Can anyone identify these drums? - are thes gon bops for sure?

[109-1176549166]

...the Mahogany that was used for Gon bops in the 70's &80's was from the far east...
I'm a little bummed as that is technically not Mahogany. Oh well live and learn.
Still makes a nice drum

Bongorific,

Hmmm, now we have conga and bongo mass-producers using supposedly Asian or Siam Oak from the Far East. (A lot of people know that they're really rubber wood and Meinl is one of only a few who have the integrity to disclose this fact.)

Deja vu? :;):

[taikonoatama]

I don't know guys, those mahogany gon bops sound OK to me and that's about it. Too dry. The oaks are another story. If you want to talk about the true Matanzas sound you have to play a caoba sonoc first. They sound wayyyyy better than the mahog. bops. A friend of mine bought a true quinto (10in.) from a traveling rumba group in canada, much heavier wood, true caribbean mahogany great tight focused sound. To me the mahogany bops always lacked depth in the sound, too one dimensional. I understand why people like them, but you could pretty much get the same sound out of one of the playa azul mexican drums with the right skin on it.
PC

I may like the sound of old "mahogany" Gon Bops, but I would never put them in the class of a true caoba/mahogany drum (which I have had). I didn't mean to imply that I thought they were the greatest thing around, just that they can can sound pretty good (especially when compared to a lot of overly ringy modern drums).

Anyway, I prefer the old oak Gon Bops, myself, over the "mahogany" Gon Bops versions - a fuller sound, top to bottom.

[blango]

Funny thing is, im trying to find a drum that sounds like the old beat up cedar tubs on the streets of Havana.

Perhaps i should not be so into repairing them, or putting nice skins on them.

Perhaps i should be cracking them up and putting old skins on them to get that flavor

Tony