DIY drummer: refurbishing a vintage QuietTone pad

I had an opportunity to purchase an old QuietTone practice pad from the 1960s, back when Henry Adler still owned the company and was selling them out of New Jersey. Various drummers had tried to warn me off pads of this era, because of the worry that the internal base was made with asbestos. I researched this thoroughly, even talking with a former coworker of my mother’s from Georgia-Pacific. Now in his eighties and an amateur drummer himself, he showed me his two old Adler QuietTone pads, one of which he was refurbishing for his grandson. “There’s absolutely no asbestos in there,” he told me. “The internal base was made with compressed paper/cardboard fiber. By the 1960s, asbestos was a popular building material, but it splintered easily. No one would want a practice pad that gave off hundreds of tiny splinters with every stroke.”

My fears calmed, I made on offer on the vintage QuietTone pad and it was accepted. It arrived this week, and I set about refurbishing it into playable condition.

The pad was well-used, worn and showing its age. I took it apart and examined each component.

The original fiberboard base was intact, though badly warped from years of compression as the tension was increased over time. I decided to try and save it. Using some wood hardener, I brushed both sides of the base, allowing the liquid to soak in. I waited ten minutes for the surface to become tacky to the touch, sandwiched it between two pieces of chloroplast (the plastic material used for campaign signs), weighted it down and let it dry. I knew that the sign might stick to the treated base, but not too badly.

Then I tackled the metal bands with a Kool-Stop rust eraser, left over from my bike shop days and great for removing obvious rust. I followed that up with a small piece of Nevr-Dull and the metal bands looked much better after that. I was glad that the original white rubber “feet” were still intact; a tiny spot of super glue under each would ensure they didn’t fall off.

When the wood hardener had dried several hours later, I removed the weights, carefully lifted the base, and saw that it was much flatter than it had been. There were grooves worn into the base by the metal bands, so I made a mental note to reinstall the base at an angle to avoid damaging the grooved parts further. The last thing I did was to fill in a few small gouges in the fiber board with some wood putty, which I let dry and then sanded flush.

Finally, I traced and cut a couple of cardboard circles, a couple circles from very thin yoga mat material, and a circle from an old Mylar drum head. The original head was beyond hope, so I replaced it with a newer used head I had on hand. (NOTE: the QuietTone pad is designed for concert and jazz drum practice, and works best with smaller sticks and a Remo Ambassador head. Anything heavier or thicker will deaden the response and tone, providing a less satisfying experience.)

Then, I reassembled the pad upside-down: 

— drumhead laid into the hoop

— Mylar layer

— two yoga mat circles

— the base, set at an angle in relation to the tension rod holes

— two layers of cardboard 

— the metal bands

It came together beautifully. Eventually, I’ll replace the hardware so all the tension bolts and nuts match, but for now the old, mismatched hardware works well enough. The result is a really nice practice pad that will enjoy many more years of use.

If you want to learn more about using and caring for QuietTone practice pads, Rick Dior has made a very informative video covering all of that, plus some history about the development of the pad. It’s worth your time.

More DIY pad love: From the Philippines

This showed up on the Facebook Drum Pad group today.

Ivan, a young man in the Philippines who marches in drum line (drum corps is huge in the Philippines!) saw the Rudimental Control pads online, wanted one but could not afford it. So he made his own version:

"I just wanted to show my drumpad that I’ve made, rudimental control pads inspired me to make this one, i have used a phenolic board and a yoga matt underneath the drumhead and i have also put snare wires beneath the head, and here’s a soundcheck of me playing the snare break from elite percussion from the Philippines."

Getting any US-made marching percussion into the Philippines is extremely difficult and expensive because of the exchange rate and the high cost of overseas shipping. 

Phenolic board is a lanimated material using wood fiber and resins, similar to MDF but constructed more like plywod, that can be cut, sanded and painted. It's heavy and dense, and can be difficult to hand-saw, especially into a round shape. Ivan did a nice job on this, and even got a nod of approval from Nissan at Rudimental Control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

UPDATE from Ivan: “I have repainted the base wood and cleaned the rims and the tension rods.”

