As promised, here is a picture of TenorGurl's new practice pad:



Before you flame me for the spacing between the pads, let me explain. Since the "sweet spot" on a tenor is not next to the rim, I made the pad with the radius 1" smaller. The rims are roughly 1/2" and there is a spacing between rims somewhere close to 1/4 to 1/2". With this said, there is approximately 3-1/2" of space between the pads.

TenorGurl has not tried it out yet, since I still need to add another coat of finish on it and add rubber feet to the bottom.

It looks good. The spacing does look off, but I bet once you start playing you won't notice a difference. Nice Job!!!

The only problem that I see with your reasoning for the large spaces inbetween the drums is that while yes, the sweet spot is not near the rims, the scrape zones are. As she progresses, if she tries to practice scrapes with that spacing, she will keep hitting the edge of the pads, which could cause the mallets to rebound differently.

Why is it that the far side of the wood seems slanted and not parallel with the large side?

Otherwise, for a home project, it looks great. The spacing does seem a little whacky, especially for sweeps like MAM said, but then again, if she can do sweeps in larger gaps, utilizing more control, she should benefit from that. It still seems a little risky of forming a bad habit though, i'm still undecided on that.

Any details on cost expenses and time?

I think you have really got an idea there. Maybe, some small fixes here and there, but all that I can think about is when I tried finding a setup for the tenors. I was in seventh grade at the time and all I would do is place hard back books in the general setup. This would have no consistency in spacing, and not a very great playback. Luckily, at the time I was not trying to be a tenor perfectionist. So i really like the idea you've got goin on.

Here are some responses to issues brought up on this pad:

1. As MAM noted, the spacing between pads seems too far for scrapes.

My reasoning: A tenor mallet has a head that is 1-1/4" or larger. With that said, the center of the stick part of the mallet could be no closer than 5/16" to the rim, if the disk part of the mallet is touching the rim. Given that you don't want the disk part of the mallet to touch the rim, then you will need to allow approximately 1/2" of space to the rim. This would give you approximately 13/16" of unusable space from the rim for a mallet with a 1-1/4" disk. A larger disk on the mallet would result in a greater amount of unusable space. Therefore, I chose 1" (16/16") to allow for larger mallet disks.

2. Kevin_nhs notes that the left and right sides of the pad seems not be slanted differently.

The sides are parallel to each other, and at a 90 degree angle to the side that faces the body. (The camera lens distorted the sides.) The only odd angles that I used are those from drum to drum. These angles approximate the angles between the center of the drums. I did, however, allow more space between drums 1-3 and 2-4 for scraping.

3. Kevin_nhs also wanted to know time and cost on this project.

Here is a parts breakdown:
2' X 4' X 11/16" Plywood - $6
1 small can of stain / finish
1 sheet of rubber
1 jar of rubber cement
1 package of rubber feet

Tools:
1 razor knife or hobby knife
1 saber saw / jig saw / table saw / etc
1 disposible paint brush
ruler / scale / straight edge
drawing compass
newspaper to lay wood on when applying finish

The only thing that would be a problem, would be the sheet of rubber. I supppose one could use a mud flap from a semi truck, or any other sheet rubber. The sheet rubber used on this project was a damaged insulating barrier from the electric utility that I work for. (I rescued it from the trash bin.)

i wonder where i can find a strong enough adhesive to last for a good while when practicing with it everyday for about an hour or two and where i can buy a really thick sheet of rubber that will allow the mallets to be able to scrape but not have too little bounce and not too much bounce.also i would try and find something to make rims so you can get use to getting over the rims.

In my opinion for your adhesive problem, super will solve every problem. We put some of that generic crazy glue you find at walmart and put it in the locks in the bandroom and that room was sealed shut for 2 days before they could get the doors open and they were using drills and this spray. so you can pretty much imagine how great your pads are going to be if you apply them with super glue.

I think i MAY try to make my own since i know i've got some plywood in my shed. Just need to get my father's permission to cut it and stuff.

where would you find gum rubber? in a Home Depot? if so, where would it be located in there?