When Drumsticks Break

nocTurnal

Senior Member
Just out of curiosity, do you guys test your drumsticks before purchasing? The drum salesman in Guitar Center said to roll them on a counter and he showed me how when one wobbles to not buy it. He also demonstrated to hold them up together to make sure their isn't any space between them up to a certain point on the stick.

My Vic Firth 7A snapped today at the bottom leading up towards shaft. Replaced tonight with same pair. Will have to get in one of those multi-stick deals.
 
Prestigious Percussion is making the greatest sticks I've had the pleasure of playing. Ironwood and Purple heartwood. King kong would take a while to break one. They just feel unreal and get pure sounds from everything they encounter. They even look great.
 
For me I always buy no name brand sticks in the bulk. I can get a huge bag of sticks for 20 bucks, or 1 pair of zildjians for 20 bucks im gonna go with the quantity. I used to use 7as and a pair would always break on me within 3 weeks. Ever since I switched to 5as my sticks have been through war and haven't broke yet
 
For me I always buy no name brand sticks in the bulk. I can get a huge bag of sticks for 20 bucks, or 1 pair of zildjians for 20 bucks im gonna go with the quantity. I used to use 7as and a pair would always break on me within 3 weeks. Ever since I switched to 5as my sticks have been through war and haven't broke yet

Every 3 weeks, wow. You must be a hard hitter. Some of you aren't going to believe this, but my pair before these were Sound Percussion 7As and they lasted me 8 years. Only reason I bought new ones is because I forgot them at my drum lesson. When I returned to next lesson and asked my teacher for them he told me his dog ate them and threw them out. LOL. Apparently, he was able resurrect them, though... and will be giving them back to me next lesson. He didn't know they were mine. The heads are so worn down, though... that I might just throw them out. Or maybe keep them now for sentimental reasons, but not play them.
 
I buy bricks of sticks (12 pairs) to save money, so I'm unable to test sticks before I buy. This means I will get some bad ones from time to time, but I break sticks fairly regularly (I'm a certified rock & roll meathead), so even if I do get a bad stick I'm not going to be stuck with it for long :)
 
Every 3 weeks, wow. You must be a hard hitter. Some of you aren't going to believe this, but my pair before these were Sound Percussion 7As and they lasted me 8 years.

Noc, I'm not sure you have to be that hard a hitter by rock standards to break 7As. When I was playing rock I always used 5As ... whenever I used 7As they felt a bit fragile, and I'm sure I wasn't hitting as hard as some of you brawny lads.

These days I use Zildjian Bill Stewart signature 7As and I don't need to test them because the CQ seems pretty good. I only have to replace them when the wood tip softens enough to lose its zing on the ride.
 
I think this would've applied more in the "older" days when sticks weren't rigorously tested, weighed, rolled, and even pitch tested by computers. With that said, I'll occassionally get a bad stick. As long as I can get stick head to drum head I'm not all that picky about my sticks unless they're a complete boomerang.
 
I find even when my sticks do not break, they get worn down by the hats and cymbals within 6 months or so. I don't understand how a person can use the same pair of sticks for 8 years!!! Thats wild!!!! Sometimes even when my sticks are still good, i like to change them to a different model. make the change from 5As to 5Bs or whatever.I started out not really caring about the wieght and length of a stick (but who does when they are new to the world of drumming), but a few years ago ( mabe 3 or 4) i decided i would like to use really light sticks made by Headhunters. After a couple years of useing those, i started getting heavier Headhunters. Maybe a year ago now, I bought my first Pair of Vic Firths, and decided that 5Bs were for me!!! I am still experimenting with the regular 5Bs, the Kinetic force 5Bs, and the Vic Grip X5Bs, which are slightly longer. they all feel great, so im kinda using them all right now.
 
Also, for the record, i have only broken one stick while playing, and it was practice (thank god). And by break i mean snap completely. I was hitting the ride at the time, so i was surprised, cuz i dont hit the ride very hard!!!
 
I don't break sticks much anymore, one maybe every other month or so. But that's also because I am playing Ahead sticks. There really is no need to check them before buying, because they are all the same every time. When I used wood sticks I would always roll them first and check the butt-end. The more lines on the butt-end of a stick the lighter it is. I try to pick out the heavy ones. Also, if one stick is warped in a pair, set the whole pair aside, don't just take the good one. Sticks are matched at the factory, and you are messing up the weights if you just take the bad ones out, you need to go through them and find a matched pair that is good.
 
