I still enjoy experimenting with various materials to see if they'd translate to a practice pad.
This one is kind of special.
Inspired by a pad shown at Drumforum.com I decided to make my own version, a little fancier and more connected to my years as a professional bike shop mechanic.
Using scrap wood, bits and pieces from my time in the industry (including a cool pin I got years ago at Interbike and a piece cut out of an old patch kit tin whose bottom had been crushed), I went to work. The actual playing surface, as in the Drumforum post, is a 4" wide Rema Tip Top patch, large enough for a tractor tube; I scored a box of these as NOS from a tractor repair shop that was closing down.
Experimenting with layers, position and whether or not to make a tilted pad, I finally decided upon a micro-mini sort of "bus pad" like the ones Beetle Percussion sells for marching arts members (those DO work quite well on a tour bus, by the way!). I decorated it accordingly, wrapped it in a layer of old innertube for padding, and then covered that with white stick tape. I finally sealed that with a couple coats of clear nail polish to keep the tape in place and protect it a little.
Here's the finished pad:
At left: the actual paper label wrapped around a spent tube of patch adhesive. I love the graphics, a foreshadowing of what we now see on packs of cigarettes in some places
(Note the origin of the patch kit.)
Below: A cute little pin I got from a dealer rep while attending Interbike, the bicycle industry trade show they used to hold every year in Las Vegas. Thankfully, that event seems done for good now.
I finished off the bottom with a repurposed cymbal mute, glued fabric side down, as a non-skid surface. It works better here than it ever did on the cymbal.
After everything dried, I started playing on it, lightly at first and then, when I realized it could take more of a beating, a lot louder.
The response is tight and short -- somewhat what that of Offworld Percussion's Invader pad, but without the odd resonance because this surface is so much smaller. It would be fine for a modern marching drummer looking for a small pad to chop on anywhere. It easily fits in a messenger bag so it's very portable.
Here's a sample of the pad in action.
Because this pad is about intersectionality between my bicycle life and my drum life, I may also take a little inspiration from a fellow on the Marching Percussion 101 FB group, who showed off a very slickly-decorated Remo drum pad that he'd applied a Santa Clara Vanguard logo to (he'd marched with them back in the day); he had even created a presentation box with padded lining inside. It was something of a joke because most marching arts don't bother with a tunable Remo pad; but it was also very beautiful because of the care he'd taken to make this pad special.
So I may end up doing the same, making a presentation box for this pad out of a shop-sized Rema service tin. If I can find some leftover styrofoam to carve down, and then cover with felt (or some new shop rags, boiled down for maximum shrinkage and padding), I could make the lining decent-looking and functional. We'll see. Meanwhile, It's been a super-fun little project and I like how it turned out.
(If you decide to make one yourself, you'll want the 3" or 4" sized patches like above, which can only be found at motorcycle or automotive repair shops and online. I used one patch with the feathered edge trimmed off, glued down and allowed to set, and then a complete patch glued on top of it. The feathered edges do take some delicate maneuvering with tweezers so you don't mess them up while gluing in place, but the finished look was worth the hassle for me. As always Your Mileage May Vary.)
Happy drumming!
