Full Review: Loyal Drumsticks, M1 and Mason models

Loyal Drums, long known for fine rope drums hand crafted in the USA, has recently released two models of drumsticks in hickory. I took delivery on one pair of each model and hung out with them here at home.

The Brendan Mason signature model was designed in collaboration with Brendan Mason, a champion rudimental drummer, arranger and instructor in the ancient/rope style. It’s a big, bold stick that’s ideal for rope drumming. In fact, small hands may struggle to maintain proper control of these sticks. My hands, although larger for a woman, found it difficult to play with these for more than ten minutes after a good warmup.the tips are somewhat pedestaled, though not sharply, and I’d consider the taper to be moderate. They’re well balanced, and even at the relatively light weight of 84 grams they have an authoritative feel. Because of my arthritis and smaller hands, I may reserve these for “good” days as a slow warmup stick.

The M1 model has the same butt diameter and a moderate taper that narrows just a little more than the Mason model, with slightly larger tips. My pair weighed in at 82 grams and I found these easier and more comfortable to play for a longer period after warmup. They’re also well-balanced, and are recommended by Loyal as an ideal rudimental stick that’s especially good for those who use the Moeller technique of playing. With a proper warmup, I find these sticks comfortable for regular practice.

Both models are made from hickory. The finish is good, though not quite as fine as that found on, say, Cooperman hickory sticks. The grain is straight and the sticks are matched and packaged in pairs.

The sticks can be ordered in a range of gram weights from the high 70s/low 80s up into the upper 90s (per stick).

Photos and videos below.

Photos showing the grain, and a chunk of wood knocked out of the butt end of one of the sticks (perhaps during shipping?).

Here are a couple of videos demonstrating first the Brendan Mason, and then the M1 sticks.

Loyal hickory sticks retail for $38 a pair plus postage and can be ordered from the Loyal web site.

Future Vintage: Verisonic aluminum drum sticks

When I was in middle school, I couldn’t afford many sticks of my own. I had a couple pairs of 5A for most concert work, 2B for practice (mostly on a pad, at home), and by eighth grade I’d added a pair of wire brushes. By high school I’d added a pair of 3S marching sticks and a pair of general timpani mallets. I carried them all in a stick bag I’d sewn myself from an old pair of jeans.

My classmates mostly had a bit more spending money than me. In their store-bought stick bags I’d see a full compliment of concert, jazz and marching sticks. (Almost none of them had brushes except the section leader, a senior who played really well.)

A couple had sticks made of aluminum and plastic, which they used in concert band until the band director asked them to switch to wooden sticks. I tried a pair a couple of times and found them to ht for my liking. Plus, you couldn’t really play rimshots with them because if you did, they made a hideous sound that felt like nails on a blackboard. And they were more expensive than wooden sticks. So I never owned a pair.

Until recently.

Those sticks, and the ones I just got, were all made by a company called Verisonic. They started making aluminum sticks in the late 1970s and early 80s, when I was in high school. They are still making those sticks today, plus a few other models that didn’t exist back then.

Here’s a little blurb about the company’s history (from their website):

VeriSonic Inc. was founded in 1960 by Albert S. Robba and for 43 years has manufactured innovative percussion accessories. VeriSonic's patented "Classic Line" of Aluminum Drumsticks was the first non wood alternative and made VeriSonic the pioneer of the now well established alternative drumstick industry

With the addition of VeriSonic's wide variety of high quality brushes and "RockStick" line, a percussionist will find a broad selection of products to choose from.......and all of VeriSonic's products and components are manufactured in the U.S.A., more specifically Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In addition to their “Classic” line, they offer Rocksticks (whch appear to be slightly thicker-walled and are also advertised as being a few decibels louder), brushes and accessories. 

The part that I thought was cool when I was young — the anodized color choices — now gives me pause. Through my years working in the bicycle industry, I learned that the process of anodizing metal can be wasteful and polluting because it uses a lot of can produce hazardous waste that may or may not be disposed of properly. This has especially been a problem with bike components manufactured overseas, where environmental regulations are seldom enforced (if they exist at all).

Because Verisonic sticks are manufactured in the USA, there’s a much better chance that their anodization process is carefully monitored and that waste is disposed of safely. I’ll research further to make sure.

I got a pair of Classic “Parade” sticks which was advertised as NOS. Judging from the wrapper, though, they may not be so old. No matter, the price was right and they’re brand new. These Parade sticks are similar in diameter to a wooden pair of 2B sticks (5/8”), measure 15.5” long and weigh in at 3.25 ounces per pair. The other version of this model appears in their RockSticks line and weighs 3.75 ounces a pair. I believe the RockSticks are thicker-walled, making them sturdier. I still wouldn’t want to play a lot of rimshots with them, though.

