Breaking sticks

Carbon Fibre sticks do the trick, I must say.

Carbosticks to be precise, strong as, to strong.
IMO nothing has the same feel as wood.get the finest grain & straightest wood drumsticks regardless of brand and they should last a long time you just have to pick thru them.

Bonzolead
 
In my experience what will break a stick;

Hats not settling properly, causing a lip which wears the stick down over (a long!) time, coupled with hard hitting will eventually break the stick

Playing like an idiot and hitting the rims, rather than the drum head, hard

Using cheap nasty light sticks, and playing like an idiot

Id consider my self a hard hitter yet have only broken 4 or 5 sticks in my three years of playing seriously. I know other local drummers who break sticks every week! In my experience its all down to technique, and lack off. Sorry if this offends but it winds me up when I see drummers battering the hell out of their drums - they achieve no greater volume and, in my opinion, only demonstrate a lack of understanding of how a drum works.
 
I have to agree with Chris, I rarely replace my sticks, and it annoys me to see people breaking sticks, heads, and maybe even cymbals because of poor technique. Not only that, they injure themselves too.
 
I have never broken a stick but its true that if you have really bad technique then you will be more likely to brake your sticks. I use vic firth 5A ROCK and some times 2B and one pair of my 5A have last me like 5 months. For me i think vic's are the best but thats me.
 
well i broke a pair of Regal Tip sticks over the summer. my dad also bought me a pair of sticks from this company named Century when he went to the Philippines. they were 5A nylon tip but the tips were quite weak and really big. well i broke both sticks the first one had the tip fly off it and the second one had a nice clean cut down the middle. and just yesterday i broke one of my Steve Gadd Signature Sticks in the exact same form :(
 
I've started using Vic Firth Extreme 5AN's and I really like the longer stick length because I play with a more open kit. Just one question. For some reason, when I've been playing on these sticks lately, they don't break where the shaft starts to taper like sticks usually do, they break over the logo of the stick. It's really weird. I do rim shots sometimes on my snare drum so I thought it was that, but it happens to my other stick to. And this has never happened to me before. I usually break sticks rarely. Is it the type of stick? My technique?...
 
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I've started using Vic Firth Extreme 5AN's and I really like the longer stick length because I play with a more open kit. Just one question. For some reason, when I've been playing on these sticks lately, they don't break where the shaft starts to taper like sticks usually do, they break over the logo of the stick. It's really weird. I do rim shots sometimes on my snare drum so I thought it was that, but it happens to my other stick to. And this has never happened to me before. I usually break sticks rarely. Is it the type of stick? My technique?...



It could also be a problem with a batch of VF sticks?
 
well i just broke every stick in my bag becaue i bought them all at once and they were about 2 years old so now i have to spend like $40 to restock my bag
 
I have been playing drums for about 3 years now and i have broken only a couple of pairs of sticks, everyone else i know breaks about a pair a month. i normally wear out the wooden tips until they are non-existant before they will break.
 
the day after I saw Mike Terrana's video "DOUBLE BASS MECHANICS"
in which he talked about how he learned to swipe cymbals etc... which makes em even louder than forceing the cymbal into the post with a direct hit, Keeping that advice helped me to all but stop breaking sticks alltogether because the video also talked about pullintg the sound up and out of the drum rather than forcing power down into it.
whipping off the top of the head via the grip allowing the rebound in controlled motion.
Just work on glancing and whipping more than crushing and you will find LOUDER "cymbal ability" for lack of a better word and clearer strokes on the toms and snare if you try it enough.
working on the basics more, helped me as well.
The best drummers I have seen play rarely break sticks at all in my opinion
 
The last stick I broke was a Vic Firth Rock and it lasted me three 2-hour rehearsals and a gig. It's all due to heavy rimshots, sticks used to last me up to a year or more before I started hitting rimshots. When you have to be heard through amps with no PA help of your own, something's got to break.
 
i have used several different types of sticks, from loads of makers, i've been playing for about 4 years oan and off due to injuries, and have broken 3 pairs of sticks...

i've recently started using Vic Firth 5a's.. a good stick for me...my old pro-mark ones were pretty good too
 
Well I was looking up some tricks to do and I saw on youtube of a guy throwing his sticks at the ground and catching them as they shot back up. And as they say "monkey see monkey do" and...well



destinsbattle
 
Here is the formula for stick breaking.

Poor Technique+Hitting Like There Is No Tomorrow =Sticks breaking a lot

I have been playing drums for almost 2 years now and I have broken 2 sticks only because they were shredded by my teacher's Sabian Paragon hi-hats wich are EXTREMELY thin.
Position your cymbals slightly tilted down so when the shoulder of the stick hits your crash it will leave a minor mark or none at all. With good technique you'll save money on heads and sticks. Don't even get me started on breaking heads haha
 
Please dont try to tell me I have poor technique, because I know better, but the honest truth is I go through drumsticks quite often. Yes, I play rock and metal as you may have guessed. But ya know, I play my cymbals in such a way to reduce shock to the cymbal and due to this it sort of gives the stick more of the shock, but its pretty simple. Stick begins to shave a some, then its shaved a lot, and eventually it just breaks from being very very thin. But when it comes to just literaly snapping a good stick...now that IS due to poor technique. Peace
D.
 
I've started using Vic Firth Extreme 5AN's and I really like the longer stick length because I play with a more open kit. Just one question. For some reason, when I've been playing on these sticks lately, they don't break where the shaft starts to taper like sticks usually do, they break over the logo of the stick. It's really weird. I do rim shots sometimes on my snare drum so I thought it was that, but it happens to my other stick to. And this has never happened to me before. I usually break sticks rarely. Is it the type of stick? My technique?...

Hey drummerbobby,
If your breaking sticks around the logo (mid shaft) of the stick, this means that you are hitting WAY too hard, i guess thats all there is too say, so work on pulling the sound out of the drum rather then smashing it into it. Peace man
D.
 
i have only broke one stick, it was a Zildian 5b nylon dip and i was very intoxicated.

pro-mark 747 can withstand anything i can throw at them and the vic firth Buddy Rich sig seems to be built well for heavy hitting.
 
i use Vic Firth 5a wood tip sticks. my first one broke were the stick starts to tapper to the tip, is this good? also my other stick hasnt broke but the tip of the stick is no longer round. its a square, so should i junk this stick? the drum shop recomended using oak sticks so i have a pair of Pro mark 5a oak. my left stick keeps breaking at the middle (i have my snare set so i hit rim shots 100% of the time.) but my right hand stick like said either breaks at the taper point or the tip just goes to crap. any help would be great.
 
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