Adventures in Unsustainability, Part 150: "Made in China" means we don't have to look behind the curtain

I know, I can sometimes be like a harpy screaming into the wind on this stuff, but if it didn't matter I wouldn't make such a fuss.

Drummer buys the newest version of the Carlos Botello signature pad, made in China and branded for Salyers Percussion (who, if you remember, doesn't actually make any of their own products).

Takes delivery, opens box and discovers that the pad has been wrecked already. 
He's paid almost $100 for the pad including postage, and is understandably annoyed.

He shares his experience on social media and in less than a day, the owner of the company jumps on and promises he'll make it right.

Suddenly, other drummers are hopping on, singing the company's praises and talking about what a standup guy the owner is.

If that's all we ever see, fine.

But this business model actually encourages consumers to not look behind the curtain, to not ask how the sausage is made. And this is why it's such an insidious thing.

The pads are made in China now, probably by Hanflag, which makes pads and other drum products for more companies than I care to list here. They are made in the thousands and shipped to music stores around the world, starting in the USA because that's where the real madness about marching-forward pads first took off and remains huge.

Because they are now mass-produced in such great quantities, it's no big deal from a consumer standpoint if a pad arrives damaged. Simply call the company, send photos and ask for a replacement. When the pad is made in such large quantities, there's no need to send the actual pad back, and that's probably the case here. It's a simple matter to replace it by pulling another off the stack in the warehouse. Customer gets replacement pad, which is probably okay, and he's happy. He and his buddies will continue to laud the company, boosting their image and their sales.

Fine. But what happens to the damaged pad?

That's probably up to the consumer.

If he's handy, he could remove the rest of the damaged soft rubber rim and even replace the silicon surface with something else, and keep or give away the repaired pad to a kid who's short on funds.
That's certainly what I'd do.

But very often, the truth is that nothing happens to that original practice pad. If the buyer is asked to bring it back to the retailer, the retailer will make some notes, arrange for a refund from the company, and very likely toss the pad in the dumpster.

Do you see where this is going?

Salyers and their ilk don't care.
They don't have to care, because they are having their pad mass-produced as fast as possible so they can sell them hard to as many drummers as possible.

But go wide-angle with me for a moment.

The marching arts activity is popular with high school and college-aged young people. But it's not exactly growing exponentially right now. School budgets have been slashed, music teachers have been laid off and music classes have been cut from the curriculum in nearly every state in the country. Overseas, the marching arts are very popular now in places like Japan, China and the Phillippines. But they are generally making their own drums and accessories. School bands exist in Africa too. But in places that have seen a lot of political and material disruption, kids are practicing on homemade pads, or simply on blocks of wood. They're not laying out a hundred bucks for a high-zoot pad from the US.

Add to that the disruption to the marching arts movement here in the US, with DCI trying desperately to reboot a shrinking and increasingly expensive summertime activity, families struggling to keep up (or quitting because they can't afford to send their kids back), high schools throughout the country resorting to marching in old uniforms and using old instruments because that's what they can afford to do.

What you see on YouTube and TV, and in wealthy suburbs with a solid tax base, are the cream of the crop, and make up a very small segment of what's really happening in school band programs across the country.

So at what point does it no longer make sense to mass-produce practice pads that will fall apart because they were cheaply made to begin with?

The whole thing has gotten really, silly, and really sad.

And that is why I lost interest in most modern, marching-forward pads. They don't represent reality, and they actively discourage the more mature thinking that is required of people living on a rapidly heating planet. 

Eighty years ago, our grandparents who drummed practiced on wood blocks with a hunk of rubber glued on top. They focused on technique and chops. They got good. 

Sixty years ago, Remo Belli made a practice pad with a Mylar head that felt a lot more like a real drum. It's what I and many other drummers of my generation learned on. By today's standards it's considered junk, but in reality it was such a good pad that Remo is still manufacturing them -- and their replacement heads -- today.

Thirty-five years ago, fancier rubber-on-wood and rubber-on-fiberboard pads entered the market. THe earliest models were not much different than their WWII forebears, except that they were the size of a drum head so you could practice zones. Zones had become a thing for marching snare drummers. Those pads weren't horribly expensive when they first came out. But as DCI drum lines grew more visible and more famous, suddenly more young drummers wanted to use the same pads those drum lines used, and the beginning of the marching-forward pad market was born.

