DIY percussion: My own private Bus Pad

When I went looking for gum rubber for my Moeller homage pad, the smallest size I could find was 12” square, for around twenty bucks. Since I knew I’d find other uses for the rubber, I bought the square.

After using what I needed for the Moeller homage pad, I had quite a lot of rubber left over. I really liked the feel of the 3/8” thick rubber, and chose to make myself my own private “Bus” pad.

I returned to the same construction site where I’d sourced the wood for the Moeller homage pad. By now, most of the structural work had been completed and they’d moved on to siding, floors and interiors. There wasn’t as much scrap wood to pick through, but I managed to find a nice piece of solid wood that had been finished with a vague tan primer, and had a lot number stamped on one end. It just barely fit in my bicycle saddlebag, and I took it home.

I cleaned it up, cut off a couple inches on one end to fit the piece of rubber properly, sanded it lightly and painted it with glossy clear coat. Then, I roughed up the top and the underside of the gum rubber, glued them together and let sit under weight overnight.

The next day, I did the same thing with the underside of the wood base and a piece of stackmat material, which I glued with the fabric side against the wood and the rubber side out for a nonskid surface.

Finally, I used up the last of the scrap leather and copper finishing nails, and made a little nameplate.

I’m very pleased with how this turned out. It’s a portable size that fits in my backpack, but slightly wider than commercially made lap pads currently on the market.

This is in danger of becoming my favorite portable pad.

A short demo video can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/100003556179660/videos/pcb.9283558178439296/936505621744947

The pad works well with both heavier concert sticks and with marching sticks. It’s extra thickness means that I have to pull the rolls out a bit, which is great for warming up and also makes it a quieter pad.

DIY Project: homemade Moeller pad

Readers here will remember my first attempt at making a tilted wood practice pad, during the pandemic. It was a rough job, and the tilt was insane, but I learned a lot from the process. A friend named it the Hero Tilt pad.

Not long after finishing that project, I came across this photo of a pad made and used by Sanford “Gus” Moeller.

It was one of the most beautiful pads I’d ever seen, and I wanted to own it.

I also knew that wasn’t likely to happen. This one was either in the hands of Moeller’s descendants, or a collector, or maybe even a museum.

So if I wanted one, I’d have to make my own. The trouble was that I’m not an experienced woodworker. I own no power tools and I wasn’t prepared to lay out a ton of money on the project. So I made a deal with myself and decided that I’d take my time, do my best, and be willing to live with the results.

Part One: I got the wood slabs from a scrap pile at a construction site near my home. 

The cylindrical pieces came from chair crossbeams dumped by a restaurant when they replaced their broken chairs. Unable to get accurate measurements from a photo, I went “by the eye,” as they say. I drew lines for simple cuts with a hand saw, and after the pieces were cut I sanded them all by hand. I mostly wanted to sand down the sharp edges so they wouldn't snag on anything. Since I was working with scrap wood, hand tools and arthritic hands, I was prepared for my pad to be a bit more rough and ready than Moeller’s. 

Part Two: I roughed up the facing edges and used wood glue to attach the three main pieces together. I used a wood stool and bicycle toe straps as clamps to set everything overnight. When the glue dried, I went back and added a couple of wood screws for stability. Then, I added the small side struts with wood glue and let everything dry overnight.

I had thought of staining my pad like Moeller had, but my very rough scraps and glue spots would only be accentuated by stain or vernish. In the end I decided to just paint the wood. I opted for some Gloss Forest Green left over from when we painted our house three years ago. A couple of coats and it didn’t look half bad.

I wanted a name plate, but there wasn’t enough room to apply one where Moeller had placed his, so I mounted it on the side of the base. I made mine from scrap leather and used an art pen. I preserved it with a coat of clear nail polish and mounted it with tiny copper finishing nails.

Part Three: I applied a nonskid bottom using thin mousepad material. I’ve used this on other practice pads and it works well.

Part Four: Finally, I was ready to add the rubber playing surface on top. I marked off the size I wanted, dipped a sharp carpet knife in oil, and cut to desired size. After wiping the oil off, I scored the top of the wood and the bottom of the rubber, applied super glue gel, bound it up with bike toe straps and let dry outside.

Here’s the finished pad, and the original Moeller pad for comparison. It’s not perfect, but it’s solid and feels great to chop on. Considering my lack of woodworking tools and knowledge, I’m still pleased with how it turned out.