Durable stick sugestions. Please help.

Ahead stick by Easton. They have an aluminium center shaft and a hard plastic sleeve on the outside. the plastic dents a little but wont crack and the stick itself wont break. there pricy around 30 buck a pair but they last. the sleeve is replaceable as well as the tip.
 
I want to stay using wood stick as they are the only ones I've found that i like. I think the old Zildjian sticks i have may be oak, Well one stick was Zildjian, the other was a something sighed by the beach boys. Both sticks were insanely tough and fairly heavy. The weight didn't really bother me. I find heavier sticks less tiring when playing heavier music.
 
I use Regal Maple sticks. They seem to very durable and I like the weight and feel. Having said that, I remember that someone on this forum (or another one, I don't remember) mentioned Boso sticks made from compresses bamboo. They sound very interesting but I can't find them here. I would love to try them. Does anyone have any experience with them?
 
Ahead stick by Easton. They have an aluminium center shaft and a hard plastic sleeve on the outside. the plastic dents a little but wont crack and the stick itself wont break. there pricy around 30 buck a pair but they last. the sleeve is replaceable as well as the tip.

In my opinion, these feel so terrible in my hands, and they still broke! I would never use these again, or recommend them... but that's just me. For durablity, I would go with ProMark Shira Kashi Oak sticks in your preferred size.
 
I don't think your issue is faulty sticks. I think your issue is your set up and the way you're playing your cymbals.

As I watch your playing, I see that the crash cymbal on your left is low and angled so that when you crash on it, you're actually doing a couple of things that your sticks clearly hate. First, while you're not a basher, your grip could be a little looser when it comes to crashing your cymbals. Secondly, because of the angle your stick is making with the cymbal, and especially how the cymbal tilt gets extreme after you hit it, you're getting a lot of stick tip on a cymbal your trying to crash. If it was a ride and you were playing it that hard with a stiff grip, the sticks would break the same way, but people don't tend to hit rides as if they were crashes - unless they're trying to crash them, of course, but in that case, they're not using the tip of the stick.

Whenever I see a stick breaking up near the tip on the shoulder, I always think the angle of something, somewhere on the kit is too steep and your snare and toms look fine. I'd seriously think about raising that cymbal up and/or flattening it out a bit. That A Custom on your right is kinda the same thing, but it looks like a crash you're trying to ride on, so that's a little different. But isn't helping matters because when you go to crash it, you're catching a lot of tip on it, too.

I don't think any of my crashes have ever been hit with a stick tip (again, ride cymbal just doesn't get the force a crash cymbal does) and none of my sticks break where yours are breaking.

Funny because I posted earlier today on this very topic. When I was young and breaking my sticks up there like yours, an older drummer identified that I had EVERYTHING too tilted and that was causing my stick woes. I leveled everything out like he said and haven't had that problem since.
 
I don't think your issue is faulty sticks. I think your issue is your set up and the way you're playing your cymbals.

As I watch your playing, I see that the crash cymbal on your left is low and angled so that when you crash on it, you're actually doing a couple of things that your sticks clearly hate. First, while you're not a basher, your grip could be a little looser when it comes to crashing your cymbals. Secondly, because of the angle your stick is making with the cymbal, and especially how the cymbal tilt gets extreme after you hit it, you're getting a lot of stick tip on a cymbal your trying to crash. If it was a ride and you were playing it that hard with a stiff grip, the sticks would break the same way, but people don't tend to hit rides as if they were crashes - unless they're trying to crash them, of course, but in that case, they're not using the tip of the stick.

Whenever I see a stick breaking up near the tip on the shoulder, I always think the angle of something, somewhere on the kit is too steep and your snare and toms look fine. I'd seriously think about raising that cymbal up and/or flattening it out a bit. That A Custom on your right is kinda the same thing, but it looks like a crash you're trying to ride on, so that's a little different. But isn't helping matters because when you go to crash it, you're catching a lot of tip on it, too.

I don't think any of my crashes have ever been hit with a stick tip (again, ride cymbal just doesn't get the force a crash cymbal does) and none of my sticks break where yours are breaking.

Funny because I posted earlier today on this very topic. When I was young and breaking my sticks up there like yours, an older drummer identified that I had EVERYTHING too tilted and that was causing my stick woes. I leveled everything out like he said and haven't had that problem since.


Thanks, the A custom on the left is a 17" fast crash that i am using as a ride until i buy a ride. I used to play with my cymbals flattened out alot more but then i cracked the cymbal on the right up near the bell, once the crack progresses i will end up with a splash haha. I though it was either from the cymbal being 20 years old and being abused at a school for 18 of those years before i got it or from having it flattened out so when i bought my A custom i figured i better tilt them a bit to prevent them from cracking that way again. I will be buying another crash, ride and a china of A customs in a few weeks so i need to decide how to make them last as best as i can, that also involves replacing that cheap nasty stand on the right that is already at it's max height because it is so short.
 
You may want to take a look at your technique, are you playing through the drums and cymbals ? How tightly are you gripping your sticks ? Are you letting the sticks rebound naturally ? I have seen a LOT of younger unschooled drummers just starting out that break a lot of sticks just for this reason.

Put your drums or practice pad near or mirror or use your cell phone to take a short video of you playing with your normal technique. It may just surprise you. Lots of drummers that break a lot of sticks try to play "through " the drum or cymbal rather than pulling the sound out of the drums. They play the cymbals straight on rather than swiping at them. All these are contributing factors to stick breakage.

