes: mounted heads come pre-attached to the ring. Unmounted heads are basically the skin, which must then be attached to the ring.
I can't help you with the GonBops heads but, if you're really adverturous, I had a friend here in AZ who bought a piece of cow hide and shaved and shaved and dried and soaked, etc. and whatever else was involved and made his own heads for his early Tocas. I like that idea of "becoming one" with your instrument. He didn't have to do it but for the cost savings but with the vintage congas, with odd sizes, that may be the way to go. He made it sound pretty simple, actually.

I have 1978 GB's that I reskinned with sheets of LP's Handpick skins...I just followed the instructions on LP's website and i will never pay again to reskin a drum..I have aquired some skins from cuba, but i need more metal rings...do anybody know what those rings are made of, steel,iron?

Hi, the head rings are made with iron, if you prefer you can use stainless steel (it costs a little bit more, doesn't affect the sound and doesn't oxidate), the important is NOT use steel because its hardness doesn't accomodate the vibrations during the playing and the alternated stress during the accordation. The diameter used normally is 6 or 8 mm depending on the maker: I prefer 8 mm so that the rim can "grab" more. For every technical questions don't esitate to contact me, also privately if you prefer, I'm an Italian smith and I build not only holders, racks, bells and every metal percussion, but also fiberglass congas and djembes. Bye, Fabrizio. fabriperc@libero.it