Old gon bops conga - restoration - 1950's, Mahogany

Hey all,

Here is some recent work on a couple of Old tubs...

The first project is an old segunda, 11.25" mahogany gon bops. This one came in in sad shape... very sad...

It had a few cracks, one from heel to toe, almost splitting the conga in half. The crack was old and the drum had started to lose its shape. With some bracing inside and some rubber malleting the crack came in line and fixed nicely.

The hardware from this 50's tub is in very good condition, for being over 40 years old.

I had to fight with the drum to save its life.. it clearly wanted to die, for some reason.

I had to rework the bearing edge, as it was way hammered. I took about a 1/4 " off of the top, to be corrected by a thick rubber bumper on the bottom - at some point.

I turned the drum upside down on a clean flat floor, took a carpenters pencil and put it flat on the floor, drew a circle around the drum a 1/4" up from the floor - 1/4' down on the rim of the drum, if you follow me... I hand rasped it down to the level line, taking out the high spots on the rim.

Then, on some advise from a congaboard member, i took it outside and, upside down, rasped it on the sidewalk to make a very even and level bearing edge... worked great.

All in all, the drum sings nicely and came together well. It does need a bottom band.

This size is rare for the older Gon Bops, as the old school tubs were usually smaller - 9.5" and a 10.5" being the standard set of drums.

This would have been considered a tumba, if im not mistaken. Thats why some of the mid size gon bops have a T in the serial number. I dont remember exactly, but I do remember being surprised at the "T" for a mid size drum. I think this is from the early days, but who knows. If you do, email me!

This one is off to the auction block, as soon as i skin it up... nice to save another section of old Mahogany for sure... I love bringing these drums back into the fold, so to speak.

Tony