Vater 5b broken x3

keepitgreen

Senior Member
So I haven't broken a stick in ages... Usually I retire my sticks because they get so chewed up after a few months of heavy use... I honestly don't remember the last time I broke a stick... Until last Tuesday.

I had bought two sets of Vater Sugar Maple 5b sticks two weeks ago (never used them before, so they were new to me), and had used the first set for one rehearsal with my band. 3 hours later, everything was great. I really liked the sticks, they felt good, nice and light but still thick and played well.

The next week, I pulled out the same set of sticks, and I think it was the third song of the practice and SNAP! The first stick breaks mid song... I was pretty shocked, because I never break sticks during practice. Anyway, I reached into my bag and pulled out another one (brand new), and continued playing. Two songs later, SNAP! The second stick breaks (the older one)! I was flabbergasted. REALLY? Wow. So I reach into my bag and grab the second new stick. About five songs later, SNAP! The third stick breaks! I'm absolutely floored by this. Within the space of about 45 minutes, I've broken three sticks, one of them brand new, only used for a few songs.

I'm not a particularly hard hitter, even tho we are a hard rock band. I wasn't doing anything different, but I guess these sugar maple sticks just aren't for my style of music?!?

I've included a pic, so you can see what happened... As you can see, the sticks all broke the exact same way, which leads me to believe this might be a flaw of the wood?

Any advice?
 

Attachments

  • 2015-05-20 13.05.17.jpg
    2015-05-20 13.05.17.jpg
    128.1 KB · Views: 331
You manage to get a lot of marks on those sticks in only a few songs. Could it be your hi hat technique that chops them up? Have you changed anything on the hi hat or the throne position lately?
 
Dumb question: You didn't by chance have your stick bag under all your gear in the car with something heavy resting on top of them?

I cannot even imagine what would cause all three to break in exactly the same manner in such a short duration. I'd ping Vater directly and see what they have to say. Maybe a bum run.
 
Unfortunately, I have had durability issues with maple sticks, too. (This was before Vater was even in business, and I don't remember the brand.) I was using BIG maple sticks, like 2Bs, and I loved the way they felt but I broke them like crazy. Finally went back to hickory.
 
I support the notion that this is a maple problem. They really just aren't as durable as hickory sticks are if you're slammin' down rimshots.

I know Vater doesn't make any, but you might like to try oak sticks. I was playing with Vater Power 3As (loved em) but I offhandedly picked up some Vic oak 5Bs the other week and love them. They're harder than hickory (though not as hard as my Titan 5Bs [carbon fiber], which weren't as hard-sounding as nylon-tip sticks) and my pair shows no signs of splitting/fraying like a hickory stick would normally at this point. Much cheaper than the Titans as well.
 
+1 on the hihat. If the angle at which you hit the hat is too far from parallel to the hat your continuously chewing into the stick neck. It also takes a lot of energy if you hit the hats at a more vertical angle, but if you like the sound, what can you do....
 
Everyone that plays maple sticks says they break like crazy, it's a wonder they bother making them.

I use vater hickory and they're always very durable.
 
Thanks so much for the replies!

As I said, I haven't done anything different at all from my usual style of playing, and these were the first Sugar Maple sticks I've ever tried using... At $12 a set, that was a quick $24 blown...

I did send Vater an email on Wednesday, but haven't got any response yet... I'm not really expecting anything, but......

Porter, I'll give those Oak 5bs a try... I've tried oak sticks in the past, but always found them super heavy... I'm a big fan of light but thick sticks. Maybe I'll give the hickory 5bs a try too...
 
Porter, I'll give those Oak 5bs a try... I've tried oak sticks in the past, but always found them super heavy... I'm a big fan of light but thick sticks. Maybe I'll give the hickory 5bs a try too...

Ah, they might not be for you then, they are definitely heavier than Hickory. However, I was used to the tree-stump Power 3As so the Oak 5Bs weren't too much heavier, though much thinner.
 
Thanks so much for the replies!

As I said, I haven't done anything different at all from my usual style of playing, and these were the first Sugar Maple sticks I've ever tried using... At $12 a set, that was a quick $24 blown...

I did send Vater an email on Wednesday, but haven't got any response yet... I'm not really expecting anything, but......

Porter, I'll give those Oak 5bs a try... I've tried oak sticks in the past, but always found them super heavy... I'm a big fan of light but thick sticks. Maybe I'll give the hickory 5bs a try too...

If you like light but thick, could a shorter same diameter hickory stick work for you? Not sure what such type would be called.
 
But the mike johnston sticks from vater in hickory and maple. Play both the same amount and you'll see that the maple ones will break.

Bottom line , drum sticks= hickory
 
Looking at the three sticks pictured, those were not broken in 3 songs. Those sticks are beat to death. Fewer rim shots, hit changes, different wood may help, but those are not faulty sticks by any means.
It looks to me like faulty drumming or technique.
 
Looking at the three sticks pictured, those were not broken in 3 songs. Those sticks are beat to death. Fewer rim shots, hit changes, different wood may help, but those are not faulty sticks by any means.
It looks to me like faulty drumming or technique.


You're right, I may have exaggerated a little there. It was probably more like 5 or six songs... But honestly, all three of them broke during that three hour rehearsal period. From left to right, the first two sticks were used in a previous rehearsal session, and they were the first to break last week. The stick on the right had never been used prior to that session, and it snapped within half an hour (I think) of taking it out of my stick bag.

As I said, I don't remember the last time I broke a stick. For example, I've got a pair of Los Cabos Red Hickory drumsticks on my kit upstairs that I've been using for over a year now, and they're still going strong!

This WAS my first time using maple sticks tho. Likely my last.
 
How thick are your High Hat cymbals and at what height are they in relation to the angle which your stick hits them? Ditto for your crash cymbals. Are they flat and are you constantly hitting your stick shoulders into their edges? I've been using Vater 5A Sugar Maples for about 2 years now, and while I do have some indentations in them, I've yet to break a stick. My High Hat, w/14" Zildjian Custom A Mastersounds isn't that high, maybe 3.5 inches above the snare, and my crash cymbals are angled somewhat towards me and aren't that high either. Occasionally I will hit into the side of a Paiste 18" 2002 Thin Crash, on my right by design on a particular song, but again, other than some indentations, which come from a few rim shots as well, I haven't broken any of these sticks.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top