stasz
Platinum Member
A little while back we had a thread about strengthening wooden stick tips to keep them from chipping. One solution that made sense to me was coating the tips with nail polish, so I tried it out. I took several pairs of sticks I was using and coated their tips with nail polish. I wasn't very scientific or anything, no "control" non-coated stick or anything but I've been very pleased with the results.
I got these sticks earlier this year and coated them when I bought them, two coats of polish. The pair of sticks with the blue tips are still being used and are in pretty good condition. At this point I would have expected some chips in the tips but there are 0. The tips are as smooth as when I bought them. Like everyone says I'm not a very hard hitter most of the time, but that's not to say I don't give these sticks a beating. The lone stick shown was bought a little earlier and has seen more use and has finally snapped (I think from playing a lot of rimshots) but there are also 0 chips in this tip. I've never before snapped a stick that didn't have any chips in the tip. Sometimes I even retire sticks before they snap simply because the tips are too chipped to sound good.
Now everyone is a little different and you may not find the same results with different sticks, playing styles, cymbals, drumheads or hair color, but in my experience, coating wooden stick tips with nail polish is a great idea. Now every pair I pick up gets the salon treatment.
P.S. I also have not had any problems with the coating affecting my drum kit i.e. marks, gumming up cymbals etc.
I got these sticks earlier this year and coated them when I bought them, two coats of polish. The pair of sticks with the blue tips are still being used and are in pretty good condition. At this point I would have expected some chips in the tips but there are 0. The tips are as smooth as when I bought them. Like everyone says I'm not a very hard hitter most of the time, but that's not to say I don't give these sticks a beating. The lone stick shown was bought a little earlier and has seen more use and has finally snapped (I think from playing a lot of rimshots) but there are also 0 chips in this tip. I've never before snapped a stick that didn't have any chips in the tip. Sometimes I even retire sticks before they snap simply because the tips are too chipped to sound good.
Now everyone is a little different and you may not find the same results with different sticks, playing styles, cymbals, drumheads or hair color, but in my experience, coating wooden stick tips with nail polish is a great idea. Now every pair I pick up gets the salon treatment.
P.S. I also have not had any problems with the coating affecting my drum kit i.e. marks, gumming up cymbals etc.