Inflation has led to deflation: Used practice pads

I've researched and collected historic drum practice pads for a long time.
When I began my deep dive, almost no one else I knew was focused on historic drum pads, so that made it easy for me to find old pads at bargain prices. 
But by 2018 or 2019, things had begun to change, as more drum enthusiasts found vintage drums increasingly unaffordable and/or unattainable. Many of them turned their attention to other drum-related collectibles, including practice pads.

Before the Covid pandemic closed down the world, a brisk trade in vintage practice pads was on the rise. Alongside that, some of the big drum manufacturers were investing heavily in marching- specific designs and throwing a lot of marketing at younger drummers who were just coming into their own in the marching arts. 

During the pandemic, the practice pad market grew exponentially, and quickly. Those with an eye towards profit were punching above their weight with new models of marching-focused pads almost every season, while older drummers who had marched in the 1990s were now selling off their own vintage pads to turn a quick buck. 

If you've followed this story, you know that tan RealFeel pads made before D'Addario acquired HQ began fetching prices in the triple digits, Xymox was running the table for a little while and half a dozen other companies were trying to catch up. It was exciting for maybe a decade at most, and then the wheels gradually began to fall off. Xymox had horrible supply issues and atrocious customer service; Drumslinger learned that a one-man shop could never keep up with the likes of Vic Firth and Evans; and Prologix basically sold its soul. Whenever I pointed out the excesses of the practice pad industry, I would get shouted down by guys who worked for those comp[anies or who had helped design some of their most-hyped models.  

The shop bosses don't like canaries in their coal mines. They serve a useful function for the minders, but they also eat away at profits by slowing down production.

Now, in late 2025, the bottom has begun to fall out of the used practice pad market as so many enthusiasts who bought up piles of cool pads woke up and realized that (a) they weren't marching anymore, (b) they had bills to pay and (c) the pads they'd paid an arm and a leg for were now worth less than a quarter of their original value. 

Suddenly, the market was glutted with more pads than drummers and prices fell like 1920s wheat prices. (Millennials, look it up.)

Today, you can find an old tan RealFeel pad for under $100 and sometimes for less than $50 on Facebook Marketplace. HUN's M-12 pad (which was rebranded for RCP as their Active Snare pad) is now selling used for less than $25 used. Evans gray pads, which were never my favorite but which are ubiquitous, are selling for as little as $5.

The only pads which seem to have retained some value are those whose supply was controlled their makers: Evans red Barney Beats pads still fetch a high price due to artificial scarcity caused by Evans decision to make it a limited run. Beetle pads are made in small batches, one at a time, using sustainable practices that would never work for a large-scale manufacturer and those pads still demand competitive prices even in used condition.

While the practice pad market was beginning to capsize, I had turned my attention to making my own pads from scrap and repurposed materials. I was also recovering from two years of Long Covid, and didn't have the money or the energy to keep collecting in the same manner as before. My priorities began to shift. I focused on a handful of older, vintage pads that continued to have lower demand among the younger pad crowd, and for which there was a lot of documentation I could research. But my pad acquisitions really began to fall in 2024.

More recently, I decided to downsize my holdings in general after being approved for Disability. Knowing that I would not get a great return on my investment, especially for the marching-focused pads I still owned, I began to sell these, mostly at a discount. (In some cases I donated them to students so the pads could still see use. I am very happy that somewhere, there are schoolkids practicing on one of my pads.)

My collection at its peak numbered close to 200 pads of all kinds. That was in early 2023. Since making the conscious choice to pare down, I'm now at around fifty pads. I have plans to sell a few more of these and get down to the pads I enjoy chopping on the most, plus a couple of really rare, old pads that I find beautiful and historically interesting.

I had a lot of fun researching and find historic pads. But as I've begun to come out of serious illness and am adjusting to life in retirement, my priorities have shifted. By making more space in my material life I'm being open to whatever comes next. 

So if you're looking for a good drum practice pad, this is a very good time to shop online and at yard sales. I'll post some of my pads soon at the Drum Pad History Group on Facebook, and donate whatever I can't sell to a school. 

I haven't give up on drumming! I still chop a little every day and get a great deal of pleasure from doing so. I'm just getting more focused about what I chop on and why.

Happy drumming.

(Photo: George Stone practice pad, 1920. Back when a practice pad was just a horizontal surface that kept the neighbors off your back, and nothing more.)

 

The beginning of the end of big-name practice pads? I’m sort of ready for that.

I am winding down my practice pad collection, probably for good.

I’ve been pondering this step for a long time. I’ve made a few halfhearted tries in the last few years. But something has changed, in me and in the world around me, and I find myself in a new place that I am finally beginning to recognize.

