Full Review: Loyal Drumsticks, M1 and Mason models

Loyal Drums, long known for fine rope drums hand crafted in the USA, has recently released two models of drumsticks in hickory. I took delivery on one pair of each model and hung out with them here at home.

The Brendan Mason signature model was designed in collaboration with Brendan Mason, a champion rudimental drummer, arranger and instructor in the ancient/rope style. It’s a big, bold stick that’s ideal for rope drumming. In fact, small hands may struggle to maintain proper control of these sticks. My hands, although larger for a woman, found it difficult to play with these for more than ten minutes after a good warmup.the tips are somewhat pedestaled, though not sharply, and I’d consider the taper to be moderate. They’re well balanced, and even at the relatively light weight of 84 grams they have an authoritative feel. Because of my arthritis and smaller hands, I may reserve these for “good” days as a slow warmup stick.

The M1 model has the same butt diameter and a moderate taper that narrows just a little more than the Mason model, with slightly larger tips. My pair weighed in at 82 grams and I found these easier and more comfortable to play for a longer period after warmup. They’re also well-balanced, and are recommended by Loyal as an ideal rudimental stick that’s especially good for those who use the Moeller technique of playing. With a proper warmup, I find these sticks comfortable for regular practice.

Both models are made from hickory. The finish is good, though not quite as fine as that found on, say, Cooperman hickory sticks. The grain is straight and the sticks are matched and packaged in pairs.

The sticks can be ordered in a range of gram weights from the high 70s/low 80s up into the upper 90s (per stick).

Photos and videos below.

Photos showing the grain, and a chunk of wood knocked out of the butt end of one of the sticks (perhaps during shipping?).

Here are a couple of videos demonstrating first the Brendan Mason, and then the M1 sticks.

Loyal hickory sticks retail for $38 a pair plus postage and can be ordered from the Loyal web site.

Spolier Alert? PadParts.com coming soon

Bradley Lomax, the brains and brawn behind Beetle Percussion, is launching a new enterprise called PadParts. After years of  talking with folks who make their own practice pads, or who would like to, Bradley is preparing to set up a supply house that will make various parts of a practice pad -- baseplates in solid wood and MDF, various playing surfaces from recycled tire and gum rubber, in different thicknesses and more -- available for purchase so anyone can make their own practice pads at home.

[Disclaimer: I'm one of the folks he's been having conversations with, because as regular readers here know I've made a ton of practice pads at home. I am not being paid to endorse the site or any of its products, but now that it's happening I can talk about it.]

The actual web site isn't live yet, but here are some sneak peeks from the Instagram page.

As you can see, multiple options will abound for anyone wanting to make their own practice pad. Included at the upcoming site will be suggestions for adapting these designs to include materials you may already have on hand.

Obviously, there is not a little controversy around this project, at least where mass producers of commercial practice pads are concerned. After all, why pay a hundred bucks for one of their pads when you can make something very similar in form and function yourself for a fraction of that?

Any large-scale commercial pad maker may cry foul if they feel like their designs are copied too closely; but in a time when the whole concept of design and intellectual property is being challenged legally and technologically every day, I think that ship has sailed.

Even as I type, someone on eBay is selling the top rubber part of an old Cappella practice pad with the wry tag, "IYKYK" in the listing title. I think they're asking too much money, but whatever.

And if you're feeling really inspired, there's also a listing for a homemade pad that is shaped exactly like the Capella, so if you really want to get wacky, you can buy both items and glue the Cappella rubber to the underside of the complete pad.

Make a statement. Go crazy.

An added benefit of making your own pads is that you can learn a lot more about what works and what doesn't, using your own experience to inform your choice of materials and construction; and I think you might be more likely to use a pad you've successfully made yourself.

Since Beetle Percussion began as a way to make drum practice products more sustainably, I feel this falls in line with their existing modus operandi.

Personally, I hope it's a successful venture. I think the whole world of mass-produced practice pads -- especially marching-specific pads -- has gotten overhyped, overpriced and way out of hand. In a time when climate change from increased industrial output has become, as the kids say, a thing and consumerism is out of control, I think a return to homemade pads is a good thing. I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in that opinion.

Happy chopping.

Drumming is good for you. Here’s proof.

During the Covid pandemic, I lived with roughly 3 years of forced inactivity, brought on mostly by the onset of Long Covid and the time I spent too weak to do anything after I developed it. That resulted in high blood pressure, increased depression and other issues. It took time to sort all the pieces, and longer still to figure out how to begin recovery, especially because trying to do too much too fast could be dangerous for my heart and lungs.

