![]() ![]() Having witnessed Cuban conga players heating up drums in their kitchens prior to performing, Bobadilla decided there had to be a simpler more reliable method to tension these instruments. He also gave birth to the first tunable hardware for congas and bongos in the United States. He designed the first teardrop crown with rounded counter hoops, developed to protect players’ hands – a concept that is now universally accepted. While Bobadilla’s drums remained true to the classic Cuban shape, he was a genuine innovator in the development of drum hardware. He chose the name Gon Bops because “Gon” was one of the colloquial expressions of the time, as in, “everything is gone, man” – and “Bops” because his friends nicknamed him Bob, which sounded like “Bop” in the Latino dialect. ![]() A band instrument repairman and professional trumpet player, Bobadilla launched Gon Bops in his father’s old wooden garage in a downtown Los Angeles neighborhood. The Gon Bops legend began in 1954 California when Mexican-American Mariano Bobadilla (born in Guadalajara) – who would go on to become one of the most highly-regarded conga builders in the percussion industry – started designing and building Conga and Bongo drums.
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