If he had to clean up the hardware, then he got it used from another drum.

If you look closely, you can see that the round was hand-sawn. That’s super hard to do.

Very nicely done all around.

Kudos to this young man for working out his own solution. Happy chopping!

My favorite vintage sticks

Not boutique, but collectible.

I have always had a thing for vintage marching sticks from the 1920s through 1960s. (I went to high school in the 1970s, so calling the 1970s vintage is, well, a work in progress.)

Here’s the 3S sticks that I adore.

Top to bottom:

Slingerland maple, late 1970s

Slingerland, 1950s

Leedy 1950s (after Slingerland bought Leedy from Conn)

Ludwig, nylon tips, late 1970s

Ludwig wood tips, 1970s

Ludwig Burns Moore model, 1950s (after buying their name back from Conn)

Leedy & Ludwig, 1950s (when Conn merged the two companies, 2 prs)

WFL Burns Moore Model (Ludwig family owned company, started after Conn sued for the rights to use the family name)

Leedy, 1930s

These sticks came from a time when sticks were not pitch or weight-matched. Difference between sticks could be as much as 10 to 15 grams! If you were lucky, you could empty the entire slot of one model, roll on the counter for straightness and tap in the glass for pitch. Some shops wouldn’t let you do that and you were stuck with what they handed you. (By the time I was in high school, most shops would let you test and match sticks.)

These sticks tend to have more weight in the back half of the sticks, and a longer taper than found in modern marching sticks. Before the mid-1950s, most marching drums still used wooden hoops, which meant sticks lasted longer through rim shots and rim clicks. They also used calf heads, which were subject to the vagaries of temperature and humidity and forced drummers to “pull” their strokes up of the head, a very different technique than is called for on Kevlar heads.

Playing with these older stick designs feels so much better in my hands than the modern, forward-heavy sticks used today. While I continue to pare down some of my newer sticks, I'll hang onto these and enjoy them. You can often find these older sticks on eBay and other online sale platforms, but also check thrift shops and rummage sales.
Happy chopping.

The Carmen Pad has arrived. It’s beautiful.

The Carmen Pad arrived this week. After oohing and ahhing over it with my Sweetie, I chopped on it for a good half hour and thoroughly enjoyed the response.

However, I decided that the pad was a little light in weight and would benefit from some help.

So I carefully coated the wood base and bamboo rim with wood hardener and set it in the sun to dry. After that, I added a ring of neoprene mute material on bottom to give it a nonskid surface and a few more ounces of weight. The last thing I may do is to seal the gap between the rim and base with a thin line of wood filler, let dry and sand smooth. I’ve shared all of my plans with Anthony and told him that as he makes more pads, he’ll figure out how he wants them to appear and feel even more finished. He was encouraged and thanked me for my suggestions.

Anthony is making more pads and each batch is nicer than the last. 

If you want one, reach out to him at the Facebook Drum Pad History Group.

Vintage corner: Yamaha snare pad (by Xymox), mid 2000s

So this has maybe a couple more years to go before it's "officially" vintage, but it is over twenty years old and at this point all the kids would call it vintage so I'm going there.
(Just wait until all the kids get vintage!)

Scored this on Facebook marketplace. Lady was trying to sell it but no one was biting. When the price dropped to five bucks I asked if she's ship at my expense, and she said yes. It arrived this morning and it's a little rough, but absolutely delightful.

This little guy was made in the early to mid 2000s by Xymox for Yamaha. The rubber from this time period is especially nice and if the pad hasn't been abused it's often still in fine, playable shape. (I don't bother with modern corps pads with cracked rubber, as I like my modern-era pads to be playable.)

Base measures 8 x 8" and the snare beads are packed just loosely enough to make a nice, satisfying sound that's not too loud. I could take this on the bus and bother no one.

The rubber is in excellent shape, no cracking or hardening anywhere, and the response is lovely under a pair of lighter weight marching sticks or even 2B sticks.

A keeper for sure.

