Gon Bops are excellent drums. My first experiences were in the early 80's selling them at a music store. They were of competitive quality with LP products. They also interested players that had only encountered the fiberglass congas that seemed to be prevalent in our area.

I recall pairs similar to yours retailed for $700.00 to $800.00 back then.

Still have that floor-tom??

I just sent you A email.

Nice find poppy! Those are mahogany super series. The hardware was lighter duty than their international and deluxe models. I love the rims on the super series, rounded steel feels nice on the hands compared to the flat traditional rims. These drums are also substantially lighter than the oak drums with the heavy hardware, a lot of gigging conga players prefered these for the light weight. They have a more mellow warm sound, excellent for traditional and folkloric styles.

The refinish isn't really going to effect the value as much as you would think. The biggest problem with gon bops is split plys. The glue they used was not the best, and the drums are notorious for cracking. The metal bands offered a little more support and helped some of them from cracking, but I have even owned gon bops with bands that were split and completely out of round.

You got a hell of a good deal. Gon bops range from about 250-400 per drum depending on condition. The rarer large and super tumbas can fetch a little more to the right buyer.

Ok I saw another pr of GonBops at a pawn shop the other day I took pics of the badges with my cell phone. here they are. I didnt get a pic of the congas but they looked mint. what about these? They were $300

Very cool, the Mariano's are basically the same drums as the ones you bought, but usually had black powder coated hardware, was this the case at the pawn shop? $300 for the pair is an excellent deal. From the badges I'd say they are from late 80s or 90s. If you aren't interested in them, send me a PM with the info, I'm down in Austin and might be willing to take a trip. I'm a nut for Gon Bops :D.

I'll go by there today and see if they are still there. I might see if they will deal on them also.