Full review: Boso bamboo drumsticks, 2B

 Today I received the second pair of sticks from Boso, size 2B. After reading about Boso's ability to make thinner sticks heavy and fatter sticks light, I was hoping that I'd feel a noticeable difference with a thinner pair of sticks.

Sadly, I found the smaller sticks to be really disappointing.

Even with the advice to approach these sticks differently than wood sticks, I found the 2B sticks to be so light that it felt like playing a jazz or a 7A. I found the light weight unnerving.
Even playing them for up to twenty minutes, I could not make the adjustment necessary to really enjoy playing with them.

I set them aside and picked up the Marching sticks, which I'd tried previously.
To my surprise, I found I liked them more. Their fatter diameter was a welcome change, even if I still wasn't crazy about the smaller barrel tip. The Boso Marching sticks felt the way I'd want a heavier woodn pair of 2B's or 1S's to feel.

Then, just to be sure, I picked up a pair of 5A sticks made of hickory. This is the size I generally like to use at my drum kit.
After reacquainting my hands with those, I picked up the Boso 2B's again.
And hated them.
I just could not make the transition. The Boso bamboo sticks were too light for the kind of playing I like to do.
So I put them back in their packaging and set them aside.

Here are photos showing the difference between the Boso 2B and Marching sticks.
The 2B sticks are much narrower, and for whatever reason, Boso favors a small barrel tip on their sticks that I'm not crazy about. FOr a 2B to be a good concert or practice stick, I'd like it to feel heavier and have a slightly bigger, round or acorn tip.

 

 

 

 

I won't spend the money to send them back. More likely I'll just find someone who wants them and move them along.
But they did help me understand the bamboo Marching sticks better, and I'll keep those as an alternate pad stick. I think they'll do well on my softest practice pad.
If nothing else, the experiment has helped me get clearer about what I like, and that's always useful information to have.

Happy drumming.