Vintage Corner: Bower Practice Pad, NOT a replica!

It’s here.

I managed to obtain an original Harry Bower practice pad in an online auction, and it arrived today.

If you remember, back in 2021, I made a replica of this pad from found objects, and it was successful enough that I offered to make a few more for some fellow pad enthusiasts.

It turns out that my guesses at materials were only slightly off.

The original pad, designed by Harry Bower in 1919 and approved for patent in 1921, was made from a round of solid wood (probably pine, which was cheap and easy to obtain), with holes drilled to allow the attachment of a playing surface with some wool batting stuffed between the playing surface and the wood.

I’d assumed that the playing surface was leather, and my replica sounded and felt rather nice using this material. However the original seems to have been made either from a leather that has hardened so much with time it’s no longer really playable, or with a surface made from fiberboard, the same material used then (and now) in making drum cases. If this is fiberboard, it makes for a harsh, unresponsive playing surface. If it’s hardened leather, then my hunch was correct.

Additional info, from the original patent application of 1919:

“ …present embodiment of the invention consists of .arather thin plate which may be formed of gutta percha, whalebone, or a composition, such as papier mache, fiberboard, or any relatively stiff yet flexible or vibratory material which will be affected by the impact of the drum sticks similar. to the effect occasioned by said sticks when they sense by those acquainted with the art of drumming.”

So this solves the mystery. The original design did not use leather, but a piece of hard fiberboard such as that used in the making of drum cases from the 1920s through the 1980s. 

Apparently, the reason for using fiberboard was to give the most exact response possible, something on which mistakes could possibly be hidden.

The OG pad measures exactly the same size as my replica.

I’m very pleased to have found an original of this pad, which is likely the first pad officially patented for commercial production in the US.

By modern standards, it’s horrible.

Even my replica isn’t all that, though the supple leather does make for a nicer response.

I may be inspired to design a display case for this pad, to hang it on the wall and keep the dust off. I’ve never felt this way about any other vintage pad. Though to be fair, this pad is actually an antique at over 100 years old.

I am so glad to be able to give this piece of drum history a home.