I hardly ever break sticks even though I play mostly 7A and 5 A. Most of the time the shoulders of the sticks get a bit ratty because of rim shots. I still check every pair using the roll test and I do periodically find warped sticks from practically every manufacturer, just not as much of a problem as it was 30 or 40 years ago.

Dennis.
 
I've played a few brands, and I've consistently found that Vic Firth won't let me down. I never roll test them though, that seems like something we used to do when we were high schoolers, but have long since felt any need.
 
Just to clarify something, even before the sticks break that does not mean they are still fit to use. After a while the head of the stick begins to chip and at that point the stick is not good for drum heads. So those of you who have used sticks for 5 years or more may want to check on them.
 
Just to clarify something, even before the sticks break that does not mean they are still fit to use. After a while the head of the stick begins to chip and at that point the stick is not good for drum heads. So those of you who have used sticks for 5 years or more may want to check on them.

Oh... my... god. I never even thought of that. Yikes. Luckily I never bought any special drum heads for this set. Still same drum heads that came with it. It's a Yamaha Manu Katche Hipgig Jr kit. Will have to take a close look at the heads. Most of the time I use mute pads, though.
 
Just to clarify something, even before the sticks break that does not mean they are still fit to use. After a while the head of the stick begins to chip and at that point the stick is not good for drum heads. So those of you who have used sticks for 5 years or more may want to check on them.

Sticks also tend to get worn out and lose their "bounce", so to speak. After a while, they just don't feel as good anymore even if there's almost no visible wear on them.
 
I use Vic Firth Steve Gadd sig's. I also still roll them and bounce them off my head to check for tonality match. I guess it just carried over from the marching days. Works for me, though. I've got a little over a year going on my current pair of Gadds, although, 30 min once a week @ church with one or two outdoor festivals thrown in doesn't exactly count as hard use.

That'll change tonight after I pick up my new Pearls and take them home. Bet I'll still get at least a few months out of a pair, though. IMHO, if you're breaking sticks very often, you have either the wrong stick or the wrong technique.
 
IMHO, if you're breaking sticks very often, you have either the wrong stick or the wrong technique.

I disagree. It probably means you're hitting hard, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're hitting too hard, or doing anything wrong. Wood sticks aren't meant to last forever, and different playing styles will get different mileage from sticks. Most professional drummers (at least in the rock genre) break sticks fairly regularly, even players with great technique.
 
I have no consistent preference other than to use wood tips and 7A's... I break a couple a month over 8 or so gigs. I tried using the "anti-vibe" sticks, but my hands sweat so much that the integrity of the wood around the rubber breaks down and actually begins splitting up the shaft.

I play on the rim of the snare a ton, so I just accept that my sticks are gonna break.

I definitely do the "roll" test on every pair I buy. Most of the name-brands are fairly straight these days. It's odd how different the weight of individual sticks varies in the generic sticks (but I use those too).
 
I use Vater 5b's and they are super durable. I don't think I've ever broken a stick, but I do wear them down considerably in the shoulder neck area where they become fragile, so I end up tossing it out before it breaks..should I continue playing it the stick would def. break, but at that point there really is no life in the stick anyway..

When I'm gigging regulary, and by regular I mean at least 3 times out of the month, I'll go through a pair of sticks in one gig. I play in a Top 40 Classic Rock band, so I'm hitting pretty hard most of the night, my bandmates love a loud solid back beat, so I'm rim-shotting (totally just made up that word!) all night!! So, here's how it goes down - one week will be a brand new set of 5b's, by the third set (we do 3 1.5 hr. sets) the sticks are worn in the shoulder/taper area..by the next gig the following week, (by the middle of the 1st set or after 2 or 3 songs) the sticks from the previous weeks gig are literally toothpicks and out they go..So that's my rotation if you will.

Things to consider are the frequency you're hitting rim shots and if you have a tilt in your hi-hat bottom, which means the top hi-hat and bottom hat are over lapping, which will shave your sticks considerably...all par for the course!

However, and this is a crazy realization, while I was unemployed and practicing for 3-4 hours, 4 days a week, my sticks didn't get worn too much and I could use the same pair for months, if they were Vater that is, I used to play Vic Firth but man, the tips would chip or fly off altogether after just 20--30 minutes of practicing (I digress). But at a gig, playing the songs I was learning, they'd would just get chewed up! I reckon when playing live you have to factor in adrenalin, excitement, if you're not mic'ed you'll be hitting harder, I never really lay into the snare as hard as I do live when practicing, yadda yadda yadda...

So I guess for me the life of a stick depends on practice vs. playing live...
 
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