DIY Drummer: New Vintage -- Bower replica pads, small batch

I was asked by Mark Beecher (president of NARD and a brilliant drummer and drum historian) if I’d make up a few replicas of the first patented practice pad, designed by Harry Bower in 1919 and patented in 1921.

Other pads were in existence, and offered by various makers throughout the early years of the twentieth century. But the concept of “mass”production in the 1910s was at best, in the hundreds, not in the tens of thousands large companies produce today.

Bower’s design was simple, and by modern standards downright primitive. A wooden platform, a layer of wool, covered by a thin layer of tanned leather, all bound up by string or a shoelace. I. Still trying to learn what the retail price was but I can’t imagine it was more than a dollar or two.

After the patent was awarded, Bower contracted with another fellow to “mass” produce the pads and distribute them. I’m still researching the success of the enterprise — and the longevity. 

Anyway, here’s the pad.

I glued a copy of the original label to the underside.

And did this over again five times. Four of the pads are available at $50 each including shipping in USA, and my original prototype is available at $25 including shipping in USA. 

(I’ll keep the fifth pad for myself.)

It’s not a modern pad. There’s just enough response that you can use your wrists and fingers to pull out decent strokes from the leather. If you want effortless rebound, buy a RealFeel.

But if you want to try a pad that your grandparents or great-grandparents might have practiced on, try this. It will give you new respect for the drummers of an earlier age and help you appreciate how far we’ve come.

(Video, playing my finished pad according to the instructions on the label)

In praise of 2B sticks

I was recently invited to join yet another Facebook group, this one devoted to "Boutique and Collectible Drumsticks," where I've been getting an education in the range and scope of high-zoot, hand-turned sticks.

Since most of what the other members own and use is beyond my paygrade, I decided to stick with my focus of vintage sticks in the sizes I normally use. It's a cheaper option and in most cases, a more attainable one. It also allows me to start in a more familiar landscape; most of the fancy sticks are made and enjoyed by folks in either the symphonic or ancient drum corps categories, neither of which I inhabit.

So here I am with a bag full of sticks in the most familiar and ordinary size of 2B.

This is the size most beginning drum students learn on (except for me -- my hands were too small at age ten to manage the size, so my 5th grade band director gave me a pair of 5A's instead. In retrospect it may not have been the best choice but my hands eventually grew to manage large sizes and, well, here we are.) It's a good all-around stick for school use and remains my personal favorite for ordinary concert, rudimental and pad work.

(Before we continue, feel free to read this excellent overview of how and why drum sticks sizes came about.)

As with all things manufactured, there's a fair amount of variety within a given size designation. Below is a spread of drumsticks in my collection, all labeled "2B" and all slightly different from each other.

Below, Left to Right: Vater 2B, Vater "Classics" 2B, KK 2B (made in Russia), Vic Firth American Sound 2B (no longer made), Speedex 2B (1960s), Fibes 2B "Band" and 2B "Power" (both circa 1978 or so), Carroll 2B (1960s, Mercury 2B (1950s) and Slingerland Haskell Harr signature 2B (early 1960s, nylon tip)

The variety found in this small group illustrates the lack of standardization, which remains with us today. Up close, you can see even more variety, just by looking at the tip and taper of each pair:

For example, the Fibes sticks are freakishly different in tip and taper from the rest. (I admit that I loved playing with "Power" 2Bs in high school band, and when I found a pair recently I HAD to have them again.) Otherwise, with the exception of The Vic Firth American Sound's round tip, everything else has some variation of the rounded or acorn tip found commonly in this designation.

I enjoy comparing and contrasting the response and sound of different sticks within a size designation, but for most of my daily pad work, I always end up returning to the Vater 2B (Far left). The balance and feel just work well for my hands at this point.

When looking for a pair of sticks I'm going to play a lot, I always want to check for straightness, weight and pitch-matching.
When I was kid, this meant going to the stick display and trying every pair of sticks in a brand and size designation until I found a pair or two that checked all the boxes.
Today, most of the major manufacturers claim to do this as part of their quality controls before the sticks leave the factory; its been my experience that the top three -- Vic Firth, Promark and Vater -- do a pretty good job of this, and I tend to trust their judgment most of the time.
However, it helps that if I order their sticks through the mail and am not satisfied, I can send them back for replacement. (Vater is especially great about this in my limited experience.)