Take a look at youtube videos of Tommy Igoe, JoJo Mayer for stick technique tips. They also have excellent instructional DVDs out that are well worth viewing.

Gordy Knudtsen has an excellent DVD package on the push pull technique and others. highly recommended.
 
I changed to Silver Fox 1A's about 18 months ago & reduced my breakages by at least 50%. Prior to that, I used VF.

i agree i bought a batch of silverfox 5a sticks on ebay a few years ago and still have like 6 pairs of them. they have some cool coating too.

other than that i always have pro marks laying about. i don't think i've seen them split/crack, they just have loads of dents on them. i never buy vic firth now because i had an awful experience with a batch of 5a (not novas). vater are cool too.
 
You may want to take a look at your technique, are you playing through the drums and cymbals ? How tightly are you gripping your sticks ? Are you letting the sticks rebound naturally ? I have seen a LOT of younger unschooled drummers just starting out that break a lot of sticks just for this reason.

Put your drums or practice pad near or mirror or use your cell phone to take a short video of you playing with your normal technique. It may just surprise you. Lots of drummers that break a lot of sticks try to play "through " the drum or cymbal rather than pulling the sound out of the drums. They play the cymbals straight on rather than swiping at them. All these are contributing factors to stick breakage.

Take a look at youtube videos of Tommy Igoe, JoJo Mayer for stick technique tips. They also have excellent instructional DVDs out that are well worth viewing.

Gordy Knudtsen has an excellent DVD package on the push pull technique and others. highly recommended.

I don't think i swipe my cymbals but i do know that my head last ages, I've got 3 months on the ones on there and apart from the paint being shiny where the sticks hit they still look new. As for cymbals i need to rethink the way i set my kit up because i always feel cramped when hitting the crashes. Fitting drum kits in bedrooms is an art. I will watch those videos on youtube too. I've been considering getting a few lessons just to teach me some techniques and stuff.
 
Ahead stick by Easton. They have an aluminium center shaft and a hard plastic sleeve on the outside. the plastic dents a little but wont crack and the stick itself wont break. there pricy around 30 buck a pair but they last. the sleeve is replaceable as well as the tip.

i would not suggest ahead sticks, you end up having to replace the sleeve, which can really adds up over time. Many complain about cracking cymbals with these, especially if you dont replace the sleeve. For insane durability, go with vater, they last so much longer than vics and promarks.
 
I used to break Vic like crazy. Switched to Vater and they last at least 4 times more (still break because I play rimshot on the snare 99% of thd time )
 
The vater's i bought are already out lasting the Vic's, by now the Vics normally have a crack showing or at least a ton of dents from rim shots. The Vater's still look great.
 
Vaters are reknowned for durability. Heard a writer in a drum magazine say that he endorsed the 7A and it never broke after using it for years.
 
While I don't have any problems with sticks breaking a lot considering that I use Vic Firth MS4's, a good pair to try for a, uh, "normal" sized stick (lol), are the Zildjian Mike Mangini signatures, if you don't mind a little extra weight to your sticks. I used to use them and they were great.
 
While I don't have any problems with sticks breaking a lot considering that I use Vic Firth MS4's, a good pair to try for a, uh, "normal" sized stick (lol), are the Zildjian Mike Mangini signatures, if you don't mind a little extra weight to your sticks. I used to use them and they were great.

I can't tell what the ziljians are because they are so used that everything is pretty much worn off them lol. All i can read is that they are 5A's and the signature Starts with a J then a few letters later it has a N and then the last name starts with a S and ends with a S if that makes sense.
 
I live in Oz too (WA to be exact). Since Oct12 many shops (not all unfortunately) started doing them sticks (ProMark, Vic Firth, Vater) for $12.95 each (for standard models) & $2-3 extra for signature models. Obviously to get us to buy from shop & not online.
Still remember the days of $24.95 per pair!!!!!!
 
I live in Oz too (WA to be exact). Since Oct12 many shops (not all unfortunately) started doing them sticks (ProMark, Vic Firth, Vater) for $12.95 each (for standard models) & $2-3 extra for signature models. Obviously to get us to buy from shop & not online.
Still remember the days of $24.95 per pair!!!!!!

I guess Tasmania is a bit slow to catch on, here sticks vary on price depending on size. Vic Firth 7AN $16.50 5B $19.50, Zildjian 5A $17.50 etc. I've decided once my Vater 5B's die I'm going to try some Pro Mark oak 7AN sticks. I really don't like 5B sticks, thought i'd give them a go but they feel like you will put a hole through your heads they're so big! I love 7AN sticks tho, they are great!
 
I have settled on Vic Firth,. 5B's if I need to be loud (keeping up with bigger guitar amps) or, if we break out the 5 watt tube amp, I will use AJ1's. I use to chew through the sticks on the high hats (I would be covered in wood chips by the end of practice :p) but a little change in technique fixed that and my sticks now last ages. I actually end up with little bits of the tip breaking off before I actually break the stick anymore.

I actually tried the pro-mark japanese white oaks and split one in two weeks, right along the grain.

Btw, when I say ages, I buy a pair a year or so now. Though I at this point I am only playing 4 hours a week or so at band practice (on real drums, e-drums at home).
 
Back
Top