Now that I’m past the worst of it, I’ve begun moving again. Not a lot, and not all day every day, but enough that I’m beginning to see a difference in how I feel. I’m sleeping better most nights, and my blood pressure seems to be falling a bit. Arthritis is still an issue, and so is my gut; but I can walk mostly in a straight line now, and I have fewer moments of dizziness.

Today I went outside and played. Demonstration below, followed by a full circle round the block at something like 100-110 bpm. It felt okay.

The plate that holds the practice pad is made of metal, and it’s heavy. Still, even with a pad sitting on in it’s lighter than a drum, and my back is getting used to the weight. At some point, perhaps in a few weeks, I might try carrying a drum with a sling and leg rest and see how it feels. 

Of course, at some point it will get too cold and wet to do this outside every day, but that’s eight to twelve weeks off at least.

I’ll still want to fiddle with the carrier a bit, but it’s reasonably dialed in for my purposes for the time being.

Future Vintage? Hot Sticks “Bully” marching sticks, circa 1980-84

Once upon a time, there was a company called Hot Sticks. Founded in Mississippi in 1979, their painted drum sticks made a splash among younger drummers through the early 1990s. Then business fell off, and the company closed for awhile in 2018. They resurfaced in 2022, and now offer painted and imprinted drum sticks, pens and baseball bats.

I remember these showing up in my high school band room around my junior year. A couple of freshman drummers had bought them at our local music store. They were purple and red and they didn’t really impress me. By then, though, I’d been introduced to much better sticks and I guess that made me something of a drum snob. To be fair, no one in my college or professional ensembles used them, so I felt somewhat vindicated. 

I was never able to determine if the company ever made its own drum sticks. I suspect that they probably did not. It was too easy, even back then, to job out the drum sticks from another maker and paint and imprint them in-house.

For a few years Hot Sticks followed the new marching percussion craze and tried to make their entry into the market with the Bully sticks. They were painted white (to avoid having to tape them) and were meant to compete with Promark and other companies.

The sticks were not anything special, even for the time. CB700, Fibes and other companies also had their sticks made elsewhere and branded accordingly. But based on what I could research, the Billy sticks we only offered for a few years, and then quietly discontinued before 1990. Since most marching sticks were destroyed through use, surviving pairs are harder to find.

So I scored these on eBay. They’re in good shape, though they’re certainly not pitch-matched. (Almost no mass-produced sticks were back then.) They’re a great example of how a company used appearances to sell a sub-optimal product, and for that alone they make a nice addition to my collection of vintage marching sticks.

Vintage Corner: my oldest sticks

I’m more into pads than sticks, but I do have a number of really cool sets in my collection.

Here are the two oldest sets I own:

1. Ludwig & Ludwig 5S, early 1920s. These came in a large pile of various used sticks, and they weren’t even why I bought the lot, but they turned out to be the nicest find. The 5S size was made by Ludwig up through perhaps 1923 or 24. By 1927, the stick shape still appeared in the catalog but the number and other markings had been whited out in the illustration, which likely means the size had been discontinued by then. I found documentation in a 1922 catalog.

The stick shape is very stout until you get to the end of the taper, and then it narrows down considerably before ending in a sizable tip. The 5S size was likely a “junior” sized marching stick for smaller, younger hands.

The sticks are hickory and are not cracked (amazing for sticks this old), and they feel quite nice. I only use them very occasionally on my Ludwig tunable pad and nowhere else. 

2. George Stone ”Master” model #11 sticks, circa 1925. These were made by George Lawrence Stone’s workshop, and are even rarer than the Ludwig sticks. George Lawrence Stone (who wrote the seminal “Stick Control,” which is still in print today and still used by millions of drum students) inherited the workshop from his father, George B. Stone, and continued to make sticks and drums through the mid 1930s. By 1938, the workshop was closed down due to flagging sales, and to divert more resources to the drum school, which was quite successful at the time. Thanks to Ting at King Louie Music, I was able to confirm that these sticks appeared in Stone’s 1925 catalog. They’re unusual, very old and very rare. They’re also in good used condition for their age, with no cracks or gouges, and they’re also hickory. I’m told that the odd taper was not uncommon for sticks of this era. These were designed for concert band use.

Again, because these are so rare, they’ll mostly hang on my wall display rack and I will only bring them down on extremely rare occasions to tap on my old Ludwig pad.

