Chinese Counterfeit Department: leather drum dampener.

Snareweight makes a really cool little drum dampener that’s easy to use and cuts ring effectively. 

It comes in two different lengths and provides different levels of dampening.

The attachment is spring loaded and very simple to attach and remove.

And it works. Well. I have a couple of these on different drums and I’m quite happy with them.

The long version (M80) retails for around $29, and the short version (M1) for around $20.

(About the only thing that would make me more excited about this product is if Snareweight were to make it with recycled leather, to have a lower environmental impact.)

Recently, I’ve been seeing a cheaper, Chinese-made verse in of this design for sale online. It can be found on multiple online web sites. 

It looks cheap, and I’m betting that it is cheap.

It can’t be a complete copy of Snareweight’s patented design, so modifications have been made and cheaper materials substituted. The results are visibly obvious.

To be honest, I’m always a little dismayed when I see cheap Chinese (they are nearly always from China) copies of thoughtful designs of drums and drum gear made in countries that pay their workers closer to a living wage. 

It plays into the same mindset that informs fast fashion, an epidemic that is clogging the planet with cheap, throwaway clothing.

It also encourages consumers to buy for price rather than for durability and quality.

I get that capitalism relies on marketing and convincing consumers to buy early and often, and the easiest way to do that is to steal someone’s better design and making it cheaper. If it’s cheaper, it won’t last as long and it will have to be replaced sooner. Ring it up! Shop for the economy! Buy more shit!

When I can’t afford the original design, I either save my money until can, or I find a way to make a workaround from scraps at home. I’m the kind of consumer the drum industry isn’t wild about, and I don’t care. Unfortunately, I’m also in a tiny minority and my consumer choices won’t make a real difference on a global or even national scale. But I prefer to do the right thing. I hope you will, too.

Happy drumming. 

Product review: Qwik Stix drumstick holder

Stick-adjacent goodness: Qwik Stix holders.

I was able to procure old style missing tubes from the company.
(Earlier model used anodized aluminum)

Newer model uses powder coated aluminum.
Newer and older eras are not interchangeable, as the powder coating takes up more space.

Sturdy, beautifully machined.

(Aluminum is kinder to sticks than painted steel, and sticks do not clatter noisily the way they do in steel tubes. Far more durable than plastic.)

These are the BEST stick holders I’ve ever used.

There’s a couple available on Reverb right now.

Their web store is currently not functioning (under construction).
Email them for more info and availability.

https://qwikstix.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything new is old again: Vic Firth Heavy Hitter series pads

Vic Firth has made a new version of their Heavy Hitter pad series, in all models. It’s scheduled to officially drop sometime in early July, but some of the pads have already been sent to select retailers who have sold them individually, allowing a few drummers to try them out before the official release.

I have not seen one in person. I have seen a couple of illicit video demos, all pulled down after I saw them “out of respect for the official release” or something.

Based on what I’ve seen and heard, I won’t be buying one. Here’s why:

It appears that the only meaningful difference between the old model and the new model is a larger platform and the addition of a rim. Curiously, the rim looks just like the rim found on any number of pads from Prologix, and made me wonder if there was any input from them on the new design. I suspect not, but it did raise the question for me.

Here’s the old style pad, which came in Stockpad (1/4” thickness) and Slimpad (1/8” thickness).

It was a perfectly good, and pretty popular, model for over a decade. Students and teachers alike kept them on hand for daily practice, and the Slimpad model showed up regularly at drum corps auditions and camps.

I have a Slimpad from this era. As a marching-specific pad, it does the job pretty well, and is lighter and more portable than a similarly sized tunable pad would be.

It retailed new for between $40 and $50.

Look below at its successor.

(This is a Stockpad, but the only difference between it and the new Slimpad is the thickness of the rubber playing surface.)

As you can see, the materials are pretty similar in both models, with the only differences being that the diameter is larger now, and has an addition of a black rim, which may be either hard plastic or very hard rubber (not sure which). The nonskid foam on the bottom remains the same.

But take a look at the difference in price, as evidenced by one of the few retailers to release a listing this month.

That’s right. The new pad costs  almost twice as much as the old version.

