Gon Bops Handle Project

A slow day like today is perfect for tinkering on drums. Today's project was putting a handle on my DW Gon Bops.  The maker of Gon Bops, Akbar Moghaddam, is very experienced and makes an incredible drum. However they have these ugly holes drilled into them in case the owner wants to mount them on a rack. They also have 2 metal labels and GB stamped into each lug plate. That is a lot of stuff on my sleek little quinto, so something had to be done.

I bought the Gon Bop to go with my set of Resolution Drums. My 9 3/4" DW Gon Bop is a smaller size than Resolution makes, and is the "requinto" for that set. However the main reason I bought it is because it matches them so well.  The red oak and hardware of the DW Gon Bop is very similar to the Resolution Drums, no big surprise there as both Ralph Flores and Akbar Moghaddam made Valjes at one time. Ralph Flores' father Tom Flores was the founder of Valje, and Akbar Moghaddam made Valjes here in San Francisco, prior to making his own Sol drums, which Akbar made before contracting to DW Gon Bops.

Okay so enough history. I called Ralph Flores and ordered a handle so I could put it on the Gon Bops. I like handles on my drums, and a Resolution handle would help the Gon Bop match even more. I positioned the Gon Bops label over the holes drilled for the rack mount to cover them up and hide them. Then I put the handle below that, similar to the way Resolution does it. Luckily the order of the staves was good, meaning I did not have to drill holes into a seam and weaken the drum. The handle for the Gon Bop had to go a little lower than the Resolution drum because the Gon Bop drum was taller.

A simple project really, even though it is always a little daunting to drill holes in a perfectly good drum. I think I have improved the look of the drum a bit by covering those holes, made it easier to move around and now my Gon Bop drum matches my Resolution drums just a little more. Certainly it should be obvious to anyone that it is part of the set.