As I said earlier, vintage pads have long been more my thing than sticks. Pads are still easier to find, even with the increased hype of the last few years, and they tend to last a lot longer than sticks, which were made to be used, broken and replaced often. Still, when the opportunity arises, I won’t turn down a pair of cool, old sticks.

Happy drumming.

Pad carrier, redux

During the pandemic, I cobbled together a practice pad carrier, and used it to help with my lockdown boredom. I didn’t know that I’d gotten Long Covid at the time, and I ended up only being able to use it for a few months before becoming too ill to walk in a straight line.

I ended up selling the carrier with a marching drum, and the scrap wood for the platform eventually ended up being broken down and used for other projects.

But I missed having it. So when someone listed a pad platform for sale in Marketplace, I kept an eye on it. A year later, he still hadn’t sold it, and was now offering it for free. I arranged to pick it up from him on my way to the Hillsboro drum corps show, then scored a cheap carrier that I adapted. Now that I’m recovering from the worst of the LC symptoms, I’m ready to get back to chopping and walking at the same time as part of my physical therapy.

It’s not the most comfortable carrier, but for a total cost of ten bucks for both it’s more than adequate.

Tama True Touch snare drum practice pad

I scored this at a thrift store. They didn’t know what they had, and I paid far less than retail for it.

The original Tama True Touch snare drum practice pad comes with a fine mesh head and a quiet snare sound cartridge that is sealed inside a chamber. It can’t really be removed or adjusted. As it comes out of the box, it has a distinct feel and sound.

When this pad came out several years ago, I felt it was slightly overpriced for its design. I mentally filed it away and mostly forgot about it.

Then, Rick Dior tossed up a video on YouTube in which he took apart the True Touch pad and reassembled it using thicker inner foam and a regular Mylar head, and the difference was noticeable.

So when I found this for sale, I decided to buy it and see if I could make the same modifications and get a better pad out of it.

I couldn’t take this pad apart before buying it, but at a price of less than a quarter of new I figured it was worth the cost of the experiment — especially since it already came with a Mylar replacement head.

I took it home and took it apart. The foam insert was missing, and in its place the previous owner had put a folded black washcloth, which barely muted the pad at all. So I cut out two pieces of material, one from a yoga mat and the other from a thicker, firmer ensolite camping pad, stacked them on top of each other, replaced the head and reassembled it.

Interestingly, the snare sound was barely perceptible when I tested the pad before my modifications, and disappeared almost entirely when I reassembled the pad. But the feel was greatly improved, and I don’t miss the snare sound at all.

I’m not entirely thrilled with the tone of the pad, and I suspect that may have something to do with the head. I will likely swap in a Remo Ambassador had and see how things improve. I’ll probably experiment with a couple of different inserts too, before settling on a combination that makes me happy.

The pad is heavy, owing in large part to its metal and rubber construction. There’s no discernible difference on the platform or on a drum stand, and that may also be due to the weight. I like it and will hang out with it awhile.

The ages of Sabian Quiet Tone pads, revisited

The original Quiet Tone pads were made in New Jersey and were popular among concert and jazz drummers and studio teachers. Those original Quiet Tone pads are very hard to find, and insanely hard to find in still-playable condition. 

In the 1990s, Sabian bought the rights to make and sell the design and moved manufacturing to their Canadian cymbal plant. These Canadian-made Quiet Tone pads retained the white rubber feet and a very similar base compound to the originals. They were quite nice, a little sturdier than the originals with a great feel.

In the later 2010s, Sabian outsourced the manufacture of the Quiet Tone pads to Taiwan and eventually to China. Adding black mesh models to the line required Sabian to designate the white-headed, solid pads as “Classic.” The Asian-made Quiet Tone pads are, in a word, junk. The base compound was changed to save costs and the fat white rubber feet became smaller black rubber feet.

Generally, speaking, there are two ways to discern between the early and current Sabian Quiet Tone pads.

First, look at the label on the underside. 

The earlier versions of this pad will indicate a Canadian address and a model number ending in either TT (for “Tom Tom,”) or SD (for “snare drum”). The older “TT” pads were available in sizes t 12”, 13” and 16”. The “SD” pads came in 10” and 14” sizes. I believe this wider size range had once been available before the pad design was bought by Sabian; it’s highly possible that Sabian simply changed the labels and continued to sell off those older sizes until they were gone, but I can’t be certain.