Inflation has something to do with that, I’m sure. But that cannot be the entire reason for the jump in price. My guess is that Vic Firth felt the hype was worth the significant increase, and if they hyped it properly they’d sell a bunch.

Another thing that Vic Firth did was to change the logo color and placement, back to something close to how it was with the first generation of these pads some twenty years ago. 

Here’s a first generation VF Slimpad for comparison.

I suppose I’m being a little crass, but honestly so is Vic Firth for taking this route. It plays on the emotions  of kids who were too young to have experience on the first generation pad, and dangles the possibility of returning to that model in front of them. I believe this visual choice was no marketing accident.

(To further ensure good sales on the newest version, the previous version was discontinued. Of course, if you want one of the older second generation pads, they can be found online from any number of sellers, new or used. The photo at top is of a used Slimpad currently being offered for $30 on eBay. Feel free to grab it if you want.)

Before they were yanked, I had a chance to see a couple of demo videos from guys who’d had the good fortune to snag one of the new pads, courtesy of a retailer or two who’d released them for sale prior to the official date. Those videos were yanked only a day or two after being posted. Each owner explained they pulled the videos “out of respect” for Vic Firth’s official release, scheduled for July. Is this true? I have no way to know, but based on the protestations of one of the two designers of this pad — who also designed the original Heavy Hitter pads before selling the rights to Vic Firth some twenty years ago — the early release by select retailers was nothing more than an attempt to prime the pump by priming the hype, and the pulling of those videos may have been encouraged with enticements of goodies or threats of legal action. I’ve seen this thing before in other industries and would not be entirely shocked if either were to be the case here.

Of course, I will never know. 

And perhaps that’s not the real point.

Based on my viewing of those videos, I cannot determine a significant difference in the sound of these new pads from their predecessors. So I asked one of the early adopters about it. (I have removed all last names but mine to respect their privacy.)

And there it is. Consumers are being asked to spend twice as much on a new version of a pad that doesn’t stray very far from the older version.

I have some suspicions about the marketing of this product.

(I also have questions about the sustainability of making yet another rubber-on-MDF practice pad when so, SO many already exist in the world, but I know that’s a battle I cannot win.)

In any case, before running out and buying Yet Another New, Mass-produced Pad, it wouldn’t hurt to ask yourself if such a consumer choice is actually necessary. There are literally a million used pads on the market already, and giving one of those a home would cost a lot less both financially and environmentally. If you MUST have a new pad, consider one that’s more sustainably made, or make one yourself out of recycled/repurposed materials.

Happy drumming. 

Update: further testing on the refreshed Drumslinger pad

Since getting back my refreshed Drumslinger pad, I’ve played it a lot.

It took a little time for the new head to settle in after playing, dialing in proper tension and playing some more. I’ve also had a chance to try several different sizes and models of sticks, to get a clearer sense of the pad’s range of usefulness.

This pad is called the Marcher Series pad, meant for Rudimental drummers who don’t play on high-tension Kevlar heads. It makes a great pad for rudimental and limited concert used, and suits my needs well.

It came with a new Remo Pinstripe head, which I appreciated.

However, in the two weeks since I got the pad back, I’ve noticed that there appears to be some cracking in one of the layers of the two-layer head. I believe this came about only when I began using some nylon-tipped sticks this past week, and that the nylon tips may be responsible for the damage to the head. I hadn’t noticed this sort of thing when using wood-tipped sticks.

It’s useful information, and tells me that I either need to stop using nylon-tipped sticks, or I need to switch to a different type of drumhead

Meanwhile, I enjoy playing on it, even on harder days like today (while I deal with residual brain fog and dizziness from Long Covid, and pain from the arthritis in my hands). It’s a good pad, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a more serious practice implement.

Drumslinger’s lead time now averages four to six weeks, depending on the type of pad ordered.

I’ll be looking at other kinds of heads for this pad and may test-drive them here.

DIY a drummer: repairing an old drum case

A few months ago, I scored what can only be described as a time capsule: a 1980s CB700 student drum kit. The complete kit included a snare drum, original stand, practice pad, drum key and even CB700 embossed sticks, all neatly tucked into their proper spaces inside the original hard-shell plastic case. It may not mean much to vintage collectors at the high end of value range, but as someone who grew up playing CB700 drums, I was enchanted by this kit and got it for a song.

