Vintage Corner: 1929 (?) practice pad (with an UPDATE at bottom)

I recently acquired this pad from a guy on eBay. I paid more for it than I would have liked, but based on the pad's stated age and looks I took a chance.

According to the seller, this pad was in a box of drum hardware and other ephemera, which belonged to his grandfather (a professional drummer in the 1910's through 40's) and dated from 1929 to 1932 (written on the side of the box).
From the photos the pad looked homemade, or at least home-altered.
After thinking about it for a few days, I made an offer and bought the pad.

It arrived a few days ago. I hung out with it for awhile before writing this up, researching it on the web and finding nothing definitive.

So here's what I've got: A drum practice pad made of a calf head laid over some kind of padding, and set in place by a heavy metal rim with screws. I'd say that from the design and look of the metal and the calf head, it probably dates from the time period advertised. The base of the poad was made with solid wood and varnished -- sadly, including the calf head, meaning it and the stuffing underneath were hardened as a result. Based on the look of the wood -- uneven, wide grain and rather sloppy varnish work -- I'd say that the pad is homemade, though there's no way to definitively prove that. The metal ring could have been from a barometer wall hanging or similar, re-purposed for holding the head in place. I don't know what the stuffing might be; in those days, anything could have been used, including horsehair, wool or even natural sea sponge.

The wood used to tilt the pad for traditional grip is different and may be a bit newer than the base. It's not as dense and shows nail holes from a previous use, which tells me this part was definitely added on at home.

I have to go on what I see and feel, so I'm calling this a nicely homemade practice pad.

Below are photos and a short video. If the seller's story is real -- and I have no reason to doubt it, but anything's possible -- then it's the oldest pad in my collection to date.

I'll continue to research this and see what I can turn up.

 

 

If you have any knowledge or resources to share about this pad or others like it, please reach out and let me know. Thanks!

UPDATE: (12/19/2020)
Based on further research, I now believe that the pad may have been factory-built, and indeed from the late 1920s. I've seen enough photos of other pads from the era to confirm my hunch. However, I believe that a previous owner installed the additional piece of wood to give it the tilt. This is borne out by the differences in wood grain, the tint and quality of the stain/varnish, and the fact that nail holes appear in the prop-up piece of wood that indicate it was recycled from something else. Further, on most two-piece pads like this, some of the wood on the main piece would have been shaved down to provide more surface area for a second contact point on the bottom. That is not the case here.
So the pad may well date from the late 1920s, but there's no way to know when the pad was altered or by whom.

Full review: Power Percussion Barebones Travel pad

During this extended break from touring, I've had an opportunity to practice a LOT, almost entirely on practice pads. I'd given away or sold most of my smaller pads because they hadn't met my needs and weren't old enough to be included in my vintage pad collection.
One major issue with smaller pads is that, while they're portable due to their small size, they're also usually too light in weight to stay put on a table top; and those which are threaded for use with a cymbal stand are almost always too light for table top use anyway (because how much weight do you want to screw on top of a cymbal stand?).

Last week, Flam7, a relatively new marching percussion outlet, offered a bundle for sale, the Power Percussion Barebones Travel pad paired with a free pair of Vic Firth drumsticks. So after reading up on the specs of their pads, I went ahead and sprang for a Barebones pad in the "Travel" size.

The package arrived earlier today, and I spent a few hours hanging out with it, both at home and during my bicycle errands (stopping in a local park to try it out on a bench).

Here are my thoughts after putting this pad through its paces.

 1. Construction. The pad is constructed with a base made of something called Valchromat, which is made of wood fibers organically dyed and then bonded with a "special" resin. The result is a platform that is strong and dense, meaning a pad that weighs a bit more than most other pads its size. If you want to know more about the composition of Valchromat, good luck. The web site says: "Valchromat is ethically sourced, manufactured without waste, and created through a self-sufficiency of thermal energy." Science geeks will want to contact the company directly for more details.

The pad comes with two playing surfaces. Surface #1 is 1/4" thick, made of tightly-compressed recycled car tire rubber, and resembles a high-tension snare drum in feel and response. The sound is hard and articulate, and pretty loud for a pad without laminate.
Surface #2 is the same material, 3/16" thick and from its appearance -- possibly compacted a tiny bit less tightly than Surface #1, though I can't confirm that -- giving a softer sound and feel and slightly slower response. This side is a little more like playing on a practice pad and requires a little more effort to draw the response from the pad, but it's still satisfying to use. (The car tire rubber is sourced from Beetle Percussion, who also make their own line of pads from recycled materials.)

Since I don't play Kevlar, I didn't feel a need to order a pad with laminate on it, but if Kevlar is your thing, you may want to try this one with the laminate, applied over the top of the same recycled rubber material found on the Barebones pads.

 2. The feel. The pad feels pretty nice when used with marching sticks. But because it's designed for drummers who are used to playing modern, high-tension drums, it will not respond the same way if you use a concert stick. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say this is more properly a dedicated marching  pad. Using the pad with a light stick (in my test, a 5B) produced almost no response, and when I tried to coax some response out of it I felt like the sticks would fly out of my hands. When I switched to my go-to marching stick (VF Jeff Queen solo sticks), I was much happier with the sound and response.

The thicker side will give your hands a bit more of a workout, which is not a bad thing. But I think most younger drummers will likely gravitate to the thinner side, because its hardness and compression will come much closer to the drums they play. 

Still, I find both sides definitely have their uses.

 3. The size. With playing surfaces of 10" x 4.75", and a platform only 3/4" bigger all the way around, This is a very compact pad that's easy to toss into a backpack or bicycle pannier. When we are all able to travel again, I will want to bring this pad along in my carry-on when I resume touring. (below: shown resting on a full-size pad for comparison -- yes, that's a first-gen Vic Firth Stockpad and NO, it's not for sale)

4. The weight. Because this pad is heavier than most of the same size, it takes some well-placed, heavy blows to get it to bounce on a table top. The fact that there's rubber on both sides makes it less likely to creep. These are good things.

At $40 retail, it's comparably priced (perhaps at the higher end of the range) to other, similarly-designed marching-focused pads of its size. Not a bad little pad for the money.

Power Percussion did not solicit this review, nor did they offer me any compensation. I paid full pop for this pad just like anyone else.

To learn more about their pads: https://powerpercussionpads.com/

As ever, here's the demo video for your amusement, showing both sides (thin, thick, then thin again). Happy chopping!