I like the balance in my hands. They are lighter and shorter than a comparably-sized set of wooden 2B sticks (see photos), but pleasing to play on a tensioned drum head with. I haven’t tried them on a rubber practice pad yet.

I’m intrigued enough by these that I might spring for a heavier version in the RockSticks line.

As a kid, I remember that my friends’ Verisonic sticks were scarred from too many rimshots, and sometimes the plastic ends got knocked off. (If you ever want to put percussion equipment through a thorough durability test, give it to a middle school drummer for a couple of days.) Let’s hope the new generation of Verisonic sticks proves more durable.

The future of drum sticks?

If you read various chat boards (Reddit, DrumForum.com, etc.) you may notice a lot of griping about two things:

1. The increasing price of wood drum sticks; and

2. The decreasing quality of wood drum sticks.

There’s some truth to both points.

1. Stick prices have slowly risen for years. Inflation is out of control these days, so that should surprise no one. Some makers have managed to hold off raising prices for quite awhile but had to bite the bullet this past year. Others have been slowly and steadily raised their prices little by little over time.

2. Drum stick quality and consistency from the big major brands (Vic Firth, Promark, Vater, et al) has been declining for some time now. Drum stick makers that once sold their pitch- and weight-matching as marks of excellence have grown quieter about that as consistency has suffered. 

There are some salient reasons for both, and they are mostly beyond any company’s control.

A. Increasing scarcity of quality wood stocks due to deforestation and climate change. People don’t like to talk about climate change. Either they refuse to believe it’s real (though I don’t see how they can with today’s weather extremes), or they insist that it’s simply not a factor that affects wood quality. But the truth is that increased deforestation (to meet higher demand for wood in all industries) has helped speed up global warming, and the market’s impatience for mature raw wood has meant cutting trees before they have a chance to become “old growth.”  That makes for a lot of naked, unshaded earth, and that means the weather gets hotter, faster.  The global marketplace also adds climate pressure because of the increased carbon footprint required to harvest and transport raw materials from their source locations to the manufacturers for processing.

B. The lack of mature, old growth wood stocks has lent itself to cutting second-growth timber that is less dense and less stable, meaning a wider variance in wood grain and hardness. Both of these mean that as the wood dries, it can warp or crack more, which in turns means lower consistency in the quality and feel of sticks — and less durability — from pair to pair.

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When I was a young drummer in the early 1970s, the big stick manufacturers didn’t match for pitch or weight. Instead, you pulled all the sticks out of the bin labeled with the desired size at the music store. You rolled them across the countertop to check for warping, pulled out the eight or ten straightest sticks and then tapped them lightly on the counter to check for pitch. On a good day, you might go home with two or three pairs of decent sticks that way. On a bad day, you’ll be lucky to get one decent pair. When I was a kid, that’s the way things were and I simply accepted it.

Only when the big stick makers started doing this at the factory did sticks become consistently better. And of course, because they were taking this labor in-house, sticks also started costing more. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Nothing is free in retail.

But in the last ten years, wood consistency and quality from the big stick manufacturers began to suffer noticeably. Some people complained, and others went looking for another brand. European stick manufacturers began shipping their products overseas more, using European hardwoods that maintained a higher standard of quality. Higher-end shops like Steve Weiss began carrying those brands, making them available to a larger group of consumers, and the sticks caught on.

Add to this the rise of American craft makers like Cooperman and Reamer, with their beautiful hardwood sticks, and eventually we arrived at a time when American drummers got, to be honest, a bit spoiled.

And that’s when things began to fall down.

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During the pandemic, while we stayed at home and chopped on practice pads and waited for things to oen up again, we also continued to buy drum sticks. Demand remained high. But makers could not keep up. Towards the end of the lockdown, first Cooperman and then Reamer announced that they would stop offering their sticks in Persimmon, because their old stocks had run low and the second-growth stocks on the global market were not up to their standards. Vic Firth began running out of favorite models regularly, and by early 2023 some models could not be found at any price in shops or online. Vic Firth and Promark began discontinuing their lowest-selling models. Vater simply ran out of select models and didn’t respond to my requests as to when they might return. At one point, the Big Three’s budget brands — Nova (Vic Firth), LA Special (Promark) and Goodwood (Vater) — also ran low at online dealers, a sure sign that bigger issues were affecting the global economy even among drum stick manufacturers.

The bottom fell out when the rumblings about quality grew louder on multiple online chat boards, and many of my drumming friends had given up on at least one or two of the Big Three in search of smaller, craft-oriented stick makers. (You can follow my adventures along the way in earlier posts on this blog, notably my testing of Harlan, Cooperman and Morgen sticks.)

