finding "my" drumstick

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zed32

zed32

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i'm having a bitch of a time trying to find my drum stick of choice! my first drumsticks were Pro Mark oak 747 with nylon tip. i like the feel of the oak, but don't like the nylon tip. i tried some Vic Frith 5A, i like the taper and the tip. then i bought some Pro Mark hickory 747 with wood tip. i liked the length and diameter more than the 5A, but didn't like the short taper and huge tip. went back to my old 747 oaks, and for some reason they just felt more "balanced" to me than the hickory version, the hickory seemed more top heavy for some reason.

so now i'm browsing through drumstick manufacturer websites looking at specs to try and figure out something i might like. i'm looking for something with more length and maybe slightly smaller diameter than the VF 5A, but with similar taper and tip. i like the feel of the oak, but it doesn't look like they make anything like that in oak. i might try the Pro Mark oak 707, but i'm not sure if i'll like the ball tip. the Pro Mark "Ringo Starr" signature looks nice, basically an elongated 5A, which fits the description of what i want, but i'd like to try an oak version of it. the Vic Firth 5A seems to be a little thicker than the Pro Mark 5A, i prefer the thinner version. another interesting one is the Vic Firth "David Garibaldi" signature, which has more length, longer taper, and slightly smaller diameter than their 5A and has a barrel tip. then there's the Vater "Philly Style" which is very slightly longer than a 5A with an acorn tip.

the point is, i'm tired of buying pairs of drum sticks one by one, i can't wait til i just find the one type that i like and can buy multiple pairs of. the way it looks now, i could end up with 6 different pairs of sticks, so if i drop one, my emergency stick will probably not match! :eek: :D

what do you guys think about Hickory vs. Oak vs. Maple? for me, i seem to prefer the oak, but that's probably just because it was the first stick i had and i got used to it. haven't tried maple yet.

i think i need my own signature stick already. :eek:
not that i deserve it or anything, haha :o
 
Man, I've never put that much thought into a drum stick. I like them to be made of some kind of wood and have a plastic tip. After that, tapers and shit don't mean anything to me. :o
 
Not being much of a drummer, I don't have a preference. I have discovered that anything in a 5A seems to work out fine. I even used a mismatched pair for a while. I had a 5A and some other slightly lighter stick. I used the lighter stick in my right have because I have a habit of going heavy on the hats. :D
 
I used to use the Travis Barker signature sticks. I loved the feel and they seemed to last pretty long so I bought a ton of them and used them for about 2 years. The white paint getting all over my cymbals sucked but I loved the feel. Then one day I ran out and all I had lying around was a pair of el cheapo 5B's. The 5B's were kind of love at first play. They were thicker than the TB's and the extra power was nice. Those broke pretty fast so I went through the brands trying to find a 5B that would last and ended up with Vater Power 5B. The sticks feel great and last a long time.
 
i can't handle oak anymore--not enough give and it hurts after a while.

i love maple sticks--great whack and excellent give.....but they break too easily. so i'm pretty much a hickory man these days.

i've played all of the sticks that you've listed and other than the way they feel in your hands (length/width, etc), the biggest difference i've noticed is the effect of the bead on the cymbals. i played those 707's for a LONG time b/c i liked how they sounded on the ride. i also played the VF SD1 Generals for ages, but i go through them like they're toothpicks.

anyway, if you like the 5a's but they're not quite long enough for you, check out the Vic Firth Extreme 5A's. i think they're 5AX. i've recently discovered them and they're everything i've ever wanted in a drumstick. i just bought 8 pairs--some wood tip and some nylon.


cheers,
wade
 
I think it's a very personal choice and you'll probably have to try a lot of sticks to find your "perfect" one. Here's a decent website describing the differences: http://www.pearldrum.com/2002_techspeak/drumsticks.asp

As far as the maple/hickory/oak preference, oak is generally the hardest and most dense, while maple is the lightest and, generally, least dense. Hickory falls in between. There are different varieties of each wood, however, so the "Canadian Sugar Maple," used by Vater, is not the same as the "American Rock Maple," used by Vic Firth, for example. If you really like the feel of oak sticks, you probably won't like maple very much, since it is much lighter.

If you want something a little smaller than the standard 5A, you might try an 8A, which tends to fall between the 5A & 7A. Of course, each manufacturer's interpretation of diameters are different, so one company's 5A may not be the same as another. However, since you mentioned that you like longer sticks, you might not find an 8A that is long enough for you - most that I've seen are 16" or shorter.

I've tended to gravitate toward maple sticks, ~8A diameter, with wooden barrel-shaped tips. Right now, I use either the Vic Firth SD4 combo or the Vater Sugar Maple 8A. Both are great, imo, and I'm planning to try the Regal Tip 8A maple, too, just for another option.
 
mrface2112 said:
i can't handle oak anymore--not enough give and it hurts after a while.

i love maple sticks--great whack and excellent give.....but they break too easily. so i'm pretty much a hickory man these days.

i've played all of the sticks that you've listed and other than the way they feel in your hands (length/width, etc), the biggest difference i've noticed is the effect of the bead on the cymbals. i played those 707's for a LONG time b/c i liked how they sounded on the ride. i also played the VF SD1 Generals for ages, but i go through them like they're toothpicks.

anyway, if you like the 5a's but they're not quite long enough for you, check out the Vic Firth Extreme 5A's. i think they're 5AX. i've recently discovered them and they're everything i've ever wanted in a drumstick. i just bought 8 pairs--some wood tip and some nylon.