Facebook Marketplace sometimes yields up practice pad treasures. You have to search often (I look almost every day), and skip around the country to find new listings. (Simply change the location and expand to maximum range.) If you live far from the seller, it's worth it to ask if they're open to shipping at buyer expense. Often, they say no, but if you watch an item and keep coming back to see if it's still available, then at some point, some sellers may be open to shipping. 

I got this pad from a woman who'd tried without success to find a local buyer for three months. We agreed on a total cost and the transaction went smoothly. Mind your manners and be patient.

If the seller isn't into shipping, either get a friend who lives nearby to buy it for you, or let it go.
And don't fret. There are plenty of used practice pads out there. 

Vintage Corner: 2008 Blue Devils commemorative pad by Promark (Xymox)

Between 2008 and 2011, the Concord Blue Devils drum and bugle corps was on a roll, winning DCI worlds in multiple years and attracting the best musicians from across the country to come audition and marching with them. (Side note: Poaching talent, especially from smaller corps, was nothing new; in the late 1970s the Blue Devils poached regularly from the Spartans in Vancouver, WA -- the drum corps I marched in for a season -- so often and so brazenly that people started calling our little Class A corps a feeder corps for the Blue Devils.)

During this period of time, Promark and System Blue teamed up to provide the Blue Devils with the latest in drums, sticks and accessories. Promark offered marching members of the Blue Devils -- and at least one indoor percussion group I'm aware of -- commemorative drum pads with a custom laminate showing off the group's drummers. To my knowledge, the pads were primarily made for the marching members, and not sold widely to the general public. Promark didn't make these pads -- Xymox did, and simply licensed the snare bead design and the laminate process to Promark.

The pads, made between 2008 and 2011, are rare now. So when I came across one at a thrift store, I snapped it up.

This pad was played hard and often, and there are small dents in the MDF base and a couple of small gouges in the laminate. The pad itself is still quite whole enough to be played, and while laminates aren't generally my thing, it's a nice piece of practice pad history to add to my stable.

I like the feel of the laminated rubber under a pair of marching-weight sticks. Rolls are especially nice and responsive. 
However, the snare beads are packed in pretty tightly so there's not a lot of room for them to move around. This pads dates from a time before hybrid and "suede" heads, when high-tension drums were still cranked insanely high and the drums lacked any depth. So the tight response in the sound of the pad may be expected. 
(In the mid-2000's, shortly before laminated pads became a thing, Xymox was still making and selling pads without a laminate, only thick black rubber. Most of those pads had a snare bead assembly that wasn't packed quite so tightly, and these pads offer a sound that's what we could call a little more "wet." The earliest laminated padsshowed up only a couple of years later, and came with a tighter, "drier" sound.

I'm pleased to have found this pad and it's really interesting to chop on. But if I'm being totally honest, laminates still aren't really my thing.
So after living with this pad for a little while, I've rehomed it with a friend who marched a lot closer to this era abd who loves chopping on laminates. 

Custom pad, small batch, made in America

I sort of can't believe I did this but look what's coming my way. 

Still drying. 12" diameter, solid wood base and rim. I've asked Anthony to hold off on wrapping until next Friday so it will be thoroughly dry and some of the off-gas has dissipated before he wraps it up. 

I'm going to call it my Carmen Pad.

Small batch, made one at a time in America. Glad to support a creative new pad maker.

I expect I'll coat the rim in some wood hardener to strengthen it, and add some linseed oil to the base to protect the wood and bring out the different hues a little more.

If you want to see more of his designs, look him up on the Drum Practice Pad History Group on Facebook under Anthony Aguilar. 

 

UPDATE, 7-12-26 -- Anthony sent me these. Pad is dry now but I've asked him to wait until next weekend to wrap for shipping, just to make sure it's as dry as it can be.
I promise a full review when it's ready to chop.

UPDATE, 7-13-26: Anthony just sent me this video. The pad is dry but he's just waiting for the off-gas to clear out a little more before he ships it. He gave me a little demo of how it sounds with open space underneath and with closed space. I suspect I'll be using it on a stand or on my pad table. But this gives me a great idea of just how nice the thing is going to play.

 

Yes, this is going to be one fun pad. Can't wait! Of course, I'll do a full review and demo and post it here.