The challenge was that the case was heat-molded hard plastic, with a thin strip of plastic functioning as the hinge. Forty years of opening and closing this case had caused the hinge to split halfway across, and I wanted to repair it before the hinge gave way altogether.

Options included finding an epoxy that would restore the hinge; finding a couple of short metal hinges that could be affixed with screws; or a single, long piano hinge that could be affixed with a long-lasting hardening epoxy.

The risk of using screws would be in cracking the aged, hard plastic, and I wanted to make this repair last longer. So I decided to look for a single, long piano hinge and some hardening epoxy that would provide a lasting bond to hold permanently. If I could make it look reasonably nice, I’d be content. I might have drilled tiny holes after the epoxy dried to add a couple of screws, but decided against that. While the long single hinge would add strength and stability, there wasn’t enough plastic surface to mount the hinge on the inside of the case, so I made sure the hinge would flex fully if mounted outside, and went ahead.

I got some epoxy online that offered a plasticity to allow for positioning, and then would dry hard in several hours. I sanded both surfaces so the export would bond well. Because the hinge didn’t conform to the slight rises and falls in the plastic along the hinge line, I used additional epoxy to fill in the gaps as best I could.

When the epoxy dried thoroughly, I sanded the surface lightly and then spray-painted the whole thing black to match the plastic case. Finally, I added some mousepad material to the three contact points on the bottom of the case, so it wouldn’t rock on the hinge when standing. I don’t think it looks too bad, and if it holds long term I’ll be happy with it.

The price of vintage practice pads is officially stupid.

I began collecting practice pads in earnest over a decade ago.

I got into pads because they were easier to store than vintage drums, and they were more affordable by far.

They were also more challenging — more fun — to research, because so little was known about various companies and makers in detail.

Then, during the pandemic, I started writing about my research, and my collection.

People began taking notice, and I was invited to be a guest on a drum podcast. 

Somewhere between my beginning to go down the serious pad rabbit hole and the time I spoke on that podcast, more people got into collecting pads. A serious subgroup got into collecting marching-specific pads from the 1990s and early 2000s.

Predictably, prices began to creep up.

Today, RealFeel tan rubber pads in good condition fetch between $150 and $200 on eBay and Reverb.

Early pads from Xymox — the rubber pads, before they got into laminated pads — can easily go for $100 and up depending on condition and branding.

Today, this showed up on Reverb.

It’s a Xymox pad, licensed and rebranded by Vic Firth and made for a little while in the early 2000s.

Now it’s rare and hard to find, and priced accordingly.

But is this really accordingly? Is it appropriate?

It’s a practice pad. Alan of wood with a slab of rubber on top, something to practice on quietly so you won’t bother the neighbors, and portable so you can take it anywhere.

New, it cost around $25-30.

Now someone wants $300 for one.

And that is where I have to draw the line, and where I wonder what on earth I’m doing in this anymore.

I collect pads because I got into the history of their design and development. I like comparing different pads of a similar design. I didn’t collect pads so I could hang onto them and flip them for astronomical sums two years later. I have bought pads cheap and sold them for a profit, but not at astronomical prices. And usually after I went to the trouble of cleaning them up a bit so they’d be more playable for the next owner. But these sellers are offering used pads for five to ten times what they sold for new.

I have to admit it’s bumming me out to see the market for something almost negligible four years ago into something that’s became as dear as a vintage Ludwig snare drum.

Maybe I’ll feel differently tomorrow. I’m not sure.

A peek under the hood: Rudimental Control practice pad

Peeking under the hood is something I’ve done with every tunable practice pad I’ve owned.

I’m curious, and handy with tools, so taking apart and reassembling a pad is no big deal.

I got this Rudimental Control practice pad last year, and was invited to send a pdf of my College crest for inclusion in the pad’s design. I liked the idea, and sent the pdf.

The pad looked amazing.

I’ve enjoyed chopping on it. It has a hard, “knocky” kind of sound and feel.

After hanging out with my refreshed Drumslinger pad, I wondered what was under each pad.

I’d already peeked under the Drumslinger, back when I tried to stabilize it myself. It was very much like other tunable pads, with layers of cork and neoprene laid over a wood base, and then covered with a mylar head.

