Homemade practice pads: addendum

Per Jay O'Brien’s suggestion, a word about sourcing materials so you can make your own practice pad:

Materials can be sourced from all sorts of places. The greatest question is whether or not to divide those materials into “purchased new” and “purchased/found used.”

It’s a relatively simple, though often expensive, matter to source materials new from industrial sources — buying new flooring or gum rubber sheets, for example. However, without knowing exactly what’s involved in the manufacture of these materials, we run the risk of only adding to the problem.

But if we source used materials — whether at thrift shops, construction site leftovers, or elsewhere — then we aren’t adding to the sustainability issues often posed by buying new materials.

Also worth considering is your choice of adhesive (to attach the playing surface to the base). Sixty years ago, most commercially made pads consisted of a rubber surface attached to a wooden base, and the adhesive used was often something resembling carpet glue. When the glue’s adhesion strength faded over time, the simplest solution was to simply stretch the rubber taut and use nails or screws in the corners to re-attach the rubber to the wood. (A few of my vintage pads show that this repair worked quite effectively.)

Today‘s adhesives are stronger. The trade off, however, is that the chemicals used in them are also more toxic. (Pro tip: any adhesive whose warning statement includes “use in well-ventilated area” is a sure hint that the stuff may be carcinogenic.) if you choose to go with a more modern adhesive, wear thick rubber gloves and safety goggles and work OUTDOORS.

Lastly, when considering a base material, use real wood or plywood and stay the hell away from MDF (fibrous wood material). The glues used to hold the fibers together give off toxic, smelly gases that can take months to fade. And real wood holds up a lot longer than fiberboard, anyway. 

My favorite base recently seen in the wild was a pad made from the seat of an old hardwood dining room chair. The maker simply flipped the seat panel, cut it down to a manageable size, et voila! A nice pad that will last a long time.

(Below: my plant stand pad in action)

In celebration of homemade practice pads

In celebration of homemade pads, here’s my current stack.

L-R: 

— made by Jim Dinella, 1970s.

— home-refurbished. This may have started life as a Leedy pad, and a previous owner replaced the base and the rubber surface.

— X-pad base, recovered with rubber workout strips.

— Plant stand, covered with rubber workout strips and tanned leather.

— hardwood trophy plaque, covered with rubber workout strips.

— Refurbished plywood and gum rubber.

— “Hero Tilt,” made from scrap wood and rubber taken from X-Pad.

Most of these pads have been featured individually earlier in this blog. Consider this an invitation to make your own, or to repair an existing pad and bring it back to life. There are more than enough brand new practice pads in the world already.

Vintage Corner: CB Percussion brass snare drum, late 1980s

I got this drum last year, when I fell down the CB700 rabbit hole and found this online for a good price. It arrived, I found an old bag to fit the drum and stored it away, promising myself I’d get around to cleaning it up.

Inspired tonight by a conversation with a fellow CB700 enthusiast, I finally pulled it out, cleaned it up a little and adjusted the snares. Then I swapped in a newer used head, and set it up at my little drum kit.

The result? This thing is a firecracker. Sweetie told me it was a little loud for the house, even behind the soundproofed studio door. I’m hoping that was just an observation for tonight, and not for all time. I like this drum a lot, and hope to use it more often. I might even tune it a little higher.

Kit, complete.

I believe my cymbal setup is complete now, with the swap-in of the Rose Gold ride from Name Brand Cymbals. Still pretty washy closer to the edge, but the stick clarity cuts through just fine. And a great bell sound too. Thank you, Jon's Third Floor Bazaar, for a line of interesting, affordable cymbals.

Now I just need to keep playing and find a little more of my old form.

This little kit is a super-happy place to hang.

(Setup in comments.)

#namebrandcymbals

#labackbeatsticks

#cheapdrums

DIY practice pad, number umpteen

Is-it-a-pad, UPDATE.

So it wasn’t a practice pad. I think the seller didn’t know what he had. It’s actually a little stand for a potted plant. 

Since I paid six dollars, I didn’t squawk.

Instead. I turned it into a practice pad, using orange rubber leftovers from the previous pad project, plus a piece of thin tanned leather to make it a little like the Tackle Instrument Supply pad (which retails for over $70).

I tried using two layers of leather, then decided one was enough.

I’ve left the bottom alone. It seems to serve well as a nonskid surface. 

In an anal moment, I decided to improve the aesthetic by filling in the gaps with fast-drying wood glue. It won’t be any prettier, but perhaps it will seal everything just enough to make the components more stable. My DIY projects all tend to be a little rough-and-ready anyway, due to my lack of finishing tools and my impatience. 

I’m pleasantly surprised at how nicely it plays! And the rest of the materials were free, so it still cost only six bucks.

#diydrumming

Name Brand cymbals — affordable and innovative

I bought a set of Name Brand hi-hat cymbals a couple years ago from Jon’s Third Floor Bazaar on Facebook. They were clean, bright, and $125 for the pair.

Jon has expanded his cymbal offerings under the Name Brand moniker, made by multiple small, independent craftspeople. While Jon favors ride cymbals with a lot of color and wash, he also gets in some ride cymbals with greater stick clarity. And he kindly offers short video demos of most Name Brand cymbals on his Facebook page. 

I just ordered a 20” Rose Gold ride that offers that level of clarity and I’m excited for it to arrive next week.

Meanwhile, I’m using this old, janky 18” ride cymbal; and just added in a little Tom I scored for five bucks at Goodwill. I’m hoping to keep my kit compact and easy to schlep (though I’m not currently playing out), and I like how things are coming together.

I’m able to play for about 10-15 minutes at a sitting, a couple times a week, before my hands begin to hurt. I’m realistic and don’t expect to get my form of thirty years ago back now. But it’s fun just to be able to play at all.

Drumslinger redux?

I reached out to Bill at Drumslinger Percussion, and asked about the possibility of replacing the bottom platform of my Marcher Series pad, which I’d gotten secondhand and then dropped, causing damage.

I tried to stabilize the bottom platform, which was deformed, to keep it from collapsing further. But the malformed bottom platform now cannot really be tensioned properly. 

Bill responded to my query by suggesting that I send him the entire pad and he’d determine what needed replacing. He didn’t say what it would cost. I suggested that since I know how to disassemble and reassemble the pad, I could just send him the bottom platform and he could create a replacement platform, to save weight, postage and money.

After a little more back and forth over the following couple of days, Bill sent me this explanation as to why he’d prefer that I send him the whole pad:

So I heard back from Bill. Here’s what he told me about my sending only the base plate — 

“Hey Beth, the only problem with that way of doing it is that I center punch and drill the baseplate to match the individual rim ear hole alignment, which can vary from rim to rim, especially with triple flanged and stick saver rims, which are hand bent, welded, rolled for flanges, and press stamped and punched for ear holes. Die cast rims are more evenly spaced, but vary by brand. So, each rim stays matched with its baseplate throughout each build. Even the 12 o'clock position orientation is marked on those components, so they align perfectly for assembly.”

We agreed upon the cost of refurbishment and his offer was incredibly reasonable. I’m sending him the entire pad. He’s currently making new baseplates and will set one aside for my pad. I told him to paint it any color he likes, throw it in at the end of a paint run to save time. Figure t could be cool to show that this s a refurbished pad.

After several family and health challenges on his end, I’m glad to know he’s up and running again and can deliver pads in a more timely manner. It will be interesting to see what comes back.