Vic Firth durability issues?

Revisiting this thread, it could be you are putting the stick through more than it was designed to handle. You don't see people slamming down HD4's.

I think a VF 5A hickory stick is "designed" to handle at least a few hours of poprock practicing. I usually play 8D's which are as thin as a 7A and they usually last me at least two or three months of everyday playing. The problem is with the very pairs of sticks that break prematurely. A year ago I had no issues with VF whatsoever. It seems that VF have gotten a bad bunch of wood, or something like that.

EDIT: I sounded pretty harsch. That's not my intention, I apologize.
 
Very strange as I have found Vic to be the most durable out of every brand I have tried.





Thats not a Vic stick, the tip is not shaped the same as what they use, refer to the OP's pic to see the Vic tips, but it is possible those could be a Nova. BTW if you had problem with Vic's nylon tips they will replace sticks for any and all nylon tip failures, I have only had one tip come off in 20 years and they sent me a new set of sticks even tho the sticks were old and just about worn out.

Sorry but I've never owned a Nova stick. They are definitely Vic Firth and I'm almost positive they were 7A. If I have another pair in my "nylon" tip bag I'll try to post a picture.

Dennis
 
Sorry but I've never owned a Nova stick. They are definitely Vic Firth and I'm almost positive they were 7A. If I have another pair in my "nylon" tip bag I'll try to post a picture.

Dennis

Interesting, I think the tips look like either Novas or Promark/Zildjian. If you could feed us a pic of the whole stick I'd appreciate it.
 
Sorry but I've never owned a Nova stick. They are definitely Vic Firth and I'm almost positive they were 7A. If I have another pair in my "nylon" tip bag I'll try to post a picture.

Dennis

Dont know what to say except they are definately not a real Vic stick, Vic has never used this tip on a real Vic stick, ever, also stick has wrong taper as well.

Yours
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Vic Nova 5bn
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Vic Nova 7an
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Vic Firth 7an, different tip and taper
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Vater has a similar tip but the taper is thinner
lg_vh7an.jpg


Promark 7an , similar tip and taper is closer
TX7AN-bd91e848eaf197bbde361b10097949da.jpg


Regal tip 7an, taper and tip are different
007E-W%207AE.jpg
 
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I'm using some VF Extreme 5AN sticks right now. I've had them for a few months now. Play twice a week for 3 to 4 hours. One stick is just now developing a crack right in the same spot yours are cracked. I've been playing Promark 747 hickory almost exclusively for more years than I can count, but I am impressed with these VF sticks. Mostly I was trying them out for a go to stick when my Pro-Marks aren't available. I buy wood tip too, but just the standard 5A in whatever brand is the cheapest at the time. I tried Zildjian and decided I'll never do that again. Those things wore out quick. Surprisingly quick considering how the other brands stand up to my playing style.
 
Interesting, I think the tips look like either Novas or Promark/Zildjian. If you could feed us a pic of the whole stick I'd appreciate it.

Sorry, this picture was taken more than three years ago to demonstrate something on a different forum and the sticks are long gone. The reason I took the shot was that we were talking primarily in what area sticks break and not the manufacturer of the particular broken sticks, so I did not include the size or logo in the photograph of these Vic Firth sticks. ;)

Dennis
 
Sorry, this picture was taken more than three years ago to demonstrate something on a different forum and the sticks are long gone. The reason I took the shot was that we were talking primarily in what area sticks break and not the manufacturer of the particular broken sticks, so I did not include the size or logo in the photograph of these Vic Firth sticks. ;)

Dennis

Ok, cool! You proved my point ;D
 
Ok, cool! You proved my point ;D

Maybe, but I haven't proven anything to myself as of yet. If I prove myself wrong, then I have no reason to blame Vic Firth for the breakage in the photograph. It's just so indelible in my mind that these were Vic Firth sticks. With further checking my nylon tip assortment, they Might be Pro Mark sticks, probably the "New Generation" model, because of the design of the nylon tips. What I've seen in the sizes of the sticks that I use is that Vic Firths nylon tips are more acorn shaped, where the Pro Marks are much more rounded. I still have to convince myself, then an apology will be issued, lol.

Dennis
 
As promised, I'm posting pictures of the sticks I used more than three years ago before I went all wooden tip. Sorry about the technical quality, these were done in a hurry but do show the differences in the nylon tips actually more so than the exact taper of the sticks. According to the pictures, the sicks that I posted do look very similar to the Pro Mark "New Generation" model primarily going by the contour of the nylon tip. I am still trying to convince myself though.

The top stick is a Zildjian 5B. Years ago I used both the 5B and 5A DIP sticks.

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Dennis
 
Yup I've had these same exact issues with my X5As lately...looks like I'll be switching to Vater as I've heard really good things about them.
 
I have no issues with the Vic's I use - SD10's and SD4's. I generally get many, many months of the the same pair (10-18 hours per week). I toss them when the tips go only. Haven't broken a stick in decades.
 
This stick gave me a good laugh today. It has maybe a month of playing on it, so it's pretty badly worn, but you still never expect a stick to break from the middle and down the grip while you're playing. Gonna buy me some Vaters in the next month or two.
 

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Freakish.

I'd like to see you play.. Because I never broke one and I went through 15-20 pairs.
 
Freakish.

I'd like to see you play.. Because I never broke one and I went through 15-20 pairs.

I guess it's like the Coated Ambassador problem. Some people go through a lot of heads' coatings, while people (like me) never had a problem with the Amb coating. My technique is correct and I'm no "animal", that's for sure. ;) So maybe it's just bad luck, or maybe it's individual, or maybe I'm actually Batman.
 
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I never really used Vic Firth sticks up until I started to try out the Tomas Haake signatures. Bought a few pairs, one of which broke within the first week. The ones where the body held out, the tips are really dwindling. Not too happy. Thinking of trying a few Vater sticks since Promark doesn't make the right sized sticks that I like.
 
This stick gave me a good laugh today. It has maybe a month of playing on it, so it's pretty badly worn, but you still never expect a stick to break from the middle and down the grip while you're playing. Gonna buy me some Vaters in the next month or two.

Funny, the exact same thing happened to me me about a month or two ago. I left a pair of VERY worn down Vic Firth 5a sticks on my snare drum, and my guitarist sat down to bang away for a bit. Within a minute or two of playing, the stick cracked right down the middle from taper to butt end! Nearly identical to your picture.

I wish I could have thought of an appropriate guitarist joke at the time...
 
Funny, the exact same thing happened to me me about a month or two ago. I left a pair of VERY worn down Vic Firth 5a sticks on my snare drum, and my guitarist sat down to bang away for a bit. Within a minute or two of playing, the stick cracked right down the middle from taper to butt end! Nearly identical to your picture.

I wish I could have thought of an appropriate guitarist joke at the time...

Crazy! It must have something to do with the wood. If the stick was appropriate and correctly manufactured it wouldn't split this way, no matter how badly you hit.
 
Crazy! It must have something to do with the wood. If the stick was appropriate and correctly manufactured it wouldn't split this way, no matter how badly you hit.

He also said the stick was worn, not factory fresh.

It has to be just you then, the Vics I bought recently are the best Vics I have ever used.
 
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