I like using marching sticks for Rudimental practice, especially on my larger tunable pads. The heft feels great and I don’t feel like I have to work so hard to get the response I want.
However, most modern, full-size marching sticks are too big for my needs, and designed for use on high-tension drums that I never play.
There are lighter weight marching sticks out there, meant for younger players; but very often these are too light and skinny for me. I found this to be the case with the Vic Firth Ralphie Jr. sticks that someone recommended a couple months ago. I got a set, and found them to be far too light — in some cases, lighter than a standard pair of 2B concert sticks.
I found these on eBay last week, thanks to a recommendation from a friend.
Promark DC6 sticks were made around 10-15 years ago, part of their Milennium series.
Their dimensions (17” long, 5/8” diameter) are great for younger hands, but the thick taper and big tips provide a punch on a marching snare drum. They were described by my friend as “2B on steroids,” and I can see that as an apt description. These also make a nice Rudimental stick for practice.
The thing is, I don’t like the dimensions. They’re a touch too long for the kind of balance I generally like. I held them up alongside a pair of my favorite VF IMS10 indoor marching sticks, and found both similarities and differences in the design. The DC6 has a thicker taper that leads to a bigger tip, but otherwise the shape is similar enough. So I took one of the two pairs of Promark sticks, measured them against the Vic fair ths and cut a little off the back ends to match the length.
It helped, though it did change the balance a little. So I added some stick tape to the Promark sticks and was pleased with the result.
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