What are the most durable drumsticks you know of?

I'd love to use Vic Firth sticks, and after meeting the man himself I almost vowed to only use them (the guys at my local music store loved it when I told them I had met Vic!), but the sticks simply weren't durable enough, especially the tips cracked pretty fast. Now I play Vater sticks. They're sugar maple, and I'm still on my first pair. The tips are still perfect, just a bit dirty due to excessive use.
 
Most durable? Solid stainless steel. But I personally have had great luck with any Vic stick. I don't know how else to answer that. I have never broken a stick, not even in marching band.
 
mandrew said:
Most durable? Solid stainless steel. But I personally have had great luck with any Vic stick. I don't know how else to answer that. I have never broken a stick, not even in marching band.
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In marching band today 2 hours ago, I broke a brand new Vic Firth Ralph Hardiman stick in around 45 minutes of playing
 
To me Vater has always been the most durable. As far as comfort and feel is concerned it's Vic Firth.

I currently use the SD1 General. VF says it's a "practice stick" but none the less it's what i've been useing lately and i love it. Before i was useing Vater 5B sticks. I liked them but they seemed a little heavy to me. I wanted something just a bit bigger than a 5B but lighter in weight. I found it with the SD1.
 
One thig to remember is the denser the stick the less it is going to bend and absorb shock. All of the energy will be absorbed by your hands and can cause fatigue and soreness. I prefer to have my sticks bend a bit and take care of some of the shock..
 
For me it's Vic Firth....I use 5A's & lately 5B's some...I could probably count one to two hands the number of sticks I've broke in the last 10 years....good sticks...also I think good technique plays in to it to a degree...
 
About 6 or 7 years ago, I had a pair of sticks that were made from a mixture of fibre glass and some grade of wood. I think they were called Mainline? It was back when I was playing a lot of metal and hitting hard. They just wouldn't break. I played them continuously for a good year and a half. The only reason why I threw them away was cause the tips wore down to the point of being sharpe like a centre punch. Yikes! I bought them at the local music shop that went out of business shortly after I purchased them. They were certainly the most durable by far in my case, but they didn't have a real good wood stick feel on the hi hats. Not that they were as bad as plastic tips. Just not quite as good as wood action. Oh, and I wasn't a fan of the color either: Pink!
I'm currently using Los Cabos 5A with dip grips and having great results with them holding up.
 
Vater. I've never fully broke one of their sticks. Only cracked the middle a tad after several months of wear and tear.
 
I'm using Vater Sugar Maple Blazer sticks right now and I love them. I love that I can have a light stick and not feel like I'm playing a chopstick, they absorb a lot of shock and have held up 3 months under average/heavy hitting

Btw has anyone noticed this thread is nearly 4 years old?
 
Nothing matches AHEAD sticks in terms of durability. I know . . . many drummers utterly despise them. On the contrary, I love them. I use AHEAD's 5B Light Rock model for everything I do. I haven't picked up a wood stick in several years. AHEAD's durability and shock absorption are incredible. And no, I'm not a metal drummer or a heavy hitter. And no, AHEAD sticks will not damage cymbals or drum heads. That's a longstanding and completely misinformed myth. My experience has been that AHEAD protects equipment if anything.
 
I used to be a VF guy. Now I use Vater.

Vaters last easily twice as long as VF's the way I play them.

The thing that sold me on Vater...besides never having a warped stick...

Vater's sticks have 11% moisture content as per the striking tool industry.

VF uses 6% to 7% moisture content as per the furniture making industry.

It's pretty clear whose stick is more appropriate for striking things.

I love that the balance of Vaters...to me...is just like the balance of VF's, which is perfect for me.
 
larryace said:
I used to be a VF guy. Now I use Vater.

Vaters last easily twice as long as VF's the way I play them.

The thing that sold me on Vater...besides never having a warped stick...

Vater's sticks have 11% moisture content as per the striking tool industry.

VF uses 6% to 7% moisture content as per the furniture making industry.

It's pretty clear whose stick is more appropriate for striking things.

I love that the balance of Vaters...to me...is just like the balance of VF's, which is perfect for me.
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Before I switched to AHEAD, I ordered a pair of Vater Fusion sticks, having read great reviews of Vater's quality control. To my disdain, one stick weighed 48 grams, the other 55. That stark disparity forever stained Vater in my eyes, though, to be fair, I don't know where the inconsistency was introduced. It may have occurred in a vendor's warehouse, not at Vater's factory, so I can't append definite blame in this instance. The result was still disappointing.
 