The fact is that I’m preparing to enter a new phase of my life, one which likely does not involve teaching or drumming professionally and one which may not even involve much drumming in public for the foreseeable future.

Since the pandemic and its related events turned my life upside-down, I’ve been floundering. Getting far enough past Long Covid simply to function like a person again took over two years, and residual issues have lingered long enough to force me into medical retirement.

I’ve struggled to find my bearings since I began to improve; not knowing where or how to be useful, not able to promise a regular schedule or a regular level of energy while I’ve dealt with various medical issues, and feeling really lost.

Last week, a local All-Age drum corps invited me to join them in the pit playing mallet percussion. Playing in a drum corps pit would require me to manage not just playing mallet instruments, but also moving them and loading them on and off trucks at performances. Add in the fact that the corps is based in Milwaukie, and I’m transit-dependent, and it would be an unworkable situation that I could not guarantee a meaningful commitment to. There was a time I might have leapt at the chance, but that time has passed. I thanked them for the invitation and politely declined.

While I am getting stronger and more functional, there are definitely limits to my functionality and my energy level that signal it’s time for me to consider other possibilities. I can still play rudimentally, but marching and performing are just not happening at this time. And without the incentive of rehearsing I admit my interest in drumming has flagged a little.

Which brings me to my other line of thinking, especially about practice pads and my interest in them.

I have a feeling that the practice pad tidal wave is beginning to fall. Too many similar designs of higher-end pads have flooded the market since the beginning of the pandemic, and not enough people or communities have rebounded financially since Covid began to recede. Add to that the struggle of so many school groups just to stay afloat, let alone field a marching band. Even if Drumpf and Co. DO get shown the door, there’s too much damage done to repair anything in a lot of what’s left in my lifetime. It’s sad. I try not to dwell on it too much.

So I am beginning to sell off as many of my pads as I can. I hope to reduce the number down to perhaps a dozen or so pads that I use and enjoy regularly. I’ll offer them at decent prices, and whatever I can’t sell I might donate to a youth group.

I’d hang onto them, but I’ve encountered a lot of apathy in my attempts to spark interest in Rudimental drumming locally. Portland just leans way too far to the hard left on so many issues, for there to be much purchase beyond well-funded suburban schools.

At the end of the day, it’s just a practice pad. And maybe someday it will be just that, and no more, again. More and more, I think that would probably be a good thing.

Pad Rescue: Vic Firth basic pad, much improved

Early last month, I scored a bundle of old practice pads and mutes. Among them was the baseplate of a Vic Firth student pad. This pad is still being sold by Vic Firth and it basically sucks. The grey side is softer rubber with a muddy rebound that is unsatisfying. The black side is much harder and equally disappointing to play on. The baseplate is MDF with a heavy coat of black textured paint. The rubber pieces are applied with thick double-sided tape. It’s a perfectly horrid practice pad, and most of them wind up for sale on eBay or elsewhere after they’ve been used and abandoned.

What came to me was the baseplate with the black rubber still attached. It was pointless and sad, so I pulled it off.

Then I removed as much of the two-sided tape as I could. The shiny stuff under the black rubber was easier to remove; the tape on the other side had been exposed for so,e time and was gross and sticky, but I got an awful lot of it off.

Then I looked around for something to glue on in its place. What surfaced was a 1/4” thick round of hard rubber with a surprisingly pleasant, sharp rebound. Certainly an improvement over what had been there before. I took it out to the shed, propped open the door, donned gloves and safety glasses, and opened a new bottle of superglue. 

I roughed up the opposing sides, carefully applied the glue, laid on the rubber round and held it in place long enough to stick. Then I took a drumstick and used at as a rolling pin to roll out any gaps or air bubbles. After I wiped away the excess, I weighted it down and let it dry overnight.

The next day, I tried it out. It was hard, but with a nice rebound. Still, it felt like something was missing.

So I looked around my stash and found an old drum head with a slice near the edge. I traced a circle around the undamaged portion, cut it out and took it out to the shed, where I glued it on,top of the rubber round. After rolling a drum stick over it and wiping away the excess, I weighted it down and left it overnight. It wasn’t my most careful work and there were a few little splotches of glue left.

But when I took it out to chop on it, I was happy with w the result.

Adding a laminate added a snap to the feel and tone that, in spite of my general bias against laminates, was actually nice to chop on.

I glued a round of yoga mat material and glued it on the bottom as a nonskid surface. Perfect.

As MDF baseplates go, this one isn’t bad. The heavy coat of textured paint helps solidify it.

I’m happy with how this turned out. It has applications for modern marching drummers, and possibly for pipe band drummers too. And honestly, from what I’ve seen in the last few years, Vic Firth couldn’t bring out anything even this nice.

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.