Vintage Corner: Ludwig practice pad, 1960's-80's

I'd been looking for one of these "Tuneable" pads for literally years, when I came across one at Goodwill -- which is odd, because things this cool generally don't make it to the shelves.
But this one did, and I snapped it up for a cool ten bucks.

Ludwig started offering this pad in the later 1960s (it first showed up in a 1967 catalog), and they remained in the catalog through at least the mid-80s. So I can't really know how old this pad is. But the scrpit logo is a clue, since Ludwig went to its more rectangular logo in the 1970s. So I'm guessing that this pad dates from the late 60s to around 1970.

(I never saw one of these during my school days (I graduated high school in 1981). It was likely more expensive than the Remo and hardly anyone could afford more than that in my largely working-class high school.)

It's basically a variation on the ubiquitous Remo pad of the same era, the main differences being the aluminum top plate/rim and the tuning screws. The screws are installed from the bottom, and nuts shaped like tension rods are screwed in from the top, meaning that this pad can be tuned using a standard drum key. 

The head shows enough wear to tell me this was a truly useful practice pad in its day. Even earlier Mylar heads, when tuned properly, could last a good long time.

I haven't been able to find details about the possibility of copyright infringement on Luwidg's part (of Remo's original design), so perhaps there was an agreement or some aspect of the original copyright lapsed to allow for what I see as an upgrade. I'll keep looking through copyright records and see what I can learn.

Below: although the pad is large at ten inches diameter, there's a threaded hold allowing for use on a cymbal stand. There are also three little rubber "feet" on bottom, which would be fine on a tabletop.

For being from the late 60's the pad shows quite a lot of wear and tear, but the original head is intact. There is some wear along the bearing edge -- not surprising for a well-loved pad -- but a careful quarter-turn of the tension nuts reveals a sound and feel that's not unlike that of a snare drum from the era, when heads were tuned looser than they would be later in the 80s and 90s.

Below: wear at the bearing edge, which was perhaps made a little too sharp for this use. I assume replacement heads would have been available from Ludwig.

I love this design, which makes tuning much easier than the slotted bolts on the Remo pads.

I took a pair of vintage 2B sticks from the wall display and tried it out. I was surprised at how nice the response was, even on a much lower tuned pad. I was reminded of a modern replica rope drum that I played years ago, and the tension on this pad is not unlike that.

Here's a little video.

I'll see what further research I can do on this.
Readers: If any of you owned this pad back in the day, PLEASE reach out and let me know.
Cheers and happy drumming!