The newest Asian-made Sabian Quiet Tone pads have added the letters “CL” (for “classic”) to the end of the model number, and only the 10” and 14” size are available.

The other distinct feature is that, on the earlier Sabian pads, the Quite Tone logo was designed with the words, “by Sabian” added to the right and outside of the logo. The Asian-made pads incorporated an even smaller Sabian logo just below the Quiet Tone logo. And of course, older pads should have larger, white rubber feet.

Below: a full set of early Sabian Quiet Tone pads in the full size range, and the bottom of a 12” pad showing the old label and white rubber feet.

A newer Sabian pad with the newer logo and black rubber feet. Also note the difference in the shape and width of the metal struts. They’re slightly thinner on the newer pads and may be more prone to bending out of shape if dropped or knocked about.

To find the earlier Sabian Quiet Tone pads you’ll likely have to look for used models online. The new, Asian-made pads are available in music stores and are, in my opinion, overpriced for what they’ve devolved into.

If you end up with a newer Sabian Quiet Tone, you can experiment with adding a thin layer of mousepad material under the head to see if it improves the feel and tone at all. I can’t guarantee the results.

Here’s my early Sabian Quiet Tone in the 10” size. It feels and sounds lovely, especially with concert sticks.

I continue to search for the earlier Sabian Quiet Tone pads in other sizes, especially in 12”.

Happy drumming!

Full Review: Aquarian Balance Pad - now you see it, now you don’t

Someone posted photos of this pad on the Drum Practice Pad History group on FB, and I was intrigued. 

I had a couple of pre-2020 Aquarian Super pads and liked them. I tried a couple of their Super Pads after a redesign that had been brought about by pandemic supply issues, and didn’t like those at all.

I was hesitant to consider buying one of these, until I read that the pad was not being brought to the retail market and that Aquarian was selling off the limited number left in their warehouse. So I went to their web site, saw that they still had a “limited” number available at a discounted price, and ordered one. It arrived in just a few days.

It’s made with an eleven-inch baseplate of MDF that’s been finished with smooth, rounded edges and sealed with a clear coat. If a company insists on using MDF for their pads then I think they should seal the MDF like this, it adds durability and a cleaner, more polished look than bare MDF does.

One one side, there are two layers of very fine, close-cell foam; the layer next to the base is a bit firmer than the layer that lies at the surface, and the surface is finished with a semi-gloss appearance. The very thin layer between the two foam layers is difficult to identify, but doesn’t seem to add much substance to that side of the pad. There is a center dot which appears to be a decal, made of black woven material similar to the white woven material on the pre-2020 version of the Super Pad. This softer side is for warming up and working on hand and wrist muscles. The center spot offers slightly more volume than the rubber around it. and both surfaces are quiet. 

The other side is made from two thinner layers of fine, closed-cell foam and the line between those layers is even harder to see, but it’s there. This side is then covered with a thin, soft plastic and topped with the same material found on the playing surface of the post-2020 Super Pad. It makes for a firmer and louder surface, and is more ideal for working out technical material.

I think putting the Aquarian foam layers on top of a thick MDF layer helps to give the pad more stability and a better response. (Aquarian Super Pads used a thin layer of MDF entirely encase in foam rubber, which may have inspired their thinking in this design.)

NOTE: this pad offers the best response and feel with concert or jazz sticks. I wouldn’t use heavy marching sticks on it at all.

The pad originally retailed for $89.00 plus postage. I bought mine at a discount for $59.00 plus postage. At the time, the web store indicated that there we a “limited” number of pads left. When I checked just now, the item had disappeared from their web site, meaning they are now sold out. 

I’m glad I managed to obtain one at the discounted price. With other “warmup” pads already on the market (Revolution, Meinl’s Marshmallow pad, Zildjian/Reflexx and others — none of which I liked as much as this), I wouldn’t have paid ninety bucks for this. However, I do like this pad better than those others I’ve mentioned because the firmer side offers more definition, and because the MDF has been sealed with a clearcoat. 

I’d be curious to learn why Aquarian chose to bring this pad out for a short test period and then not bring it to market. 

Curiously, the Super Pads are not currently listed at all at Aquarian’s web site, which makes me wonder if those might be discontinued as well.

Aquarian practice pad NewsFlash: Limited Edition

Aquarian Drum company, known for a wide variety of drum heads and a series of practice pads called Super Pads, tried to make something different called the Balance Pad.