cheers,
wade
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thanks for the tips.

i think i like oak because it's a bit heavier without the extra diameter. but it does seem to vibrate in my hand more. i'm not much of a heavy hitter though, so it doesn't really bother me. i think i might give the 707 a shot first. the 5A extreme looks OK but i think it might be a bit thicker than i'd like. the reason i'm putting so much thought into my drum stick is because i'm trying to get more serious with my drumming. naturally, i suck at drumming, and if having the perfect drum stick will help me be just a little bit more comfortable behind the kit, i'm willing to work to find it. :o
 
zed32 said:
but it does seem to vibrate in my hand more.
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and that's exactly why i can't use it anymore. i've got something going on in my right hand (ride side) where my thumb goes numb after i play for more than an hour or so--the vibrations in the oak sticks make it go number faster. i sit at a keyboard and mouse all day (and have for the last 15-odd years) so i suspect it's carpal tunnel or repetitive stress related.

zed32 said:
i'm not much of a heavy hitter though, so it doesn't really bother me.
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i'm not either, really. i lay into the drums like i mean it, but not like some dudes i know. you *have* to lay into them a little to get them to sing......but some dudes just pound the snot out of em.

zed32 said:
i think i might give the 707 a shot first. the 5A extreme looks OK but i think it might be a bit thicker than i'd like.
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i played the 707's for years. they were always a little thin and short for me, but i loved what the bead did on the ride's bell and it had a nice bright crank on rimshots. the 5AX, IMO, is all of the great things about a 5A, but more. it's more substantial feeling and has a longer reach. so if you like 5A's but find them coming up a little short, you oughta give it a shot at some point.

zed32 said:
and if having the perfect drum stick will help me be just a little bit more comfortable behind the kit, i'm willing to work to find it. :o
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:D i hear that loud and clear. i've been playing for 20+ years and have been trying to find that "perfect" stick the entire time. unfortunately, what seems to be the universal truth is that you'll find a stick that's right for you right now. i can't tell you how many times i've found "the right stick". or the right guitar strings, right picks, or the right drum heads for that matter.

let's just say that i've got a rather large collection of "no longer the right stick". :p


cheers,
wade
 
c0r1n said:
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--PMKPW747

oak 747 with a wood tip. isn't that what you are looking for?
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well i don't like the tip on the 747 and i don't like the short taper. that's why i'm looking for something altogether different. the only thing i like about the 747 is the long reach and the diameter feels good in my hand. to me, the tip on the 5A just sounds better on the cymbals.

i like the 16 1/4" length, i might even like 16 1/2" better (haven't tried it yet). something right around .55-.56" diameter feels good to me too.
 
Vic Firth for me. 5'A's I think they are. I don't think too much about the stick either. But I don't play a lot of drums these days.
 
so i ended up ordering a ton of different sticks, and so far i really like the Vic Firth JM. it's perfect. the Pro Mark 5AL is nice too, but i like the smaller tip on the JM. the 707 oaks seem pretty nice too, but they are a bit shorter than the rest, and the ball tip seems kinda clunky. so now i have 6 different pairs of sticks to dig through and find which one i like best, then i'm gonna order a bunch of those. i had em shipped to my work (i would have bought locally, but they don't carry any of the types i wanted to try!), so this is just my first impression on a practice pad. gotta sit down on the drumset later and try em all out. but yeah, the JM is the early favorite. :D
 
I use exclusively Pro Mark 777s -- except I've only got 2 pairs left, so I actually use Vater 5As until I get around to buying more 777s.
 
....

Not that this will help but, I use Vater sugar maple. Recording or Blazers. Depends on the venue.
 
dude, don't listen to any of these people. you're on the right track. keep on buying them one pair at a time. when the right stick is in your hands, you'll know it. i have my own personal preference, but i only found out what that was by playing constantly. i like a lighter stick for speed, nylon tip for attack--but that has nothing to do with what you're doing. once you find that magical stick you'll buy them in bulk, and not a moment sooner. good luck.
 
just a quick comment... I've been playing for around 7+ years now and personally won't buy any other stick now other than vater. For some reason (and it may just be my style of playing, of course as always, to each his own) no other sticks will last as long with me. I use 5a/b wood tip. For some reason no matter the brand, the plastic tips seem to always come off, they mess up the look and (over time) the sound of my cymbals...

Just throwing another brand out there for trial sake besides VF and pro-mark.
 
Greg_L said:
Man, I've never put that much thought into a drum stick. I like them to be made of some kind of wood and have a plastic tip. After that, tapers and shit don't mean anything to me. :o
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Ugghhh, I can't stand nylon tips! I needs me some wood!

You gotta just go to the store and hold those sticks and test 'em on a practice pad if they won't let use use a real drum or set. Personally, I usually play with 5A's, but I keep some 2B's around for when I need to go Bonham. Vater, BTW.
 
And to modify that last post, I also sometimes practice with the 2B's for a few sessions in a row, and going back to the 5A's is kinda like walking around in your regular shoes after a long day of skiing.
 
i think the Vic Firth JM is gonna be my drumstick until my preferences change. it feels perfect!
 
MadAudio said:
I also sometimes practice with the 2B's for a few sessions in a row, and going back to the 5A's is kinda like walking around in your regular shoes after a long day of skiing.
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this is GREAT advice and i wish i'd said it. ;) have some chicklets. :D


cheers,
wade
 
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