Today it's out of control in many ways and for many reasons. You can read why in my earlier posts.

I've been selling off most of my modern marching pads. Unless they were craft made in the US, I've mostly lost interest in them. And although I may be shooting myself in the foot here, I secretly hope that there will be a great shaking out of companies selling Chinese-made pads while discouraging consumers not to look behind the curtain. We now live in an age where we can't afford to perpetuate so much willful ignorance without sacrificing our environmental and human future.

Stop worrying about whether your pad is "cool" or not. If you need a practice pad, buy it used or make your own.

Just drum on something. Make noise. Make rhythm. 

Make music. 

 

Comparing old and new: Ludwig P-359 and Volkwein’s Tom’s Pad

I have a fondness for tunable pads, particularly the old Ludwig P-359 (8”) and P-360 (10”), and I’m also a fan of the Tom’s Pad from Volkwein’s Music. The former was at its height of production from the late 1960s through around 1980. Tom’s Pad went into production around ten years ago, long after the demise of the Ludwig models. 

I had an opportunity to obtain a second Tom’s Pad today, and when I brought it home, I immediately took it apart. I did so because this pad came with a Ludwig-branded head and I wanted to see if it was the same as the old heads from the Ludwig pad.  Tom’s Pad comes with a specially-branded head made by Remo, and is meant to take Remo practice pad replacement heads. The Remo head will not fit on an old Ludwig pad because the hoop of the heads differs in width and depth.

I have pieces of an old Ludwig P-359 pad on hand and would like to replace the very worn head that came with it. Since Ludwig no longer makes parts for these older pads, it’s a bit of luck to find parts that can be swapped in.

I took the Tom’s Pad apart, and discovered that the construction is nearly identical to that of the P-359. The only meaningful difference is in the metal rim.

As you can see from the photos, the components are nearly identical. The foam insert for the Ludwig pad is slightly thinner, but still curves down towards the edges like the thicker insert from the Tom’s Pad.

The other difference is that the hardware for the newer pad is a thicker Allen bolt that screws into threaded receivers in the base,w hole the hardware for the P-359 was an odd, over-engineered design using threaded bolts that were pressed into the base from underneath, and square nuts (which fit a standard drum key) screwed on from above to tighten the rim and head against the base. On both pads, a smaller wooden disc sits under the head and above the base, the foam rubber and head held in place above that by the rim and bolts. 

In both cases, only the pressure of tightening the bolts held everything together. (This is not unlike the approach used in Beetle Percussion’s “Last Pad,” the double-sided design of which I reviewed earlier. I will receive the single-sided version of the pad for testing and review closer to Spring.)

The hoop of both Ludwig heads is nearly identical, which tells me that they would both work on the P-359 pad. However, the Tom’s Pad came with a lot of wrinkles in the newer Ludwig head, and I suspect that may be due to having been stretched over the thicker foam rubber at pressure. When I reassembled the Tom’s Pad, I tensioned it a bit higher than it had been when I brought it home. it didn’t remove the wrinkles entirely, and if I keep this pad I’ll probably replace the head with a Remo practice pad head, which should lay better at tension. I’ll probably set aside the newer Ludwig head as a possible replacement for a P-359.

I decided to see if I could discern any meaningful difference between the response of a P-359 and the Tom’s Pad with the Ludwig head.

Obviously, with this Ludwig pad being at least fifty years old, the head is a little worn and I don’t want to crank it too tight. 

Then, I compared it with the Tom’s a pad with the Remo head.

Volkwein’s offers replacement rubber inserts and heads for the Tom’s Pad. Their replacement heads are embossed with Volkwein’s logo. If you don’t want that, a regular Remo practice pad head should fit just as well.

While comparisons are often made between the Volkwein pad and old Reno tunable pads, the Remo pad base uses a plastic bottom with a deep recess designed to hold foam rubber, with the head stretching over the recess. The result is that the Remo pad sounds hollower — and louder — than the Tom’s Pad.

In truth, the design of the Tom’s Pad is much closer to that of the old Ludwig P-359/360 pads, and in my opinion it’s a design that produces a better tone and feel. 

The Remo pad of the 1960s and 70s holds a special place in my heart because it’s the pad I began learning on. But the sound of that pad grated on my parents’ nerves, and successive generations of students were encouraged to find something else to practice on as soon as they showed they were serious about continuing with drums. I keep a few Remo pads in my collection to this day, but welcome play on them now. The Ludwig P-259 and 360, on the other hand, are in regular rotation on my practice pad stand. They’re solid and feel great. The Tom’s Pad also sees some chopping time. 