C.M. Jones said:
Before I switched to AHEAD, I ordered a pair of Vater Fusion sticks, having read great reviews of Vater's quality control. To my disdain, one stick weighed 48 grams, the other 55. That stark disparity forever stained Vater in my eyes, though, to be fair, I don't know where the inconsistency was introduced. It may have occurred in a vendor's warehouse, not at Vater's factory, so I can't append definite blame in this instance. The result was still disappointing.
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Oh wow. I never weighed a new pair. I never noticed any weight disparity while playing, so even if they are different weights, it's not enough to make me switch.

But yea, I'd like them to be close to one another too, just for even-ness' sake. Now I'll be weighing my sticks to see if I get the big differences.
 
C.M. Jones said:
Nothing matches AHEAD sticks in terms of durability. I know . . . many drummers utterly despise them. On the contrary, I love them. I use AHEAD's 5B Light Rock model for everything I do. I haven't picked up a wood stick in several years. AHEAD's durability and shock absorption are incredible. And no, I'm not a metal drummer or a heavy hitter. And no, AHEAD sticks will not damage cymbals or drum heads. That's a longstanding and completely misinformed myth. My experience has been that AHEAD protects equipment if anything.
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I disagree. I am a heavy hitter, metal drummer, and do lots of rimshots. Wood holds up better to a rimshot than an AHEAD stick. They will snap like twigs in the same spot over and over, at the taper where the sleeve ends and the grip starts. If the tip unscrews it will puncture your heads. If the plastic coating is worn the aluminum will directly contact cymbals.

I used these crap sticks for about 2 years before going back to wood. I don't break wood, it just wears out. I break AHEAD sticks.
 
larryace said:
Oh wow. I never weighed a new pair. I never noticed any weight disparity while playing, so even if they are different weights, it's not enough to make me switch.

But yea, I'd like them to be close to one another too, just for even-ness' sake. Now I'll be weighing my sticks to see if I get the big differences.
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I have something of an obsession with weighing my sticks and cymbals. But in the case of the Vater pair I mentioned, the disparity was such that I detected it the moment I picked the pair up. It was so glaring that I never even used the sticks. I just sent them back and received a refund.

My AHEAD sticks are always right on the money; each 5B Light Rock stick has always weighed precisely 58 grams in my experience. That's not the only reason I use AHEAD, but it's certainly a perk.
 
MrInsanePolack said:
I disagree. I am a heavy hitter, metal drummer, and do lots of rimshots. Wood holds up better to a rimshot than an AHEAD stick. They will snap like twigs in the same spot over and over, at the taper where the sleeve ends and the grip starts. If the tip unscrews it will puncture your heads. If the plastic coating is worn the aluminum will directly contact cymbals.

I used these crap sticks for about 2 years before going back to wood. I don't break wood, it just wears out. I break AHEAD sticks.
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I can't speak to AHEAD's rimshot response, as I never play rimshots. Cross-sticking is the only time I utilize my snare rim. I've used AHEAD for the last three years and have never broken a pair, nor has one malfunctioned. You might say I play absurdly cleanly. I utilize the tips of my sticks for about 98 percent of my strokes. Rarely does my hi-hat ever make contact with the shoulder of a stick. The only time I use the shoulder is when crashing a cymbal, and I primarily perform that operation with a lot of touch. In fact, one pair of Ahead 5B Light Rock sticks lasts me anywhere between four and six months, and I drum almost every day, in addition to gigging.
 
IMO all the big companies have quality control, what you read here are irregularities that slip through, wood is a natural material after all. Between the 1000s and 1000s of sticks sold and used every day, I bet sticks that break within the first hour of use are close to immeasurable percentagewise.

Use what you like and feels good and accept, that some sticks break from time to time. And if you break them by the dozen: stop hitting so hard ruining your health and equipment ;)
 
For me......wood sticks.

Vic Firth seem to hold up better than anything.

It may be because I switched to Vic Firth once my technique improved.

In my early days I played Vater.......broke so many of them.

I stay away from them like a bad smell.

I bought a pair of AHEAD sticks.....those things cracked in a week.
 
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