Oak drum sticks

  • Thread starter Thread starter PhilGood
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PhilGood

PhilGood

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Does anyone here still play with oak drum sticks, and if so...why?!:confused:

I switched to hickory over 18 years ago and have never looked back. The advantages of hickory over oak are huge! I do remember when I didn't, or couldn't afford to buy large quantities of good sticks, so I relied on oak Promarks, but those days are long past and I'm glad!

I just can't imagine playing with oak sticks ever again! Especially the nylon tipped ones that would lose the tips and I ended up playing with the butts!

Does anyone still do this?


Let's here about it!:D
 
i remember those days......except i played oak 747's b/c neil peart played em. i even tried em double-butt ended (often b/c the nylon tips had the lifespan of an ant). those days are long gone--i can't play oak sticks anymore. they're too hard, they transfer too much vibration to my wrists and i just don't like the sound.

i prefer maple when i can get it. nice fat, sweet crack and lots of "give". the problem is that i can't find maple in the sticks i like, and i can't use the maple VF SD1 General for everything. maple's a little fragile, but that's part of the "give" i like about maple.

so mostly i play the hickory VF Extreme 5A. it gives me the feel and sound of the 5A with a little more meat and a little more reach. wish i could get em in maple, though.


cheers,
wade
 
Yeah playing with Oaks... Whew!
I could feel them all the way into my elbows!

I keep a pair for when I am recording softer Ballads and need a real hard side stick sound.
They will last a hundred years.
 
They splinter and get uncomfortable

I also prefer hichory or other closer, tighter grained sticks. I'm good with my sticks and I am not a walloper, but oak sticks tend to get a raised grain very quick and it's easier to get a splinter with them. Any bites that you get from a crash or splash cymbal very quickly results in sticks that are uncomfortable to play.
I like the sound of them on cross-stick.
 
I tried oak sticks once. I broke three cymbals in two days. I was angry.
 
What I want to know is anybody still using plastic sticks? Like the clear/colored acrylic or whatever that was. I used to ride to school with one guy who kept a fuchsia pair in his car, a manual transmission '70s vintage Prelude. This is because he would play his steering wheel, dashboard, and rear view mirror as a drumkit while he drove. As far as I'm concerned, those sticks were good for that and not much else!



He was a keyboard player . . . :confused:
 
Rock Knockers! What a dumb idea. I must've gone through a dozen pairs before I realized it! :D :rolleyes: :o ;) :D
 
mshilarious said:
What I want to know is anybody still using plastic sticks? Like the clear/colored acrylic or whatever that was.
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LOL! i had a black pair of Aquarian synthetic drumsticks i used to use in concert band back in '86 or something. some jackass stole em out of my backpack one day. horrible tone, ridiculous response and feel (in a bad way), and while i wish i still had em for nostalgia reasons, he kinda did me a favor. ;-)

like many things as an impressionable teen, i got them b/c Gil Moore from Triumph used them (he also used Sabian Rocktagons :eek:), and he was my favorite drummer until i discovered Rush. :D

FWIW, the "rock knockers" were Vic Firth's double-butt end sticks. i've still got a pair in my stick bag. they're old and completely beat to shit.


cheers,
wade
 
mrface2112 said:
FWIW, the "rock knockers" were Vic Firth's double-butt end sticks. i've still got a pair in my stick bag. they're old and completely beat to shit.
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Yeah, I tried to find an image, but came up blank. They discontinued that line years ago I think.
 
I went back to Colorado a few years ago and saw one of the guys who taught me a lot of stuff before I came to L.A.

I noticed he was still using 5A Promark oak sticks. I asked him why he hadn't started using hickory or maple yet. He said he didn't like the feel and they break too easy.

I had to smile, especially after I sat in with his band and he suddenly realized I had passed him up playing-wise.
 
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