My favorite sticks

Vic Firth 5B's, recently switched to those after using 5A's for a long time. I have big hands and the bigger stick feels better to me, easier to control. For low-volume situations, like cafes and such, I like the sugar maple Vater Recording sticks.
 
I am a long time Regal Tip fan mainly due to the lacquer finish . I have dry hands , they just don’t sweat and I find Regal Tip’s finish feels best for me . I have used so many different models from so many different manufacturers and I always seem to go back the Regal Tip 8a maple . I can do all my gigs with this stick . It feels good in my hand , cymbals sound nice with this stick .
I do keep straying from the Regal Tip 8a as Regal Tip has been making some bad choices in their business activities and it seems to me that their Company longevity may be short lived . I hope I am wrong but my guy says I am not . Now if Vic Firth made the Peter Erskine Big Band stick in double glaze , that would be my stick . I have never played a stick where cymbals sounded as nice and the stick just plays itself and was so versatile .

Like sticks , I have owned dozens of brush models over the years and my two favourite models are both by Regal Tip - The Ed Thigpen and The Clayton Cameron . Both are fantastic models .
 
First favorite stick was Regal Tip Jake Hanna, then went to 5a xt, now doing Elvin Jones for band and gigs, and 5a xt for practice, still use marching sticks on the pads.
 
I also float between Vic Firth 3a's, and Pro Mark PWP808 Shakira Kashi Oak sticks. And the float is usually caused by what I want to hear on the ride cymbal. The Pro Marks really make the ride cymbal speak, but are a tad lighter in my hands. The Vic's feel better in my hands, but are a bit more mellow on the ride...
 
Love these Pro•Mark Firegrain 7a.
 

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I like sticks that have a medium, round or nearly-round tip; seems like they rebound more. I played Promark 808 (Billy Cobham model, for a long time, until he changed companies) sticks for nearly 30 years; always liked the 707 model (Simon Phillips) also, and dug the extra length also, but felt the 5A thickness was too thin for my purposes. I finally made the switch about 3 months ago, and I'm glad I did. I don't need the extra thickness of the between-5A-and-5B size of the 808 model anymore.
 
Right now my favorite sticks are the:

Vic Firth Signature Series Drumsticks - Buddy Rich

Everything about these sticks are a full on YES!
 
Promark 747 hickory or the oak version. I do have a soft spot for Vater though as I used them for years before switching to Promark.
 
Been through a lot of different sticks the last few years, I think I've settled for VF 5B double glaze, the laquer finish is perfect for my dry hands, and weight is good too. I play with regular 5A's with my little jazz band though, but I will buy some in laquer when I've gone through them.
 
blinky said:
Been through a lot of different sticks the last few years, I think I've settled for VF 5B double glaze, the laquer finish is perfect for my dry hands, and weight is good too. I play with regular 5A's with my little jazz band though, but I will buy some in laquer when I've gone through them.
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I wonder if they make 3a's in the double glaze...I have real dry hands as well. I can play a 2 hour summer gig, and have no sweat on my hands.
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
I wonder if they make 3a's in the double glaze...I have real dry hands as well. I can play a 2 hour summer gig, and have no sweat on my hands.
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I believe they only make 5A, 5B & 7A in double glaze, and maybe the 5A & 5B extreme.
 
Anything hickory. Tried Japanese Oak and they ended up just hurting my hands.

Durability on hickory sucks though, but you don't get a better feel than hickory.
 
I have 3 sticks I'm switching between at the moment, all Vic Firth: Peter Erskine Big Band; Steve Gadd Signature; MJC4 maple. They all feel great, so I keep all 3 in the stick bag. Eventually, I'll narrow it down to one.
 
Some here may know that I've been wondering if Promark has a certain general sound that I prefer compared to other brands. For decades I've been basically purchasing Vater, Vic Firth and Regal Tips and I have my favorites in all of them. So I recently tried out a Promark Classic 5A oval tipped hickory pair. So far? I'm in love. ?

Update Edit: I just got a second pair of the Promark Classic 5A hickory oval tip for my stick bag. I was hoping it would be just like the first pair. The second pair was noticeably heavier, which was kind of a bummer. I realize that there is variability among the same wood, so I shouldn't be that surprised. I'm glad that I got the lighter pair first that I love, because I may not have bought another pair if I thought they were all as heavy as the second pair.
 
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Anybody else experience quicker hand fatigue with lighter sticks? You'd think it was just the opposite but I tend to relax my hands more with heavier sticks and let them do most of the work using the rebound.
 
Lennytoons said:
Anybody else experience quicker hand fatigue with lighter sticks? You'd think it was just the opposite but I tend to relax my hands more with heavier sticks and let them do most of the work using the rebound.
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Yes! I think maybe the hands are working harder? I switched from Regal tip 8a to the heavier 9a recently and the slightly heavier stick feels great. I played for about 3 hours yesterday and it was so much easier on my hands.
 
Lennytoons said:
Anybody else experience quicker hand fatigue with lighter sticks? You'd think it was just the opposite but I tend to relax my hands more with heavier sticks and let them do most of the work using the rebound.
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Me as well. Over the last 7 years or so i went from light sticks (Mike Portnoy signature stick, which is basically a beefed up 7A, and the Todd Sucherman signature stick which is modified maple 5B) to hickory 5B's and finally 2B's. Really loved the 2B's for their feel and so much easier to control! The downside was that the 2B's chocked too much of my drums. Think it is simple physics where too much force is delivered to the drumhead and shell so it chokes. Now using maple 5B's again because those make the drums sing and are also easy to control.
 
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