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Sticks breaking


Guest E.C

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Anyone any idea how I can improve the length of life of my drumsticks?!

I hit pretty hard and I rim-shot almost every time I hit the snare because...that's just how i play drums. As you can imagine, this is destroying alll my sticks.

Have tried various different brands to try and find the "strongest" one, but to no real avail. Used to use Ahead sticks, but they get messed up if you use them for rimshots. Has anyone used those Carbosticks?

I also use an S-Hoop as one of their "pros" is that their shape helps diminish stick damage.

Responses such as "don't rim shot" or "don't hit so hard" will be BLOCKED, IGNORED AND REMOVED FROM MY LIFE.

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How long would a pair of regular wooden (say 5B) sticks last you?

You may hate it, but it sounds to me like it's an issue with your technique. It should still be possible to hit fucking hard and rimshot all day without breaking your sticks, but you also can't expect them to last forever.

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I use the Vic Firth Extreme 5A purely because they're a little longer.

Sticks can last me anywhere between one 2-hour practise and a 3-4 weeks. (depends on frequency of use, obviously). They just fray in the middle more and more until they are weak enough that mild use will break them. Maybe i'll start wrapping tape round the middles.

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what about carbon sticks? our drummer swore by them

Yeah, that's what I've been thinking. Just worried they might bend?? Or warp or whatever they would do under the circumstances.

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Vic Firths should last more than 2 hours. If they're fraying, are you sure it's not hitting cymbals that's doing it? Might be the way you're hitting them, maybe too hard, maybe at the wrong angle. If you have your cymbals set up right on your kit and you're hitting them the right way, you really don't have to hit them hard to get a good sound. You can then play faster, for longer and waste less energy.

Or are you chewing them between songs?

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I've cracked almost every cymbal I've owned...I worry that I do hit too hard, but I'm just doing what's natural for me. I play how I play because that's whats comfortable.

No it's like...they dent where I would rimshot them, then just get more dented until there's a chunk out of the middle, then they just get weaker and break. It doesnt happen with my right hand stick which is on the hi-hats/ride so it's purely a snare thing. Maybe I'll just have to accept my fate after 12 years of playing that I've got shit technique.

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It sounds like it is your technique. I had a big problem with broken sticks and blistering so went to a tutor that worked at Captain Tom's to see if he could advise on grip and set up. He watched me play and pointed out some flaws that were likely to be causing the problems. With the sticks it was the angle I was attacking the cymbals at (almost vertical stick occasionally striking the edge of the cymbal)

This was about 5 years ago. I can't remember his name and don't know if he still works there but someone like this may be able to help. If you consider how much you're spending on new sticks then a session with a tutor won't seem that expensive...

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This was about 5 years ago. I can't remember his name and don't know if he still works there but someone like this may be able to help. If you consider how much you're spending on new sticks then a session with a tutor won't seem that expensive...

Yeah, especially if Vic Firth keep jacking their prices up.

Was it Archer Kemp by any chance?! Solid lad.

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i used to have the exact same problem, sticks would rarely last a gig for me, i tried those carbon sticks and broke one during the first song i played with them so i never touched them again, it will definately be a technique thing, i have since had a few pointers and dont break sticks at all, and i still hit quite hard, prob too hard. Have a look at how your holding them and especially how you hit the cymbols, they cause a lot of damage if not hit properly. Have you also tried adjusting the grandient of your snare drum, i used to play with it tilted forward so the near rim was high but again i was going through too many sticks so i now tilt it the other way and can still get a good rim shot without causing as much stick damage.

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Baseball bats. That is all.

Out of curiosity do you like rim shotting every stroke? ( OOOO-EEER! ), or have just settled because that's how you naturally began to play and just continued as thus?

I used to have the exact problem because I'd thrash the hell out of my right hand (main) heavy crash which would cause serious wearing of my sticks. So I upgraded and now play between my pair of Jason Bonham signature sticks and Pro Mark sticks, both are 2B if I'm not being retarded but it was a while ago I bought them and have yet to replace them. Still a good few gigs and maybe 10 or so practises left in them.

Unless you're a 20 stone+ battering ram you really shouldn't be going through that amount of sticks

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Out of curiosity do you like rim shotting every stroke? ( OOOO-EEER! ), or have just settled because that's how you naturally began to play and just continued as thus?

I don't consciously decide that I'm going to rimshot every hit, but I always have my snare completely flat and i just place the stick across the snare that way.

When I was recording last year, the producer tilted my snare right toward me, to stop me rim-shotting every hit, and it felt so uncomfortable hitting just the snare head and nothing else.

Perhaps I'm mental...

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The drummer I used to play with broke sticks a lot, cracked cymbals and rim shot every snare hit. Technique is the key. You can hit hard and not break sticks. If your sticks are fraying in the middle, I'd look at the angles of your cymbals as well. Lean them in a little bit more towards you, don't smash the edges of the cymbals... stroke across them (this thread is filthy) and you'll likely get a bit more stick life.

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If hitting the rim is causing them to split and fray in the middle of the stick you could try switching them for oak sticks instead of hickory, my mate swears by pro mark oak 747's. But it might be coming from cymbal work or moving round the toms so I agree with the others and get someone to check your technique out, I used to be exactly the same.

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I used a pair of the carbon sticks and swear by them - really light and solid as fuck.

There's a flimsy plastic type coating around them which you'll probably chew through but other than that they won't bend, they'll fracture before they bend and you'll burst a skin before you fracture them.

xx

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I've found that I'm breaking sticks really easily now, but I reckon the quality of Vic Firths has gone down as their price has gone up. I inherited a bunch of Vater 5As recently, and although I went through them pretty quickly, I think they are slightly more durable than Vic Firths these days. I'm also a hard hitter and I probably rim shot more than I should, so sticks just seem to disintegrate in my hands. You should maybe go up a couple of sizes? As for other types: Aheads are absolutely ghastly to use and the only time I used carbon sticks they broke in a couple of hours...

7As are just silly BTW.

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5as nylon tips FTW. Seems like you are really drumming with your whole arm, and not letting your wrist do enough of the work (chortle). I used to break a ton of sticks and cymbals, but actually hit the drums harder now and break fewer of both. I just stopped absolutely clattering them with my whole arm, and instead found more power and snap in letting the wrist and forearm do the work (double chortle).

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