Chuck

6 hours ago, David said:

I used to use plastic tipped sticks a long while back, they do have such a bright sound on cymbals but I switched to Barrel tipped after I had multiple ocassions where tips flew off.  I'm talking 40 years ago. I think it also sounds more condensed if that makes sense and I think wooden tips give a little on impact but plastic ones don't.  I think wood is kinder to the cymbals and heads as well, but thats just my opinion, no idea how true that is.  

I have played with heavy timbale sticks which have no tip to speak off and I loved those, just sounded different again, like when you switch the stick around and play with the but... great on the ride bell.

I bought a pair of 5A barrel tips on ebay which I really like. I think the sound is crisper and I just like the way they feel. I think it's probably the way they rebound.

I tried comparing the sticks again and this time I didn't hear the change in pitch. Maybe my ears were playing tricks on me the first time. 

16 hours ago, Juan said:

I don't have a personal opinion, but my in-person teacher, a seasoned jazz and Latin jazz player made a strong statement about plastic tips being too harsh sounding on cymbals, and specially the ride, and that he would only use them on mesh heads. But hey, sound is such a personal thing and I'm sure not every ride sounds bad with those tips. considering you have to play all the kit with the same stick, I think this should be explored over the snare and HH at least.

Any references of jazz players using plastic tips? 

Somehow the plastic tips sounded more jazzy to me which I guess shows that I know nothing about jazz. 

I have a 22 inch Zildjian ride from the late 60's which I acquired not too long ago.  I was hitting it the other day with a 5B stick with a wooden tip. Then for some reason I pulled out a smaller stick with a plastic tip and hit it. This may sound melodramatic, but I was kind of stunned at how different it sounded.  I guess I never compared wood versus plastic side by side before.  Not only was the sound from the plastic tip "brighter" (not sure if that's the right word to use) but to my ears it made the pitch of the cymbal sound higher.  Would that make it better for jazz? Any other thoughts on wood vs. plastic?

5 hours ago, Julia said:

Free sticks are a good thing (see what I did there) since you get to try something you wouldn’t normally have.  They can be hit or miss, though.  I got a free pair of carbon fiber drumsticks with a practice pad a while back.  Had some fun, but they weren’t for me in the end and I got rid of them.  I play on Silentstrokes mostly anyway — the carbon fiber on those would certainly give meaning to the concept of “shredding” 😄  

How do you like the Goodwoods so far, @Charles?  

I still like them.  I didn't weigh them, but I do think they are slightly lighter than the Vic Firths. Just that little bit of difference in weight feels better to me.

So I bought some used gear recently and they threw in a couple of pairs of sticks in the deal.  They are Goodwood 5A's with nylon tips.  I kind of like them.  I think they're slightly lighter and a slightly smaller diameter than my Vic Firth 5A's.  I'm not familiar with this brand and I just wondered if anyone knew anything about them.

So what do stick sizes mean?  I have these Zildjian 3A's which actually seem a little thinner than these Vic Firth 5A's that I just bought.  The 3A's don't seem any heavier than the 5A's. I thought the 3A's would be fatter and heavier.