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Today, the drum stick market is not struggling — sales continue to hold steady — but it has changed.

Custom stick makers are suffering. Cooperman is blowing out the last of its old Persimmon stocks, and has switched over to mostly hickory. Reamer is using hickory only. Rick Dior, one of the finest craft stick makers in the country, suffered devastating losses to his house and his home-based workshop during recent catastrophic flooding in North Carolina. He was able to salvage a number of ready-made sticks to sell online, but has advised his customers that new sticks won’t be available for quite some time, perhaps up to a year depending on how quickly the mud can be cleared out and extensive repairs can be made. Frank Kincel at LaBckbeat has had a difficult time sourcing local mature hickory stocks that are up to his standards, as well as facing health challenges and mechanical issues with his lathe.

I still enjoy my Vic Firth sticks, though to be honest I mostly like older models that I find as NOS (New Old Stock) at online retailers. I also look for deals from select eBay sellers, and occasionally I find nicer used sticks in good shape on various secondhand sale sites.

Since I don’t play drumkit these days, I don’t really need a great quantity of any size. I’m content to keep a few pairs on hand of the pairs I use the most. 

I suspect that students will have to settle for whatever they can find locally and make the best of it. Serious professionals will have to be a bit less picky, or guard the sticks they have a bit more carefully to make them last longer. 

Younger drummers reading this post may scoff. I can’t really help them, sorry. They will have to find their own way forward to a more resourceful and sustainable drumming future.

To be honest, I’m glad I’m no longer playing professionally on a regular basis. It takes the pressure off having to be properly and fully equipped, and invites me to be grateful for what I have.

Happy drumming.

Why do I need/want SO MANY sticks?

I got into boutique and specialty sticks in a big way during lockdown, with some help from the guys over at the Boutique and Collectible Sticks group on Facebook. Since then, I've had the opportunity to try many, many different kinds of drum sticks, and was able to narrow my focus to sticks designed for rudimental and marching applications.

I didn't go as crazy as I'd done with practice pads, as I didn't have the space or the budget. But over the last three years I've managed to set myself up with some really excellent sticks for those purposes.

My ultimate goal is to keep one or two pairs of my favorites on hand for regular use, and display the most special sticks on my little wall rack. Some of these sticks have seen some use, while others are in new condition and I don't plan to play with them all that much.

The variety of sticks just for my purpose is staggering. Larger factories produce an astonishing number of rudimental models every year, in the tens of thousands. Craft makers who turn sticks a few at a time can produce hundreds in a year if everything goes right. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

Ingrained Instruments 1S. A great all-around rudimental stick in hickory. Strong, thick and yet lighter in weight than one might expect. My heaviest pair weighs 75g per stick. These are shaped very similarly to the "Air Force" style of rudimental sticks, but with a shorter taper.

Vic Firth IMS10 (no longer made). A terrific marching stick for smaller hands, which still has enough heft to work outdoors and a fine enough balance to work as an indoor stick. Some drummers use this as a heavier concert stick when the score calls for a "field" drum. I was able to procure ten pairs of these and I use them almost exclusively with my HONK! band on a 13" marching snare. If you find some, get them.

Promark 2B in oak. A classic concert and student stick, a little shorter but still well-balanced and with enough weight to use in a middle school marching situation. My favorite application for these is as an affordable student stick for woodshedding rudiments. I have several pairs from different points in their history, including a pair in golden oak that feels heavier and more dense than the white oak models. For the size and shape I tend to favor the vintage versions from the late 1970s through mid-80s.

Cooperman marching sticks, several models. Cooperman has largely stopped making sticks from any wood other than hickory due to diminishing stocks. But even in hickory their sticks feel amazing. In particular I'm a fan of #10 Petrella General (for concert work), #21 Connecticut Drummer and #24 Fastick.

John Crocken Moeller model. A very distinct stick made by one of the oldest stick craftsmen in the buisiness, made in your choice of hickory, persimmon, jatoba or purple heart. I have a persimmon pair and I love playing these because of their size, thickness and balance. There's literally no other stick like it for rudimental work.

Craft drum sticks made in small batches can be very expensive, but you're paying for the maker's time and experience. If you live far from the craft makers, as I do (most are located in the eastern half of the US), you'll need to be pickier about when to invest in a more expensive stick.  On the plus side, many of these small-batch makers are happy to talk with you about your possible choices by phone or email, and they will work with you as much as they can.
Choosing sticks for rudimental work can be almost as personal as choosing a bicycle saddle. What length of taper do you like? How thick a diameter is the most comfortable in your hands? Will they feel different if you play traditional versus matched grip? Which woods give you the response you're looking for? Do you want to be able to use them on a pad as well as a drum?
There are LOTS of possible answers to these questions.
Take your time, ask other players for their thoughts and try a LOT of sticks before you buy.

