Sticks!

It's pretty inevitable. Most drummers use wooden drumsticks, and we all know by now they don't last forever!

how exactly do you guys break yours? I've seen quite a few drummers in my area who seems to break theirs due to rimshots. personally, mine are normally due to cymbals. i tend to hit my cymbals with the actual stick rather than the tip, so eventually this chips away at the wood enough to crack it completely.

also, how often do you guys go through sticks, and by using what?
i started with 7s and 5s, which went very quickly. 7s would be gone within a week sometimes, 5s usually lasted a few weeks.
then i switched to 2b - they lasted much longer. but i wasnt fond of the weight so now i'm using zildjian's travis barker signature. tried a pair randomly out of curiosity and have stuck with them since!

you guys?
 
I use tama 7a's, bout £8 a pair :) and have never really broken a pair, just i find the balance in the stick changes after a while so i replace them, I imagine if they snap it will probably due to rimshots though :p

George.
 
I used to break them due to crashing my cymbals too hard. Back then, I didn't use much rimshots, so cymbals were definitely the big stick killer.

These days I will rimshot whenever I play backbeats (which is 98% of the time, seeing as I'm in a rock band), and it definitely takes its toll on my sticks (I don't exactly tap my drums lightly either). They'll start chipping and then splitting around the middle of the stick, and finally either splinter down the length of the stick, or simply break.

So yeah, rimshots are definitely the biggest stick killer, with my ride bell and crashes coming in second and third respectively.
 
I've been playing the same VF 5bn pair for 8 months now, atleast an hour a day. Still going strong, though they are starting to fray a bit. Improving stick technqiue will improve stick lifespan. If you got money for sticks, then save the ruined ones for the fireplace.
 
One pair for eight months? Wow. I go through about a pair every 1-3 weeks, depending on how much I play and how excited I get :)

I will put a bit of the blame on Vic Firth though, they seem to splinter and crack a lot faster than Vater and Pro-Mark. I think I'll be trying a different brand when I order my next 12-pack.
 
I haven't really started doing rimshots much yet. I got a pair of new beats last week and they seem to be much...sharper(?) on the edges than my old ZBTs. I shredded a pair of sticks already this week (VF 55A), and I've barely played this week. Before that it was mainly from crashing; my sticks would last 2-3 weeks. I lowered my hi hats last night in hopes of reducing stick wear (and to try and find a more comfortable hihat position).
 
Shredding/breaking sticks every week is a good sign that you should consider doing things differently, unless you got money coming out of your ears.

Most of our drum heroes don't break sticks that often, even though most of them get their sticks for free. Playing with proper technique reduces stick wear, yet still lets you be just as loud or even louder.

Just sayin... I used to break them all the time too, but when I focussed on my stick technique from a different perspective stick breakage became a non-issue. Consider checking out JoJo Mayer's video 'Secret Weapons' or Tommy Igoe's videos. You'll break fewer cymbals too.

Watch THIS and look at Gadd's sticks. He has probably 80-100 hours on those sticks.
 
I find the tips wear and change sound long before I've worn the rest of the stick to the point of it breaking, so consequently I have lots of sticks in my "for practice only" pile that look fairly new but have seen plenty of playing time.
 
My sticks have always lasted a long time. In fact, I don't think I've ever really broken a pair, they just get worn to the point that they are weighted differently. I can't really give a time estimate on a single pair though, because I use so many different stick sizes. X5ANs for the metal stuff down to 7AN for jazz and fusion stuff, and then back up to a couple different pairs of marching sticks for the practice pad. If I had to guess, I could play a pair of sticks around 50-100 hours no problem.
 
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