I’ve written to Volkwein’s Music a few times asking — imploring, really — that they consider making this pad in  10” size. Now that I have a better understanding of its design, I can see why they’ve kept with the 8” size. Still, I can dream.

Tom’s Pad is available from a Volkwein’s Music for a retail price of $85 plus shipping. It’s well-made and will last a long time with care. The Ludwig P-359 (8”) can sometimes be found used online, though in varying degrees of condition. The P-360 (10”) shows up far less often, and sells for far more because it’s the more desirable size among collectors and players alike.

When drumming is an act of love and justice

If I were forty years younger I’d consider doing something like this.

God bless him.

Old Cooperman? Maybe. I just don’t know.

Hanging out with some sticks I acquired several months ago.

After researching both my memory and knowledge of some of my drum brothers, I wonder if these may be some very old Cooperman sticks.

I had a pair very nearly the same size and shape over thirty years ago, made of boxwood. I cannot for the life of me remember who I got them from. They were much heavier, too heavy for my hands at the time, and felt even more rigid and unforgiving than these do. Of course, I was a different drummer long ago and it’s possible that my hands are simply better able to manage a more rigid wood than before. I eventually traded those boxwood sticks to another drummer. I regret not having them now, at least for comparison’s sake.

A couple of fellow drummers suggested they may have been made by someone named Hollowedel, though I haven't yet been able to find anything on that name in my online research. I’ve reached out to Patsy Cooperman Ellis at Cooperman Drums to see if she might recognize them.

The weight stamped on the butt end of each stick does not exactly match what my electronic scale indicates (My scale says they weigh 72 and 73.5 grams, respectively).

But on a tuneable pad, they feel lovely.

I’m asking around among my fellow drummers who are more knowledgeable about old sticks, to see if I can nail down a maker and era. 

Chopping here on my Eviction Pad from Loyal Drums. (I swapped in a Remo Emperor head for the Loyal custom fiber head and muted the pad so I could use it indoors while Sweetie is home. 

If anyone recognizes these sticks or has a pair like them, and can definitively identify a maker and age, please reach out by commenting below. I’d be grateful. Bonus points if you can tell me what wood you think was used (though I know that’s tough without seeing and handling them in person).

Product review: Loyal Drums 1862 Model sticks

Contrary to rumors, Cooperman has not stopped making sticks, and they have not passed along their stick making designs and tools to anyone else, including Loyal.

However, Loyal Drums have been busy designing their own models of drum sticks, primarily for the rope drum crowd. They released their first new models several months ago, and I reviewed them here. 

Then Loyal announced their new stick design, the 1862 Model. It’s big and beefy, and meant for drawing out the tone of rope-tension drums. I hesitated before ordering a pair, because they’re huge and my hands are not. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I was somewhat reassured by the fact that this model is being offered in both ironwood and a lighter hickory. I ordered a pair and asked for the lightest hickory pair possible.

Friends who favor big, heavy sticks drooled over the ironwood option, and a few have ordered pairs in excess of 100g. I’d hoped for something in the high 80s, and was worried when I opened the package today and saw a pair weighing in at — gulp — 92g. That’s far heavier than anything else I have, and while I have worked my way up to playing with sticks in the low to mid 80s, thanks to arthritis that’s not a daily occurrence.

Still, I was willing to give them a try after a short warmup with something a little lighter.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The sticks have a hefty back end, which adds weight but also balances out the taper and tip at the front end. The photo here shows them alongside the Loyal M1 sticks, which have become a staple in my practice set.

The feel is lovely in spite of their larger size. (Disclaimer: I have somewhat larger hands and longer fingers than many women my size, so that may give me some advantage in handling sticks this large. I’m not sure they’d be as manageable for anyone with small hands. And even with arthritis, I have retained some hand strength from thirty years of turning wrenches in a bike shop, so that may be of note as well.)

I can’t say that these would be a daily choice for me, but once a week on a tunable pad seems doable. I’m happy with them. 

Loyal Drums plan to release more models one by one after development and testing. 

Want to make your own practice pad? PadParts.com can set you up.

I wanted to make my own Pad Parts pad, so I did.

Base: 11” green ForesColor.

