Gon Bops mixed set

[Omelenko1]

Cali (JCR) will install an alma on the macho. Then you will mount a new head. With an alma and the new mounted head, when you tune the conga, the egg shaped condition will evaentually correct itself.

Dario

[Anonimo]

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

[KING CONGA]

Ralph Flores he has tools in shop geared for this kind of work

I have talked to Ralph personaly and will will not work on anything other that Valjes, you can see this same statement on his web page. If you are considering sending it to someone there is also Jay Bereck (S.O.S), he can no doubt repair this drum. That is a nice looking tub and it's no doubt worth investing a little cash into it. Good luck.

[BMac]

Being a fix-it-myselfer, I wouldn't immediately go to the expense of shipping and repair by others. You don't have a matched set anyway. Old Gon-Bops that are round can be found and bought. If you haven't already gone to great expense, why start now?

If there is tension in the head, maybe the head has distorted the shell. You may be able to simply remove the head and wait for the wood to recover a round shape. I think this is unlikely, but you tell us ... is the head very tight? Has it been left tight for years? If you are patient with the situation, you could attempt to measure diametric differences so as to be able to detect any return to a more round shape over time, with the shell being stored without a head. I wouldn't expect any differences for months. But you never know til you try.

I am not that patient. I would more likely remove all tension, rotate the current head ninety degrees (or to the orientation of poorest fit with the shell), and apply modest tension. Because the head and shell will no longer match in shape, the smallest diameter part of the head will bear greatest forces on the largest diameter part of the shell. So restoring forces will be applied. I'd leave it that way a few weeks, and check on it. You can judge by eye, or as I said, measure diametric differences over time. Modest tension is below playing tension. Go past finger tight, but reach only a very low tone.

A head and a shell go out of round together. When you rotate a non-round head atop a non-round shell, the head drifts up and down as relatively worse and better fits are found, and full seating is reached only when the head is returned to its original orientation and perfectly matches the shell. Such rotation is a sensitive way of detecting any out of round character. If you rotate the head to an unmatching orientation as I suggested, then of course both the head and the shell may change shape over time, and the picture will get more complicated. But you can always find a poorest fit orientation, and you can apply modest tension there. Ideally, though the picture gets more complicated over time, the shape of the shell gets iteratively closer to round with each step. When the shell becomes more visibly round, throw out the stressed old head and get a new skin. Rotate the new skin once every few months, again finding the high unmatching spot, to help prevent future distortion. I returned a quinto with a 3/16 inch diametric difference to apparently perfect round with this strategy. My drum was only out of round for a few months though, and the drum was only a year old. A much older drum, set in its eggy ways, may not respond as well to my treatment. But I would try.

No one has asked about the sound. If it sounds good, must you fix it at all?

In any event, I wouldn't pay to ship or fix that drum unless I had some emotional attachment developed already. If I was compelled to have a round old Gon-Bop, I'd fix that one myself, or I'd buy another one.

Let us know how it turns out, no matter what you do, please. This stuff makes for good reading for conga lovers.

Cheers,
BMac

[BMac]

Yep ... tight for many years. I kinda saw that answer coming. In a recent discussion I questioned shallow mounting of new heads. I promoted frequent loosening to keep heads and shells in stable healthy condition, and in conjunction with that advice, one can mount new heads at an immediately comfortable playing level because stretching over time is minimized by proper care (loosening when not playing). Another participant in the discussion characterized stretching out shallow-mounted heads (by never loosening) as a more "fun" way to do things. After all, who has time to turn a nut these days? Conga players have too much "fun" to remember carrying a wrench don't you know?

So now let's not forget that part of the "fun" had by neglecting and abusing congas (leaving them tight all of the time) includes seeing our drums go out of round.

Or ... if you want to be a no-fun workaholic like me ... you might even put some WD-40 or other lubricant on those lugs before your try to loosen them. Those lugs and nuts have probably bonded together somewhat through all those years of tension. You don't want to add broken or stripped lugs to the fun of your project. Chrome often breaks away from the underlying steel, and so chrome chips get trapped in the threads. Lubricate the lugs with a thin penetrating oil when loosening a drum left tight for years. I recommend taking the nuts all of the way off the lugs. Then clean all the threads, removing the chrome fragments. Use a rag or brush. Don't roll the lugs in your fingers to clean or lubricate the threads. Sharp little coils of chrome can break out of the threads and fish-hook right into your skin. When reassembling, put grease on the threads. The thin penetrating oil you used during disassembly will essentially evaporate leaving you dry threads if you don't apply grease or thicker oil before use.

If you don't keep your lugs/nuts in clean greased condition, they'll bind, and needless forces can pass to the brackets mounted on the drum. Those brackets can break ... even more "fun."

So there you have it. Take good care of your drums and they'll serve you well. Or just have "fun" and watch your drums degrade. It's pretty much the same with cars, houses, and lovers ... yes?

Cheers,
BMac

[bongosnotbombs]

OK.......now that the I Told You So lecture is over, any thought on my questions regarding the age or potential value of the tubs?

I also don't always tune down my drums after playing, but, I'm on them every day and they get retuned to different pitches regularly. If I'm away from them for a while I de tune em. But, that isn't what this thread is about.

C

I would put those Gon Bops somewhere between $200-$300 per drum. I think that set might be worth about $500 for the right person. Gon Bops made that style for several years. Usually the year is written somewhere in the serial number on the tags.

[pcastag]

I had jay steam back into shape one of my old egg shaped gon bops and put an Alma in it, it eventually went out of round again but not nearly as bad.
PC

[bongosnotbombs]

Really, the cost of that kind of repair, mailing it to Jay or Matt and then having the alma installed would might be as much or more than the drum is worth. If the quinto is worth say $300 tops, the repair is going to cost probably $150 labor and materials at least, then the shipping of $30-$40 each way. I don't think anyone would be willing to pay $500 for that drum. I don't know, maybe, but I wouldn't, not for a used and repaired Gon Bops Philippine mahogany quinto.

pcastag, how much was your repair?

There are so many threads here on the forum with directions on how to fix an out of round conga, do a search for them. If you are handy at all, that might be the best way.

[bongosnotbombs]

Not much else to say, you've got two Philippine mahogany Gon Bops with the super hardware. Could have been made at anytime really.

[pcastag]

Really, the cost of that kind of repair, mailing it to Jay or Matt and then having the alma installed would might be as much or more than the drum is worth. If the quinto is worth say $300 tops, the repair is going to cost probably $150 labor and materials at least, then the shipping of $30-$40 each way. I don't think anyone would be willing to pay $500 for that drum. I don't know, maybe, but I wouldn't, not for a used and repaired Gon Bops Philippine mahogany quinto.

pcastag, how much was your repair?

There are so many threads here on the forum with directions on how to fix an out of round conga, do a search for them. If you are handy at all, that might be the best way.

It was about 125.00, it was quite a while ago and I got the drum for less than 50 bucks so it was definitely worth it.
PC