For reasons I can't identify, they tested it at a few trade shows and ultimately decided not to move forward with the project.

There are a handful -- and I mean a handful -- of Balance Pads available in their online store, discounted to sell and labeled as a "limited edition" item. When they're gone, they're gone.

I was a big fan of their Super Pads before they did a redesign during the Covid pandemic, and I'm happy to own a couple of pre-2020 models. During the pandemic, owing largely to supply issues, they redesigned the pad and made it, well, worse. Not worth my money or time now.

Knowing that this might be an opportunity to snag an oddity, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I bought a Balance Pad before they disappeared.

I've also copied and pasted their photos and their ad copy about the design and purpose of the pad below, in case they pull the web page when they run out.

*******

• The Limited Edition "Perfect Practice" Balance Pad by Aquarian Drumheads is a versatile, two-sided, three-zone practice pad designed for stand-alone use. This innovative practice tool simulates the feel of both "Tight Tuning" and "Loose Tuning" on drums, providing the right amount of rebound for effective workout sessions.

  The Perfect Practice Balance Pad features the same core playing surface found in the renowned Aquarian Super Pad line of practice tools.

  "Side One" mimics the tight tension of a snare drum head, making it ideal for buzz strokes and precise rudimental sticking. In contrast, "Side Two" offers two distinct zones that replicate the looser tuning of tom-toms, providing a greater challenge for building hand endurance and strength.

  In addition to varying feels, the two sides combine to create three distinct tones and volume responses .

  The Perfect Practice Balance Pad enhances your practice experience and makes your workout routines more enjoyable and versatile.

  This model is very limited in availability.

• Two sided, multi-zone practice surface
• Tight and Loose Tuning Response
• Create effective workout  routines with 3 different rebound Zones.

*******

I'll do a full review when it arrives.

Vintage Corner: That time when Remo made a rubber practice pad

Remo, known for Mylar drum heads and tunable practice pads, broke from their own tradition for a brief time in 1963-65 with a practice pad made of white rubber affixed to Masonite. Remo made this pad in a couple different sizes: this larger one (7.5” base, 5” rubber surface), and a smaller one (5.5” base, 4” rubber surface). I’d seen the smaller size a few years ago and was told it came from a trade show. Then I acquired this larger version. The rubber is still bouncy, but firm.

Not sure how many they made, but it can’t have been too many; it only appears in the bigger drum catalogs for a couple of years.

Vintage Corner: mid-1950s WFL Keystone pad

This was a lucky score from the nice guys at Drugan’s Drums.

From 1937 to 1955, the Ludwig Drum Company was owned by Conn Music, which also owned the Leedy Drum Company. During this time, William Ludwig was not allowed to use his own name, so he founded a new company called WFL (for his initials). Conn eventually realized it made no sense to manage two drum companies, so from 1948-54 they merged the two and called the restructured company Leedy & Ludwig. This venture was short-lived, though some very nice drum sticks came out of it and are desired by collectors today.

In 1955, Conn sold off Leedy & Ludwig (with all the Ludwig dies and parts going to to William Ludwig, Sr. and the Leedy dies and parts going to HB Slingerland), meaning that William Ludwig could once again make and sell drums using his name.

Through 1958 or 59, Ludwig included WFL branding in its catalogs. They did this to reduce consumer confusion, reassure retailers and sell off any remaining WFL stock in their warehouse.
By 1960, the WFL brand had disappeared from the catalog.

This is a somewhat rare pad from that transitional period. Called the "Light Duty" pad, it featured dark-stained wood and the a keystone-shaped rubber surface nailed on top. Metal hardware was attached underneath for mounting the pad to a stand. Based on the darker staining of the wood (a feature found in some older WFL pads but not in the Ludwig pads that followed) and the font on the decal, my best guess is that this pad was made between 1955 and 1957. In the 1960 catalog it was replaced by a new version of the "Light Duty" pad, a double-platform model painted red and white. In the mid 1960's another version of this pad (with a double platform) featuring clear-coated oak came out, which appeared in catalogs through the 1970s. All three pads bear the red keystone rubber surface. (I've seen a red and white pad in this style that used a leather-rubber composite, but I don't know if that was a one-off. I'd love to try it out.) Thanks to the folks at DrumArchive, I was able to arrive at my best guesses. If you haven't checked out that site, do so! It's a treasure trove of catalog reprints from dozens of drum companies dating back to the 1920s and makes for fascinating reading.

