This is related more to the methods used in different geographic locations than to quality.
The traditional methods of fixing a gonjo to a keris, that I have encountered , involve one of two broad approaches:- either tightening the gonjo in its entirety to the pesi, or using a tiny pin that fits into a groove filed in the hole of the gonjo to tighten the gonjo to the pesi.
If the gonjo is tightened in its entirety, it can be tightened by punching down the gonjo around the pesi, or by leaving a shoulder on the pesi and punching down this shoulder to tighten it against the gonjo.
If a pin is used---the key and keyway--- a slot or groove is filed into the pesi hole on either the buntut urang side, or the sirah cecak side of the gonjo and a tiny pin driven home to tighten the gonjo against the pesi.Ideally, this pin will be cut by hand, and tapered. Sometimes two pins will be used, one at the buntut urang side, and one at the sirah cecak side of the pesi.
Ideally the gonjo hole should be a snug fit to the pesi before it is tightened by either method. This can be achieved by using a shrink fit, that is making the gonjo hole very, very slightly undersize, and heating it just sufficient to expand it and allow it to be tapped into place.This is not very often used, but in any case, the gonjo should be a very snug fit to the pesi.
In a quality keris the bottom of the gonjo should provide a perfect contact to the base of the keris blade. To achieve this perfect contact is very, very, very difficult, and you should not expect to find it in any other than an absolutely top quality keris. It simply takes too much time, and raises cost too much, for it to be found in any ordinary keris---except by luck.
If a perfect, tight fit is achieved, this tight mechanical fit will to a great degree exclude dirt and moisture from the gap between the blade base and the gonjo.By excluding dirt and moisture the erosion process is slowed. Since Araldite and other epoxys have come onto the market, people in Jawa will use these between the gonjo and the blade base to provide additional protection against erosion.
In a keris of ordinary, or low quality, the gap between blade base and blade will be sufficient to allow dirt and moisture to penetrate. This has always been so.The process of fitting the gonjo will often exaggerate the gap at either the buntut urang, or at the sirah cecak. Once dirt gets in, it retains the moisture and sets up the process of erosion. In an old keris the gap between the blade base and the gonjo is more often than not closed with solid rust. Remove this rust and you have a gap--often a very wide gap--- between the blade base and the gonjo.
In Rick's older keris, the blade and gonjo are very thin at the wadidang, and there is insufficient metal left there to support this rust, so it has fallen out, revealing the gap.The other place where the gonjo erodes more quickly is at the sides of the pesi; the gonjo is often very thin here, and the erosion reveals itself by showing a slight dip at this point in the straight line of the bottom of the gonjo. Sometimes the erosion at this point in an old keris will become so bad that the gonjo just loses its grip and does not have sufficient strength left to allow it to be refitted by any conventional means.
Anyway, coming back to geographic locations.
A Surakarta blade will nearly always have the gonjo fixed with a pin---key and keyway--- a Bugis or Peninsula keris will most often have the gonjo fixed by tightening the gonjo to the pesi by punching. Both methods can be found in all keris from various locations, but the pin is more prevalent in Jawa and Bali, the punch down gonjo method more prevalent in other places.
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