Went searching for my "go-to-sticks"

[Bruce]

It's a slippery slope, this business of trying to find the "perfect" drumstick.  This is what's left after I gave a bunch of sticks to my buddy at work.  I know we need different sticks to do different things, but I may be at the point where I need professional help.  (Know when to say when.)      

Edited November 30, 2019 by Bruce

[Julia]

@Bruce  Marvelous collection!  Now I don't feel so bad 😉  It seems like you lean towards Promark, and have a few pairs that look quite well-loved.  What are your favorites?   

The sticks in my house are about 2/3 mine and 1/3 my husband's.  I haven't even played with all of the pairs yet — more Sticklers material for later.  

I'm glad I have at least settled on some sticks that I like for the moment, but I imagine I'll be perpetually buying more with the excuse of looking for that perfect pair.  I mean, there are worse vices...right? 🤷🏼‍♀️ 

[Tim B. - SDS Staff Teacher]

@Bruce the "perfect" stick probably doesn't exist. haha. But I think you can find a few pairs of "go to" sticks that will get you what you need in every situation. I use two pairs of sticks for every single gig/session I play: 

1. Vic Firth SD2 Bolero. I use this for lighter playing (jazz or in a recording environment) because the stick tip gives CRAZY definition and even though it is a light stick it is very thick so it is light but produces a nice fat sound.

2. Vic Firth 5B Barrel tip. This is the stick I use for EVERYTHING else. The barrel tip gets more articulation and definition from cymbals and (to me) has a fatter sound than the traditional acorn tip most companies use on 5Bs. Also, a 5B is heavy enough to feel good when needing to play super loud but not so heavy it is hard to play quieter dynamics. 

I would say the goal might be to find a stick that can cover 80% of what you normally do, and then find a different stick that "fills in the holes" of what that stick can't do. That might relieve some stress about "finding the perfect stick". 

Also, part of the problem might be...you aren't playing Vic Firth sticks! haha. Just kidding, but I do think what they offer is the best on the market in the stick department. But I'm biased! 

[Bruce]

@Tim B. I've pretty much settled into Regal Tip Jazz as my go-to for playing at church and practice.  I really liked the Zildjian John Riley more, because of the great sound the acorn tip gave me on my ride cymbals, but the tips wore down so fast that I just couldn't justify using them for all occasions.  My favorite was the ProMark Carl Palmer signature. but they changed wood sources, or something, and the wood was softer so that the tips of the new pairs just didn't give me enough attack on my rides.

I've finally come to the point that I'm done shopping.  If I don't have it in my bag now, I probably don't need it. 

[Bruce]

@Julia I really like the Regal Tip Jazz and use them most of the time.  The Zildjian John Riley's are great, but the tips wear too quickly for me - and I'm not a hard hitter.  If you ever get into brushes, I'd recommend the Vic Firth Heritage Brush (HB).  For softer rock and train beats I like the Regal Tip Fat Cats.  Funny, from my late teens and into my mid-20's (when I was most active playing) I used Regal Tip 5B Nylon Tips- that was it, no muss no fuss.

If you do go looking for "the" stick, I've found that, at least for me, the most important factor is the length of the stick.  I gravitate towards 16".  I've used shorter and longer, but they never felt quite right.  They can be really thin or thick, but if they're 16" I can rely on the balance and feel.       

[Grant]

@Bruce - LOVE the collection my friend. Those ProMark broomsticks are so much fun to play. They are usually a bit too quiet for most scenarios, but I think they are tons of fun to play with. 

Also it looks you have a solid array of brushes vs sticks. It took me forever to dive into brushes, but they are unbelievably helpful. 

I second Tim's point. The perfect stick is probably not out there (however you never know), but there are plenty of sticks that do a number of things well, you just have to pick & choose. 

For all the country & rock I play I STICK with (see what I did there?) the VicFirth 5b extreme wood tip sticks. They feel great & allow a good amount of energy to be played without being too thick. 

For most everything else I use the VicFirth SD9 Drivers. A maple stick, a bit shorter & fatter than the 5B extreme with an oval tip. I LOVE that stick, however they break so quickly when you are hitting rimshots every song. So they are much better for soft, low key gigs. Those are my favorite for sure. 

What are the sticks in the bottom left hand corner of the picture? They look acrylic!