The rubber is still bouncy and has a great feel.

Repairing vintage Ludwig pads

I love these old Ludwig pads from the 1960s and 70s.

For anyone who grew up playing on Mylar heads, these are darned near perfect. The feel is the closest to a real drum without the volume. They were sold separately and were also included in student kits with snare drum and bells.

Finding one today is difficult. Model P-378 (8”) turns up more often than model P-379 (10”), but you really have to scour the online want ads for them. Ludwig stopped making these pads in 1980 or so. They offered the parts for a few more years, but then stopped making those too. Very occasionally, I’ve found a replacement head or a few tensioning nuts online, but they’re rare and expensive because the seller usually knows what they have.

When I do find one, they are very often quite used, sometimes abused, and in need of repair. Lacking a supply of replacement parts, I’ve had to make do with what’s in front of me.

The original wood used for the baseplate and internal base was very soft, probably pine, to cut down on production costs. Unfortunately, that means it’s fragile and wears with time and use. The construction is simple, and that means a worn pad can be repaired or at least extended pretty easily.

So far, I’ve been lucky. I’ve been able to repair every pad I’ve found and make it useable again. Sometimes, it’s a matter of removing pieces, cleaning them up and reassembling.

Other times, the wood baseplate is pretty beaten up — splintered and/or warped — and I have to remove all of the metal buts, reverse the baseplate and reinstall them from the other side. Doing this helps to reverse some of the effects of warping, and gives the heads of each “finned screw” new wood to bite into.

In a couple of cases, owing to lack of replacement heads, I’ve chosen to add another layer to the head. Either from the underside or directly on top, to help the head last longer. Neither approach seems to affect the sound or feel adversely.

The latest pad I found, an 8” model, came from a private seller cleaning out her garage. We agreed on a price and I got the pad home, where I dismantled it and examined the pieces.

The baseplate was pretty hammered, and one of the tensioning nuts had rusted frozen to the finned screw. In order to save this pad, I would have to carve a bit of the wood away so I could gain purchase with pliers

and hold onto it while applying a spot of oil and turning the tensioning nut. I reasoned that when I had removed the screw, I could fill in the gouge with a thing piece of wood cut to fit, apply it with wood glue, and gently poke a new hole in the spot.

After removing the final screw, I filled in the divot with the tiny piece of wood and set it in the divot with wood glue, clamping it in place. When it dries, I should be able to carefully drill a new hole, ream it to size, and reassemble the pad.

(The tape applied on the side is there to keep the wood glue from running out.)

Once dry enough, I removed the clamp, poked a hole and called it good. The screw went in easily, and held fast to the new underside.

Other enthusiasts of this make and model, most notably Rick Dior, has a full workshop of tools, so when he has to restore one of these pads, he simply cuts a new baseplate from hardwood and installs the metal pieces into the new baseplate.

Since I don’t have power tools or much woodworking experience, I tend to do repairs that are more rough-and-ready. My goal is to make these pads useable again, not museum-worthy.

After flipping the baseplate, I reinstalled the threaded hole assembly. This required some care, so I wouldn’t crack the plywood baseplate while sinking the teeth into the other side. I laid shop rags across my bench vise with the jaws open, to allow the threaded center to poke through the other side without mangling the metal. 

Then I reinstalled the thick seating washer and the little rubber feet. I also laid in some Elmer’s Glue-All along the edges where the plywood was roughly finished. The hope is the fast-drying glue will help to keep those edges from splintering further. I can color them in with black paint pen if I like. 

And voila! Good enough to play for years to come.

Meanwhile, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for replacement parts.

BONUS TIPS:

1. In the old Ludwig parts catalog from 1970 (see first photo at top), The square nut for the tuning assembly is referred to as part # P-124. If you try to look for this part today you won't find it, as Ludwig stopped making it years ago.
However, Ludwig continued making and selling their part # P-125, advertised as the Super Classic Strainer Butt Plate Part, for a number of years after that (photo at left).

Guess what? It's exactly the same part, and will fit the threaded bolt on the old Ludwig pads. And if you ask for it by the other part number and name, you may have a slightly easier time finding a few.

2. Thanks to fellow Ludwig pad enthusiast Rick Dior, I was able to obtain these black vinyl end caps that slide over the tuning nuts, thereby saving my sticks from getting chopped up during practice. 

You can find them on eBay and elsewhere, or perhaps at a large local hardware store. For this application, get the size with the 6.5mm inside diameter.