Below: My Ingrained 1S on a Rudimental Drummers practice pad.

Below: Chopping with a pair of Cooperman Fasticks that have been taped.

Enjoy the exploration and discovery, and Happy Chopping!

Vintage Corner: Fibes 2B sticks, late 1970s

I mostly played with CB700 sticks in middle school, and Fibes sticks in high school. (They’re what the local music store had in stock and they were cheaper than the other brands sometimes in stock.) I used the Fibes 2B size mostly for marching band, back when my still-growing hands preferred 5A for jazz and concert work.

Fibes was a short-lived company, founded in 1966 and owned for a time by the Martin Guitar company before being sold in 1970 to Jim Corder (of Corder drums). Fibes branded sticks remained on the market from the late 1970s through the early 1990s before the brand disappeared completely.

Just got these — a pair of “Power” 2B like I used in HS marching band, and a pair of “Band” 2B that the seller added to make a nice package deal.

The “Band” version is just slightly narrower than the “Power” version. Both have the short, stylized taper that evokes an earlier age, moving up into an equally stylized tip. I fear playing with the Power 2B’s because I can actually the slight difference in diameter in my hands and prefer the bigger size for pad work.

So they’ll hang out in my Grab Bag, for now, while the Band model sticks go on the wall.

I’m slightly embarrassed at what they cost, but glad to have them.

Full review: Star Sticks, Drum Corps model

Sometimes -- not often -- I will buy something purely on a lark, out of sheer curiosity.
That was the case with these drum sticks, made and sold by Ukranian company Star Sticks.
The company sells their products on Etsy, has a Facebook presence, and they have their own web site in Ukranian (Google will translate it for you but be warned that translating Ukranian to English is tough even for a computer).

I sprange for a pair of their "Drum Corps" sticks, because they were being offered with free shipping to USA, and the ten dollar price wasn't bad. Plus, they were made out of a wood called "hornbeam" in their literature.
After Googling "hornbeam" to discover it was real ("Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus Carpinus in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere." Thanks, Google!), I decided to place an order.
I figured that, coming from the other side of the globe, I'd treat it like ordering a pad from Xymox: hit the "return" button and then forget about it until it arrives.

Then, to my surprise, a package arrived today, only three weeks after I placed the order.

I opened the package, and checked them out right away.

Mindful of the advertised manufacturing process, I expected a stick that would be a bit harder than hickory. I didn't know much about the wood so I couldn't be sure about weight.

(below: from Star Sticks Etsy page)

At first blush, the sticks looked pretty good. The imprint was clear and the white paint fully covered the stick A closer look revealed that the sticks had been dipped in the paint and the ends had not been "trimmed" of excess paint drippage -- something I hadn't seen on American drum sticks in decades.

I hefted the sticks in my hands to see if there was any noticable difference in weight, and was surprised to find that there was a slight difference.

This would likely mean that, when I tried to play with the sticks on a drum or pad, I would hear a slight difference in pitch.

In fact, when I began to play with the sticks, the difference in pitch between the two sticks was nearly a full scale step, far more than I had expected.

You can hear if clearly in the video below.

It's too bad. The sticks feel nice in my hands; at slightly smaller [Length: 16 59/64" (430 mm)
Diameter: 669" (17 mm)] than Vic Firth's Jeff Queen Solo sticks, it would have been a welcome alternative for drummers with smaller hands.
But since sending the sticks back would be costly for an individual like me, I'll keep them and chalk it up to another lesson learned. I hope the company (with whom I've shared the review) will take my notes into account as they continue to develop their products and build a larger following outside Ukraine.

Pad du Jour: "Swingmaster" training sticks by Cappella

More fun from the elusive Cappella drum company.

These "practice" sticks are heavy. They're meant to be. Basically a 5B stick made of solid aluminum, wrapped in layers of rubber and intended for use only on a rubber practice pad (they'd destroy an actual drum).

 

Designed to give arms, wrists and hands a real "workout" by applying more resistance, these sticks are almost uncomfortable to use after just a couple of minutes of slow, careful warmups. And to avoid any risk of injury, I can only use them with matched grip.

One online reviewer insisted that he gave all if his drum students these sticks, and deemed then an ideal stand-in for drumming on a pillow. Assuming his students were kids, I'm not sure this was an ideal practice, especially for anyone younger than high school age. The sticks are that heavy.

They were made by the Cappella drumstick company and were last sold anywhere over a dozen years ago; at least that's when the last online reviews date from.

Definitely a bit of an oddity for my collection, but also a great conversation piece for the wall rack.