Side A: 10” x 1/4” gum rubber.

Side B: 10” x 1/4” recycled tire rubber.

To apply the gum rubber, I lightly sanded the facing surfaces and used the Medium Weight super glue available at Pad Parts. Carefully spread, weighted down overnight and allowed to dry another two days in a well-ventilated shed before bringing it inside.

To apply the recycled rubber, I lightly sanded the ForesColor side, and dampened the recycled rubber facing side. Then I applied Gorilla Glue — a better choice for porous or textured surfaces — and followed the same weighting and drying steps.

For reasons I can’t define technically,  like the sound and feel of the recycled tire rubber more on the ForesColor (which I think is similar to Valchromat used on the bases of Beetle pads) than on solid wood. The smaller 11” size is easy to take along in a messenger bag or backpack and sits nicely on my lap, a tabletop or a snare stand.

And I saved money by putting together my own pad.

Color me a happy customer.

Want a nice pad? Do the labor yourself. PadParts.com will set you up with everything you need.

The recycled rubber comes in different thicknesses and is meant to provide a harder, faster surface for those who march high-tension snare drums.

On solid wood, as found in the craft-made pads from Beetle Percussion, the feel and sound are a little bit jarring, and harder on the hands because there’s very little shock absorption and the vibrations travel all the way up the sticks and into your hands.

On the ForesColor base, which I believe is related to the Valchromat base that is found on some Beetle pads, the sound and feel are a little more forgiving, allowing for a greater range of uses, styles and sticks. I like the way my Artifact Etude concert sticks feel on this pad, on both sides — something I wouldn’t enjoy as much on my Beetle Pine Pad with its solid wood base.

PadParts.com is the official side hustle from the same folks that make Beetle Percussion pads. The variety of base materials, playing surfaces, thicknesses and sizes allow for a wide range of possibilities so you can come up with a practice pad to suit your specific needs. PadParts also offers various industrial glues to provide optimal adhesion for your pad. If you have questions about how to work with these materials and glues, just reach out to PadParts.com and ask for instructions and suggestions. 

And remember, when using industrial glues, wear gloves and eye protection, work in a well-ventilated garage or outside, and allow to dry weighted down for twenty-four hours before bringing the finished pad into the house. 

Happy drumming!

Evelyn Glennie practice pad

I just acquired this little pad, a two-sided affair that was apparently designed by Dame Evelyn Glennie.

Glennie is a Scottish drummer and percussionist who is known for her total-body approach to performing, for commissioning new percussion works throughout her five decade career, and for being deaf since childhood. Her first drum teacher taught her to hear music with various parts of her body, and she performs barefoot in order to better feel the resonance of the instruments she plays on and with.

I’d heard of Evelyn Glennie, and admired her work from afar. We’re close to the same age and I loved that a woman had gained so much fame through her hard work in what was still considered, in our youth, a “man’s” field.

Some years ago, when my Sweetie worked as the program annotator for the Oregon Symphony, she scored two tickets for us to see Glennie perform with the Symphony. It was a glorious evening filled with sound, movement and wonder that I’ve never forgotten.

One of Glennie’s philosophies is that the practice pad is another musical instrument, and should be approached and used as such. That philosophy may help to explain the design of this pad.

I haven’t been able to find any literature specifically about this pad, though I was able to locate a video in which she demonstrates her philosophy and demonstrates it with this pad.

The actual pad measures roughly a foot long and about eight inches wide, and each side has three small discs of rubber or foam. Each rubber disc measures 3 1/2” diameter by 1/4” thick, and each foam disc (on the obverse) measures 3 3/4” diameter by about 1/2” thick. All of the discs offer varying degrees of rebound.

The base appears to be some kind of compressed wood particleboard, dyed red and stamped with Glennie’s name on both sides. (I assume the shape connects to the Loch Ness Monster, a nice nod to Glennie’s Scottish roots.)

While the pad is very small and the playing surfaces smaller, it works fine on a flat surface like a table top.  Adding a drum mute underneath reduces unwanted bumps and resonances, though experimenting with those resonances could also be fun.

I’ve reached out to Dame Glennie through her web site, asking for more specifics about when and why this pad was designed. The video is almost ten years old, though the pad may be older than that. I hope she will respond and help fill in the blanks. Meanwhile, it’s a really cool little pad and I am glad to have it in my studio.

I’ll post an update if I get a response.