Regal Tip Having Production Issues and delayed order fulfillment

V

vyacheslav

Senior Member
I remember this being brought up a little while ago.

I got this message from Drums On Sale (see attached).

I hope this isn't the beginning of the end of Regal Tip. I really like their sticks.
 

Attachments

gdmoore28

gdmoore28

Gold Member
Regal Tips have been my favorite sticks since the early '70s, but I haven't used them in years because I never see them for sale. I miss those glossy lacquered finishes.

GeeDeeEmm
 
drumnut87

drumnut87

Well-known member
sounds like they're struggling like a few companies are. one of my old favourites, silverfox sticks, have folded so thats a bit sad (TBH the guy who bought them from grover was in over his head, and he was very lacksical with correspondence and had virtually no social media presence for him or his company), but hopefully regal tip will pull through.
 
brady

brady

Platinum Member
I was actually going to start a thread asking this! Are they going out of business?

I've been looking for my sticks for a while and no one seems to have them. First the E-tip was hard (if not impossible) to find, then the nylon tips, now just regular wood tip sticks are out of stock everywhere I've looked.

It certainly doesn't look good...
 
Supraman5x14

Supraman5x14

Member
Hopefully, the company will be sold to a competent new owner. In my own business experience with intergenerational businesses, many times, not all, by the time you get down to the third generation, the drive and hunger for success just isn't there. I stopped buying Regal Tip in July 1993 after writing Joe Calato, Jr regarding the lack of quality control at the time. He wrote back and said the lathing knives had gotten out of tolerance due to wear. His tone in the letter, while assuring me that this would be corrected, seemed to convey a feeling that he was offended by my constructive criticism. The 5B had ballooned to nearly a 2B in diameter at a time when they had recently created a signature line, to which I suggested the company might want to focus more on quality controlof core models, than creating signature models. In the nearly 27 years since, the quality has been up and down, thus I moved on. I suspect they need an infusion of cash investment from the outside to update and expand tooling. Perhaps a move to centerless grinding like Vic Firth, Zildjian, and Pro Mark would help, but that takes time, talent and capital. All of which imagine are in short supply at JD Calato Mfg. at this point.
 
M

Mcdonap

Member
This is disappointing to read. I feel like I've tried every stick out there from just about every brand, and I always come back to Regal Tip. The finish is just perfect for my hands, but the feel of the sticks just work for me too. I started back in the 1970's, and the 5A'a were my stick forever.
I've had decent luck with some other sticks - the Zildjian Dennis Chambers being a standout. (Also the Steve Gadd - the black paint seems to work in some way like the Regal Tip lacquer, the VF Keith Carlock, the VF Doubleglazes are ok, ...)

One thing I read on another forum that seems pretty good is to use BullsEye shellac. A couple coats on a stick feels better than nothing, but not as good as the Regal Tip finish. I bought a supply of the natural Steve Gadd sticks when they were released - I was so happy to not have the black paint! However, I realized after a few weeks that the paint actually made the sticks feel better in my hands. At least it's an option, and it does make the natural stick feel better..

Maybe this is all in my head, but I believe the RT nylon tips sound better and are more robust than other nylon tips. From growing up with the RT 5A nylon tips, I just figured I preferred nylon tips in general. Not so with other brands. Also, I've had nylon tips break apart on VF and ProMark sticks, and I'm not a hard hitter. (I mean, I can but I don't.) I've never cracked or broken a nylon tip on a Regal Tip. Also, somehow the RT's sound great on a cymbal to my ears. For any other nylon tip, I actually prefer the wood tipped version. (e.g. the Zildjian Dennis Chambers.) I may opt for the nylon tip for durability, but not sound.,

I just hope that Regal Tip gets it together and is able to survive. On a personal level, I'd hate to lose them as my favorite stick, but I'd hate to see them go out of business for all the employees and the history of RT.
 
Trip McNealy

Trip McNealy

Gold Member
Such a shame, I also hope they can recover somehow. Just my luck in life, all the perfect stick manufacturers are going by the wayside! Growing up I loved Capella sticks which eventually closed shop... and now Regal seems like it's following that road. I love the 5A-E series and can't find them in stock anywhere. I've been using VF 5B DoubleGlaze as replacements which seem to be fine for my hands.
 
cdrums21

cdrums21

Gold Member
Bummer, I like their 5B and 2B models and the finish. I have been using Vater sticks in the interim and I bought a can of spray-on acrylic coating made by "Tree House" from Hobby Lobby to spray on the bottom half of the stick, which is great. As my hands warm up, the acrylic coating gets "grippier", not tacky, just easy to grip. It works great, just a bit of a hassle, but worth it.
 
mkelley

mkelley

Member
I purchased two pairs of 5AXs and four 8As last month and they were solid and straight and have lasted a couple of sessions and practices. Still feel great to me.
 
Living Dead Drummer

Living Dead Drummer

Platinum Member
Hey all,
I'm a longtime Regal Tip Artists, and in fact was the companies Artist Relations Manager in the mid-2000's. While I don't have ALL the inside info, I do have some and would like to share what I know.
A few months back the factory went through some regular machine maintenance. Rather than take down one or two machines at a time to re-tool them it sounds like they did them all at once. This caused just about every stick model to eventually hit a backorder. That's why everyone online is out of stock. They skipped the NAMM show in January (first time in like 60 years) to focus on getting all the machines back up as quickly as possible.

Due to the restrictions being put in place on all non-essential businesses right now they factory is closed for manufacturing. I spoke with Carol Calato via Email just over a week ago. She said they were at first running with 50% staff, then down to 25% and at the time of the Email she sent me I was informed that they would be closing entirely by order of the state.

I don't know if they got all the machines back up and running before the State ordered "safer at home" ordinance in NY, but it sounded like they did, as a few other RT Artists informed me they were able to get their stick orders in. Hopefully this means once the ordinance is lifted in the state they will be back up and running as normal.

So the lack of product is really just bad timing. They shut down machines for re-tooling, and then once they get them back up, the government shuts them down due to Corona Virus.
 
drumnut87

drumnut87

Well-known member
Living Dead Drummer said:
Hey all,
I'm a longtime Regal Tip Artists, and in fact was the companies Artist Relations Manager in the mid-2000's. While I don't have ALL the inside info, I do have some and would like to share what I know.
A few months back the factory went through some regular machine maintenance. Rather than take down one or two machines at a time to re-tool them it sounds like they did them all at once. This caused just about every stick model to eventually hit a backorder. That's why everyone online is out of stock. They skipped the NAMM show in January (first time in like 60 years) to focus on getting all the machines back up as quickly as possible.

Due to the restrictions being put in place on all non-essential businesses right now they factory is closed for manufacturing. I spoke with Carol Calato via Email just over a week ago. She said they were at first running with 50% staff, then down to 25% and at the time of the Email she sent me I was informed that they would be closing entirely by order of the state.

I don't know if they got all the machines back up and running before the State ordered "safer at home" ordinance in NY, but it sounded like they did, as a few other RT Artists informed me they were able to get their stick orders in. Hopefully this means once the ordinance is lifted in the state they will be back up and running as normal.

So the lack of product is really just bad timing. They shut down machines for re-tooling, and then once they get them back up, the government shuts them down due to Corona Virus.
Click to expand...
well poop, at least they havent gone bust (and hopefully dont!) guess they jsut gotta ride out the storm like everyone else till the coronavirus pandemic eases off.
 
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