This was the case for all the tunable pads, including Rudimental Drummers, Drumslinger, and the Ram Pad. They all had varying layers of neoprene and cork on top of the wood (or plastic, on the Ram Pad) base.

I took a peek under the Rudimental Control pad, and found a different story. 

There was a wood base, covered with a cork layer and then a thick felt layer, onto which was screened my college crest. The felt is thick and substantial, but doesn’t offer the bounce that a rubber layer would. Without a rubber/neoprene layer, the felt is the only thing softening the edges of the tone. It lends the sound and feel of the pad a harder edge to the tone and the response, and makes this a different pad than others I’ve tried. The felt is glued to the cork, so lifting it up would ruin it. 

Still, I wanted some verification for my hunch. So I decided to add a rubber/neoprene layer by using a piece of stack mat (basically a very thin mousepad), trimmed to size. I laid it on top of the felt, reassembled the pad and tried it out.

After trying the pad with the added rubber layer, I took the pad apart, reassembled it the original way and tried it out again.

The videos tell the tale.

While I liked the way the the pad felt with the added rubber layer, I already have a couple of pads with a similar feel, and I didn’t feel a need for a third. Plus, I really like the Portland State crest on display in the center of the pad. So I removed the rubber, and reassembled the pad its original way. I suspect that the Rudimental Control pad is specifically meant to resemble the feel of a high-tension marching snare with a Kevlar or Hybrid head, a very tightly defined feel and sound. 

It’s fun to peek under the hood with tunable pads. Not to steal ideas or anything — the design of these modern tunable pads isn’t exactly a state secret — but to get a better idea of why something works. 

It does feel like the design of these tunable pads doesn’t really have a lot more new ground to break. But if something exciting happens, I’ll be sure to check it out and report here.

Happy drumming!

Do practice pads need special stands? Sometimes.

My Drumslinger pad is heavy, perhaps the heaviest pad in my collection. It easily weighs close to five pounds. That’s not a highly portable pad. Indeed, it’s better suited to studio use where you can park it semi-permanently and leave it set up.

A couple of other pads in my collection weigh a little less, and also work best in a stationary stand.

The drum industry has responded to the needs of drummers by offering ready-made, pad-specific designs. 

1. Remo’s practice pad stand has been around since the 1960s, and is designed exclusively for Remo pads with a threaded tip that the pad screws onto. For these lighter weight pads it works just fine, though anyone chopping really hard on a Remo pad would do well to find something heavier-duty and purpose-driven, from any number of companies: Evans, Rudimental Drummers, Rudimental Control and Drumslinger are  few examples of sturdier pads that I use. Cheap copies of this design abound. Make sure you get one whose thread size matches your pad.

2. Ahead offers a specific practice pad stand, with a miniature basket. These are designed for smaller pads in the 8” to 10” size. They hold a smaller pad more securely than the Remo version. 

3. Drumeo has come up with a pad-specific stand that accommodates larger pads up to 12” diameter. Its only pad-specific feature is that the grips at top are shorter in height to accommodate flatter, thinner pads without fuss. The concert height option is also nice. Otherwise, it’s just a stand with blue trim.

4. Tama offers an overbuilt version of the Ahead stand, much heavier duty but without the concert height option.

A number of off-brand copies of these models are available at lower prices. The quality may vary wildly and can be a little lower than the branded stands. Finding them used can be hard, as the concept of a pad-specific stand is less than a decade old and people tend to hang onto them when they find the right one.

6. Another option is to simply fashion your own pad stand, using a concert-height snare stand with a heavier-duty tripod and a snare basket. Be advised that a standard snare basket may not accommodate any pad smaller than 10” diameter, and some snare baskets may not work for anything smaller than 12”.

A variation on this idea offers slightly more stability. N stead of using a standard concert snare stand, simply find a heavy-duty cymbal stand, whose tripod usually expands farther out than a snare stand does, remove the threaded top section (s) and replace with a snare basket section from a shorter stand. This gives greater stability to hold the heaviest purpose-driven practice pads, and usually costs far less when you assemble it from used parts.

I did this many years ago and it’s still the best practice pad stand I’ve ever used.

Happy drumming!