Re-finishing phase 1

[fishkiller]

3 hours later here they are. Glued 3 seams on the small one. Still need to glue 2 seams on the large one. Need more straps slow with only two. Hopefully have these stained in a few days. Can't wait till they can play again

[Gretschhead]

Nice looking shells, can't wait to see them finished. Are you keeping the original heads or getting some new skins for them?

[fishkiller]

Keeping them original for now. I think they should be a little thinner. These guys are thick for being a smaller head drums. I like playing them on the ground but these guys need to be tilted to get a better sound. I'll make some gon bop replica floor stands in late spring and powder coat them with my connection. Where's a good place to get new heads for the gons.

[luv4congas]

The hard work is over Fish killer and it looks really good! All the rest is fun! I can recommend Noxon 7 for the chrome hardware, its faster and easier than everything else that I've tried including mothers, turtle wax, brasso.
L4C

[fishkiller]

Noxon 7 never heard of it, but I'll look for it. I've used mothers, brasso, brite boy they work but sounds like this is better. Man new seems keep opening after taking off the straps, taking longer but I have to do it. I had to spray some 3m spray adhesive, few horizontal lines to help keep the straps from pulling off, its worked great. Been using titebond glue, thats been holding up luckily.
Should I watco oil the inside of the drum too?
Thanks, Ethan

[VIbes]

nice shells. Those will be beautiful. I use this stuff "colonial brassy" that doeas wonders on chrome. I just cleaned up some very old chrome drum hardware with it and I was amazed how it took the rust off and shined up beautifully.

[gonefishin]

You did a great job stripping them down in a short pperiod of time.

[fishkiller]

Here they are with natural watco stain 4-5 coats. Today is day 3 drying so should be able to put a finishing coats starting tomorrow. Every time I glued a crack another would start.

[VIbes]

After I put 3 coats of Danish oil on mine I used 3 coats of Hellmans Spar Polyurethane which is supposed to expand and contract with the wood with climate and temperature changes. Hopefully I won't have anymore problems.
Those shells are looking nice on yours Fishkiller.

[fishkiller]

I have pics of completed drums, turned out killer but my attachments are turned off for what ever reason.

[bongobill]

can't wait to see them Fishkiller. I bet they look great

[fishkiller]

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...3D550/ry%3D400
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D550/ry%3D400/
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D550/ry%3D400/
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D550/ry%3D400/
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D550/ry%3D400/
They painted the hardware had to strip it down and used xtra fine steel wool to clean up. Bought new stainless steel pan heads and thats about it. Sound killer, was thinking thinner skin on one of the heads but not neccessary.

[DWdrumr]

WoW!!! They turned out great.

[xsabers]

I have pics of completed drums, turned out killer but my attachments are turned off for what ever reason.

Attachments are off for everyone. Part of the forum upgrade. You have to use a 3rd party hosting site.

[late8]

fishkiller nicely done. Congrats beautiful!

[VIbes]

Absolutely Beautiful. I bet those sound great too. Nice workshop!

[fishkiller]

Thanks guys, I love the way they turned out, I want to bring these guys in the house but no room. Thats my works workshop, might as well be mine I've worked in it for 15 years and kept it up. Notice the 1/2 end wrench is missing, its in my garage need to bring it back. My boss was even down here throwing some beats, he's pretty good for not playing the congas. He plays a mean guitar and great singing voice. Looks like I'll be tackling my mahogany pair next.

[luv4congas]

The nicest Gon Bops I have ever seen, Good Job Bro!
L4C

[Kat]

I have pics of completed drums, turned out killer but my attachments are turned off for what ever reason.

Hey Fishkiller, I'm a "newbie" to the Forum. Congrats on your Gon Bops. Yours
turned out really nice. I have a Requinto 9 1/2" from '71. My friends say it's
worth more by not refinishing. But yours look really more valuable now than before. What is your opinion? I would like to refinish mine, but I don't know the exact details that you used from start to finish.

[fishkiller]

I don't know about the value about keeping them original but I'd refinish them. I love seeing the wood grains and color on this set. First you're going to take off all the hardware. Get a good palm sander or even a belt sander. If you haven't used belt sanders dont use it because you can cause flat spots really quick. Used a breather mask because these drums are covered in a layer of fiberglass. Next start sanding away, its going to take a lot of time to take it all the way down to the wood. After that look for any cracks, hair line cracks. If there are any cracks you are going to have to glue it up and strap it tight with the ratchet/straps. Now your ready to stain it what color you want. I used natural watco oil 3 coats. After thats dry, I coated with polyurethane sanding inbetween coats, except my final of coarse. Put the hardware back on and thats it. That requito is smalll so atleast thats less sanding. There's a few that refinished on the forum too you can search. Good luck.

[Ernesto Pediangco]

3 hours later here they are. Glued 3 seams on the small one. Still need to glue 2 seams on the large one. Need more straps slow with only two. Hopefully have these stained in a few days. Can't wait till they can play again

NOW...make the top drum sound edge true flat, bevel & smooth the rounded part of the sound edge as uniformly as possible, & this is a good time to insert a reinforcement ring on the interior shell below the sound edge to keep the roundness of the top of shell. This is tricky since a flat ring profile or even a round ring profile, needs to be anchored w/o damage to the staves & needs to cantact every stave to lock them all togeter & maintain shape after normal exspansion & contraction w/ humidity & temparature conditions. I have used old Saxophone reeds as shims to do this Good luck ...they look well on the way to clean restoration ! Good effort !

[RHD03]

Wow, those look amazing man, nice job!