Vater Sugar Maple Drum Sticks

BumSkillet

Junior Member
I just wanted to ask a few questions about the Vater sugar maples sticks. I was considering buying them to get faster hands on the drums, but a main concern I have is them breaking. Chad Szeglia uses Vic Firth SD10's and I like his idea of having a stick that is light and kind of thick to resist breaking easily, but does this actually work? Any information on the sugar maples would be great. Just in case you were wondering, I do play rock and stuff so I might be hitting pretty hard. :)
 
As much as I like the feel of maple sticks, I break them too easily. Even thick ones. Hickory wood is stringier and doesn't snap like maple. When maple snaps it's usually a very clean break and you're left with a pretty sharp remnant of a stick. Not durable enough, and I don't really hit overly hard, but I do a lot of rimshots.
 
I have tried the vater sugar maple SD9 and the vic firth version, and although I expected them to be essentially the same, the vater felt 'wrong', I couldn't even start to try and explain what was wrong about it. The moral of my story is, you may have to try different brands before you find the maple stick for you.
 
I play SD9s and I have some from Vic Firth, Pro Mark and Vater.

All three brands feel very different, in spite of the actual specs being the same. The Vic Firth sticks feel very heavy for maple, while the Pro Mark sticks are light as a feather, and the Vater sticks in between the two extremes.

I really like the feel of a large stick that isn't too heavy, but maple just isn't going to be as durable as hickory, no doubt. That said, I'm not much of a stick breaker and it takes me forever to wear out a pair of sticks, maple or not. My issue is that the tips go dead and I hear a change in cymbal sound faster with maple sticks because the wood is softer in general.

Most of my own stick wear is in the rim shot area, and if you're a heavy player I would imagine that's the place they'd be most likely to fail. If you're curious I'd get a pair or two to try out so you can see for yourself. Personally, since really getting into maple sticks a few years ago I'll never go back to hickory.
 
Jason Bonham uses a larger maple stick as it allows him to get the size that he wants without the extra weight. I use a larger maple stick for the pipe band I drum with. It has some nice heft but it's light.

Only downside I could think of would be the cost. Maple sticks tend to be a little more expensive and I'm a tightwad so it poses a conundrum for me.
 
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