[Bruce]

@Joshua The sticks at the lower left corner are UltraTones from Lidwish Solutions.  They are definitely quiet - you get almost no volume at all out of a ride cymbal. They are marketed as a noise solution.  I've seen some videos where a drummer is managing to get a lot more tone than I ever could get out of them.  They are a separate breed from sticks or rods.

I recently tried a pair of maple Zildjian 7A (red dipped shaft in the picture).  I loved the feel of them on a pad and on my drums, but they are a bit soft in the tip and I don't get a lot of attach on my ride cymbals.

I wish I'd have bought the smaller broomsticks; the big ones are a bit much for traditional grip. LOL

     

[Bruce]

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 9:01 AM, Tim B. said:

@Bruce the "perfect" stick probably doesn't exist. haha. But I think you can find a few pairs of "go to" sticks that will get you what you need in every situation. I use two pairs of sticks for every single gig/session I play: 

1. Vic Firth SD2 Bolero. I use this for lighter playing (jazz or in a recording environment) because the stick tip gives CRAZY definition and even though it is a light stick it is very thick so it is light but produces a nice fat sound.

2. Vic Firth 5B Barrel tip. This is the stick I use for EVERYTHING else. The barrel tip gets more articulation and definition from cymbals and (to me) has a fatter sound than the traditional acorn tip most companies use on 5Bs. Also, a 5B is heavy enough to feel good when needing to play super loud but not so heavy it is hard to play quieter dynamics. 

I would say the goal might be to find a stick that can cover 80% of what you normally do, and then find a different stick that "fills in the holes" of what that stick can't do. That might relieve some stress about "finding the perfect stick". 

Also, part of the problem might be...you aren't playing Vic Firth sticks! haha. Just kidding, but I do think what they offer is the best on the market in the stick department. But I'm biased! 

Last time I bought a cymbal (online) I noticed that pretty much all the drummers demoing the cymbals were using Vic Firth 5A.  So I asked the sales guy if he could throw in a pair of them to sweeten the deal.  (If you look carefully you'll find them in the picture.)  But, that's why there's more than one flavor of ice cream - it's all good, but taste differs. 

[Erwin]

The search for the perfect stick is a never-ending story for me. At the moment I'm trying Vic Firth Modern Jazz MJC4 with barrel tip. Not too loud. Good response on the cymbals, good rebound on the heads.

[Grant]

On 12/4/2019 at 1:20 PM, Bruce said:

@Joshua The sticks at the lower left corner are UltraTones from Lidwish Solutions.  They are definitely quiet - you get almost no volume at all out of a ride cymbal. They are marketed as a noise solution.  I've seen some videos where a drummer is managing to get a lot more tone than I ever could get out of them.  They are a separate breed from sticks or rods.

I recently tried a pair of maple Zildjian 7A (red dipped shaft in the picture).  I loved the feel of them on a pad and on my drums, but they are a bit soft in the tip and I don't get a lot of attach on my ride cymbals.

I wish I'd have bought the smaller broomsticks; the big ones are a bit much for traditional grip. LOL

     

Oh very interesting! What are the sticks made of that make them so quiet? That's very fascinating, I've never hard of sticks like that. Cool stuff my friend!

[Bruce]

@Joshua one picture is with a thousand words.

http://www.lidwishsoulutions.com/ultra_tones.asp 

[Julia]

On 12/2/2019 at 8:01 AM, Tim B. said:

I would say the goal might be to find a stick that can cover 80% of what you normally do, and then find a different stick that "fills in the holes" of what that stick can't do. That might relieve some stress about "finding the perfect stick". 

Also, part of the problem might be...you aren't playing Vic Firth sticks! haha. Just kidding, but I do think what they offer is the best on the market in the stick department. But I'm biased! 

This is well put.  I have stopped changing sticks so much as I find what works for me as go-to sticks...but that will still change over time depending on how my kit evolves and how I progress with my skills.

I’m glad I tried so many kinds of sticks on the practice pad before getting my first kit, but I see it as a natural product of not having the kit to focus on — naturally the focus would go to the sticks. 

The plug for VF sticks is justified 😉 Although my current favorites happen to be Zildjian, bear in mind that everything is muted and sound doesn’t matter in the way it normally would, so I’m going strictly by feel and the desire to just have the go-tos so I can focus on what I’m doing.  I have a sentimental attachment to my VF 8Ds, my first pair ever, but they are very buzzy on my practice pads.  

Makes me wonder how my stick preferences will change when I play on a “real” (i.e. unmuted) kit.