With the advent of custom sticks, it has become possible to establish a relationship with a small maker over time, and then bring to them an older mass-produced stick for their suggestions and improvement, making for a truly custom -- and expensive -- product. Again, that's too rich for my blood, but I'm glad to know the option exists.

Finally, Here's an example of a "mass-produced" pair of sticks from the 1960s, before strict quality controls were in place:

Speedex 2B. Note the difference in length --

-- and in taper and tip shape as well.

This would be far less likely to happen today. But I keep this pair on hand to remind me what things were like and to see how far we've come.

Today it is possible to find even a cheap pair of drumsticks with tighter tolerances and quality control than "better" sticks of my childhood, so anyone can find a decent pair of sticks and get started on their next drumming adventure.

Carry on.
Happy chopping!

DIY Drummer: Odds-n-Ends -- repurposing, refurbishing

 On my way to swapping out for a smaller bass drum for my West Craft kit, I had an idea.
I asked Kaleb if he'd be interested in taking on a small side project in addition to refurbishing my bass drum. "No rush," I said, "I just wonder what it would look like if you gave this the West Craft treatment." Kaleb was intrigued and took home one of three vintage Ludwig practice pads I had.
All I told him was, "Do it up in shades of blue, and don't worry about the rubber because I'll clean that myself when you're all done."

Less than two hours later, he sent me three photos. He was intrigued.

When I get the finished pad I'll be sure to share it here.

Also, I received in a batch of sticks a mallets an extra, unmatched pair of vintage Ludwig timpani mallets. Both had badly degraded felts, and the heads had been glued to the shafts so removing them for replacement would be risky. They weren't so far apart in size and shape that I couldn't do SOMEthing with them, though.
So today, I decided to turn them into multipurpose mallets. I wrapped the harder of the two mallets with a few turns of the soft wool yarn to help equalize the hardness and size of the heads a little more. Then wrapped both heads vertically in rotating loops, the way yarn mallets are traditionally wound. I had taught myself how to do this in college, from a little booklet on mallet repair (I also used to recover my timpani mallets with new felt, using the instructions from the same booklet).

These mallets turned out to be a little on the big side, but that's okay. I figure they can be used for soft rolls on timpani, drumkit toms and maybe even some cymbals.

The yarn I chose was very thick ply, designed for use in scarves, potholders, hats and other thick things. It turned out to be quite useful for this application, because it's thick and soft.
Finally, To keep a couple hairline cracks from growing, I decided to wrap the wooden shafts in white stick tape. I added a second layer in the handle area to help improve the balance a little.

I'm pleased at how it turned out.

I have a couple new pads coming my way soon, and I look forward to putting through their paces and reporting about them here.

A reminder: If you or someone you know is connected to a company that makes pads, or that has historical documentation about pads the company made long ago, please let me know! I am always looking for new pads to test and review here; if you work with a company that is willing to send me a sample to test, that would be great. I don't have infinite funding to spend on this so I appreciate it when companies are willing to send me a pad. I also seek historical documentation about the design and development of practice pads, especially prior to 1940. If you can help, please let me know by reaching out to me through Facebook.

Thanks and happy drumming.

More pad restoration: know what to look for, and keep it out of the landfill

 So this week I scored a wonderful selection of old pads and hardware.

The seller needed to clear it out quickly, accepted my below-asking offer and was willing to ship for free.

Granted, these pads will need some cleaning up, but when I’m done, they’ll be as fun to pound on as when they were new, and the hardware will help complete a few drum kits in the neighborhood.

When you look for used pads to clean up and reuse, you have to know what to look for.

AND you have to be willing to put in the time and work to rescue them.

The rubber pads will need some cleaning, and some real elbow grease to bring them back to useful life.  The tunable Remo pads just need cleaning up and fresh replacement heads.

Soon after I take delivery on this lot, several drummers will have great pads to practice on, and I will have kept all this stuff out of the landfill.

