Pad Interestingness: a roundup of recent activity

In the last week or so, I’ve been devoting time to all sorts of pad research, DIT an improvements and a couple of acquisitions. Here's a roundup.

1. Vintage practice pads made using solid wood can be far more resonant — and louder! — than later pads using plywood. I like to make mutes for these older pads I’m scrap foam. This is my latest, using leftover scraps of ensolite camping pad material that I stacked, glued and shaped to fit. Works beautifully.

2. In high school, my section leader acquired a brand new pad that had just come out, called the Trankle Pocket Pad. He had money and his parents got him whatever drum gear he needed or wanted. The pad wasn’t cheap — over $20 in 1979! — but after trying it we all wanted one. I finally got one in college, and took it everywhere with me. But by the mid 1980s the company had folded and suddenly you couldn’t find the pads anymore. I sold that original pad to a classmate and always regretted it.

Last week, I bought another from a guy who’d had it since college. When it arrived, I could see and feel that the gum rubber was in bad shape, so I decided to replace it. It’s not pretty but it does work, and I’m happy with the results.

3. Six months ago, this little pad appeared in an online ad. The seller had offered it with sticks and an old woodblock, all from his uncle’s estate. He wanted $60 cash, in-person for the lot. I asked about buying just the pad but at the time he didn’t want to ship. So I thanked him, and waited. Occasionally, I’d check to see if the listing was still active. Two weeks ago, the pad appeared in a new listing by itself, now for far less money. I reached out to the seller and asked if he’d consider shipping it to me. He agreed. I mailed him a money order, he mailed me the pad and now it’s here. It’s the only pad from Pep Products (a small drum parts manufacturer based in Kankakee, Illinois during the mid-twentieth century) that I’ve seen that wasn’t made of a solid block of rubber.

It’s a calfskin head stretched over some kind of frame — plastic? Wood? I’m not sure — and mounted on a small wood platform with a tilt built in. It’s a small, delicate thing, likely from the late 1940s or early 50s, and I wouldn’t chop seriously on it at this point. But I’m thrilled to have this here for examination and research. If anyone can share more info about the Pep Products company, I’d be grateful.

Happy drumming!

"Pocket" pads: a historic comparison

The idea of a practice pad small enough to be truly portable has been with us for decades.
As far back as the late 1950s, drummers valued the ability to toss a pad into their suitcase for hotel room workouts between gigs, with enough substance to the pad to give them something that felt "real" while at the same time being quiet enough to avoid disturbing the neighbors.

I've made three videos of various examples of these smaller travel pads.

1. WFL "Porto-Pad", early 1960s.

This is a solid hunk of rubber shaped like a wedge to simulate the slant of a "side" drum and accommodate traditional grip, which was almost exclusively in use by kit drummers at the time.
The rubber is surprisingly bouncy for its age (over 50 years old!) and in a pinch would serve well enough. But it's not so bouncy that you don't have to do some of the work, which makes for a good workout. Sadly, the rubber isn't quite "grippy" enough to avoid a little skidding on a tabletop, or even when placed atop another rubber practice pad.

2. Rick Trankle "Pocket Pad", 1978.

 

In the late 70s, studio drummer Rick Trankle developed a very small, portable pad consisting of a steel plate sandwiched between two slices of pure gum rubber. The result was a pad heavy enough to avoid "creep" and bouncy enough to approximate the surface of a drum. Its small size (3" square) required greater accuracy. A 1/8" thick rubber slice and a 1/4" rubber slice could be switched back and forth to approximate the feel of either a concert or marching snare drum.

In 1979, my high school drum section leader got one of these, declared it awesome, and strongly suggested required that everyone purchase one. At nearly $20, this was not cheap for a freshman with a $4 weekly allowance, but I didn't want to appear poor (because what teen does, really?); so I scored some extra babysitting and lawn mowing jobs to pay for it faster.

It was one of those rare times that I agreed with my otherwise chauvinist ass of a section leader. The pad was amazing. It felt great on either side, was small enough to fit in the pocket of my homemade stick bag (sewn from a pair of jeans), and it forced me to be more accurate with my strokes.
I still have this very pad today, mostly because I babysat too many nasty little children to buy it. It's still a great little pad, but I no longer travel with it because if I lose it, I can't find another one.

3. Xymox "Pocket Pad", 2008.

Xymox patented a pad with a mechanism of steel beads inside that allowed the pad to sound a little like a fake snare drum. It was an interesting way to entice kids to practice more, and it worked, because soon other companies were paying Xymox for the right to use the patented design in their pads. Eventually Xymox was making their pads and stamping them with other companies' names (like Ahead and Promark). The pocket version did not include the fake snare sound.

This is a Xymox-branded Pocket Pad that I got online from a music store that was closing and had a couple left.  It's the lightest of the three pads shown here. The very thin rubber sheet on the bottom does help a little with reducing "creep" but if you hit this hard enough it WILL move. The rubber surface on top gives a satisfying bounce and diddle exercises are fun to play. It also just fits in an actual pocket. I got it to add to my collection of early Xymox pads.




Pocket-sized pads need to be heavy enough to avoid "creep" and bouncy enough to be satisfying to practice on. two of these three come close enough to fitting the bill that I'd toss either of them in a bag; the WFL gives me pause but if it were my only pad I'd use it until I could get another model.

Next time: how heavy a stick do you warm up with?
Happy playing!