Product review: Loyal Drums 1862 Model sticks

Contrary to rumors, Cooperman has not stopped making sticks, and they have not passed along their stick making designs and tools to anyone else, including Loyal.

However, Loyal Drums have been busy designing their own models of drum sticks, primarily for the rope drum crowd. They released their first new models several months ago, and I reviewed them here. 

Then Loyal announced their new stick design, the 1862 Model. It’s big and beefy, and meant for drawing out the tone of rope-tension drums. I hesitated before ordering a pair, because they’re huge and my hands are not. But my curiosity got the better of me, and I was somewhat reassured by the fact that this model is being offered in both ironwood and a lighter hickory. I ordered a pair and asked for the lightest hickory pair possible.

Friends who favor big, heavy sticks drooled over the ironwood option, and a few have ordered pairs in excess of 100g. I’d hoped for something in the high 80s, and was worried when I opened the package today and saw a pair weighing in at — gulp — 92g. That’s far heavier than anything else I have, and while I have worked my way up to playing with sticks in the low to mid 80s, thanks to arthritis that’s not a daily occurrence.

Still, I was willing to give them a try after a short warmup with something a little lighter.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The sticks have a hefty back end, which adds weight but also balances out the taper and tip at the front end. The photo here shows them alongside the Loyal M1 sticks, which have become a staple in my practice set.

The feel is lovely in spite of their larger size. (Disclaimer: I have somewhat larger hands and longer fingers than many women my size, so that may give me some advantage in handling sticks this large. I’m not sure they’d be as manageable for anyone with small hands. And even with arthritis, I have retained some hand strength from thirty years of turning wrenches in a bike shop, so that may be of note as well.)

I can’t say that these would be a daily choice for me, but once a week on a tunable pad seems doable. I’m happy with them. 

Loyal Drums plan to release more models one by one after development and testing.