THIS is what sustainability is about. Find old, beat-up stuff, fix it up and clean it up, and prepare it for a second life with a new owner.

What I’m saying here won’t make many manufacturers happy; for them, it’s about tying custom to buy new stuff regularly. But for kids on a budget, for nonprofit youth programs on a budget, for your friend down the street who’s preparing to audition for a corps and needs a more durable practice pad, sustainability is EXACTLY what we should promote within the drumming world.

End of sermon. Happy Drumming!

Future Vintage: Vic Firth IMS10 drum sticks

 Sometime in the early to mid 2000's, Vic Firth released a stick called the IMS10. Designed in partnership with notable DCI drum instructor Brian S. Mason for the growing indoor percussion activity, it was smaller than most marching sticks used outdoors and featured an elongated acorn tip. Presumably, it was not a big seller at the time, because after several years Vic Firth stopped making them.

I wish they hadn't. It's a GREAT stick.

It is smaller, but no overly so; and it is one of the best balanced, most comfortable sticks I've ever used for marching. I also like it for some concert percussion situations where a field drum and/or slightly heavier stick is called for. And it's a great rudimental stick as well.

The first generation were made with black paint, Mason's signature and wood tips.

Later, an unpainted version was released, without a signature, in both wood and nylon tipped versions. It was a little bit lighter than the original, perhaps because it was felt they'd be a better seller in a lighter weight for a wider variety of uses.

Today, I have a couple pairs that I've held in reserve. One pair is on my wall display rack, and the other pair is in my stickbag, taped up and used in my community marching band.

It's a fantastic stick. Some folks remember playing with these back in the day and are looking for them again. I recently scored a bundle of 15 pairs of these, New Old Stock from a music store that's closing its doors. I'm keeping another pair for myself and I've sold off some of the others. (I have a few pairs left as of this writing; hit me up on FB if you want a pair.)

If there's anyone out with some kind of pull at Vic Firth, maybe give a shout out that these sticks still have a fan base and ought to be brought back into production. Because right now they're hard to find and at some point they'll be gone, Let's keep these from becoming truly vintage one day.

Happy chopping!

Drum History Podcast, latest episode: All about practice pads

I was tickled to be invited to join Bart van der Zee on the Drum History Podcast, to talk and enthuse all about practice pads and their history.

I knew that if I did, I'd blow the lid off my little secret and get other people excited about it -- with the likely result that vintage practice pads would no longer be so easy or cheap to find.
In the end I decided that geeking out about history was more important than hoarding all the cool pads (which I don't but you get the idea).

We had a lovely chat!

You can find it here:

https://www.drumhistorypodcast.com/post/ep-107-the-history-of-practice-pads-with-beth-hamon

And if you support the podcast through Patreon, you can access little nuggets, "extras" available only to paying supporters. Including a little 15-minute thing with Yours Truly.

Happy Chopping!

Drum kit playdate: not bad for being so rusty

I haven't gigged behind a drum kit regularly, or owned a decent drum kit I could play at home, since 1993. That's almost 30 years ago.
My goal for assembling this vintage oddball kit, refurbished by Westcraft Drums, was primarily so I'd have a kit at home I could play regularly, even if I had to do so with mufflers to keep the peace there.
If things opened up in such a way as to help me find musicians to play with, great. But first I needed to play at home and get my sea legs back.

(You lose a lot in thirty years' time.)

Today, Sweetie gave me the rare gift of time alone in the house.

"Take the mufflers off," she said, "and have fun."

So for two hours, I did just that. Recent upgrades, including a 70's Zildjian Ping Ride and a 90's Zildjian light crash cymbal, made a great-sounding kit sound wonderful.

Of course, I shot video of everything I did, in ten-minute increments. Then, towards the end of my allotted time, I shot one final video, satisfied that all my previous efforts were sufficient to work out the worst of the ugly, forgetful kinks. I hoped I wouldn't suck.

After Sweetie got home, I watched all the videos to learn from them, and saved the best one to share (below).

For not having had this much time behind a kit in so long, I think I did okay. And I have quite a ways to go to get back to a point that will make me happy.
That's okay. I like to practice.