Product Review: Cardinal single-sided practice pad, La BackBeat model 635 sticks

As promised, here's the full product review of two items that I think pair nicely.

First, the single-sided practice pad from Cardinal Percussion.
Cardinal Percussion is a relatively new wholesale company based in Ohio, founded by two industry longtimers who wanted to create a wholesale distributor focused solely on percussion.

From their web site: "Cardinal wholesales many of the leading Percussion brands. Cardinal Percussion is also the owner, manufacture, distributor of Attack Drumheads, Cardinal Packaged Accessories, Wuhan Cymbals and Gongs."

If I understand correctly, a great deal of what Cardinal sells under their own branding is not manufactured in the USA. They may own certain brands, and that may go as far as owning the factories in which those products are made; but based on the retail pricing it seems clear that most of what is branded "Cardinal Percussion" is manufactured outside the USA.

I'm not a purist when it comes to my environmentalism; I couldn't be and still be a drummer, and that is just a fact of life in 2022. When I can, I buy and play used/refurbished instruments to reduce my own personal carbon footprint. But there's not a whole lot more I can do and still be a drummer.

That said, if products are being made overseas by cheaper labor (in large part because the cost of living in many of those countries is lower for the general population), it stands to reason that the retail pricing would reflect that. It doesn't always, and perhaps we're at the beginning of a sea change in which US-distrbuted goods made overseas will see their retail prices go up because of global inflation.
I'd like for more drum companies to just be transparent. If your pads are made in China, fine; just slap a tiny sticker on the bottom to that effect and people can make up their own minds about whether to buy it or keep looking.

But I digress.

The Cardinal practice pad stands out because of its affordability, its overall quality, AND its striking similarity to a much-loved pad no longer in production: the tan gum rubber RealFeel pad.

Comparing the two, the Cardinal is a little bit harder in feel, and that may be because of a lower percentage of gum rubber and a higher percentage of nylon or silicon in the compound (Pure gum rubber needs binding agents to keep it from decaying in bright sunlight after one season on tour).
I inquired about manufacturing but got no answers from the company other than a "thank you" for my compliments on what a nice pad it is to play. So this is the best I can do.

(Industry insiders, feel free to school me, as always.)

The pad comes in two sizes, 6" and 12" diameter; and either single-sided white rubber or double-sided white and black rubber, with the black surface being much harder and denser than the white one.
I ordered my single-sided pad through Flam7, which is also based in Ohio. They supply percussion for concert and marching use, but their focus leans heavily towards the marching arts.

The appearance is elegantly simple, and the construction appears pretty solid, certainly durable enough to hold up through a few seasons of marching band or drum corps. 

1/4" of gum rubber compound is applied to what feels like a compressed particleboard platform, onto which red paint is applied thickly enough that I can't really discern what the wood is underneath. But it's fairly heavy, so I'm leaning towards particleboard of some kind. I did see a couple tiny globs of clear epoxy poking out from under the rubber, indicating a "decent enough" approach to quality controls. That's okay. At a retail price of around $27 I can't complain much.

One thing I don't understand is the decision to utilize a threaded mount on the underside of the 12" single-sided pad. It looks solid enough, but I'd rather put this ;larger pad in a standard snare drum stand to reduce the wobbliness that would come from a single contact point (the threaded top of a cymbal stand). If you do buy the single-sided 12" model, you may wish to tighten down the screws on the underside another 1/4" carefully and by hand, to reduce unwanted extra noise.

Since I don't plan to ever mount this pad in a stand, I may ultimately decide to remove the threaded mount altogether and fille the hole with wood putty or epoxy to take out the hollow sound at the center. We'll see.

But it's a fun pad to play, and the feel reminds me enough of the old tan RealFeel that I could be quite content to chop on this pad and not bother looking for the other, which by now has become a unicorn of sorts.

Next up: a pair of sticks from the small-batch company La BackBeat. Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Frank Kincel has been making drum sticks since 2013, and his stick designs are simple and based on years of drumming experience -- and input from professional drummers.
I found La BackBeat one evening by "falling down a rabbit hole" on the internet and landing there. I really liked what I saw, and ordered a few pairs in different sizes.

Frank's philosophy is to make smaller batches really well, rather than to rush the process for the sake of high turnaround and faster sales. He says that on a really good day he can turn out 200 to 400 sticks per day. (Compare that to a large mass producer like Vater or Vic Firth for some perspective.)  It shows in his work, and his work ethic. He offers three grades of drum sticks: Pro Grade, Player Grade and Wonky. Pro Grade sticks are finished and matched for weight and pitch. Player grade are not matched for pitch, but are straight and fully finished. "Wonky" sticks are just that -- sticks that came out slightly off-kilter but make a good practice stick, or work for the player who goes through sticks quickly and doesn't worry so much about pitch and weight but just wants a bag of sticks they can reach into when they break one.

Frank uses US hickory for his sticks, and designates stick sizes by diameter and tip shape first, with the addition of an "X" indicating longer-reach sticks.

What really sets LaBB apart from other small-batch stick makers is the pricing.
Right now, Most Pro Grade sticks that are in stock cost ten bucks a pair; Player Grade are seven bucks a pair and Wonky sticks are five bucks a pair.
So I wouldn't call LaBB a "boutique" maker at all. Just a guy making drum sticks that any drummer can afford to buy in quantity and stay reasonably supplied.

I decided to try a couple pairs of the model 635, a beefy stick that feels like a 2B on steroids. I chose the Player Grade to save a little money.
Even with the slight difference in pitch, it's a great pad stick, and would also work as a marching stick for smaller hands. It feels solid, fine-grained and sturdy. The taper is a bit lacking but for this application that's not such a big deal.
(Don't worry; LaBB also offers jazz and pop sticks that are shaped and finished more appropriately for those styles, and I'll review those sticks later.)

The feel of these Model 635 sticks on the Cardinal pad is terrific, like they were meant to be paired together.

And a closer look reveals just how fine-grained these sticks are.
Here are the sticks, showing the short, fat taper and the big oval tip.
The last two photos show a comparison with the Vater 2B, both for size and also for grain.
The Vater sticks have a more coarse grain and also a more coarse finish.
In fact, the reason I was so excited about finding LaBB sticks is because, while I liked the balance of Vater sticks, I kept getting tiny splinters in my hands. That was enough of a turn-off for me to go looking for something else.

 

I'm pretty happy with these sticks, not only on this pad but on others pads I enjoy, like the red Barney Beats pad from Evans and the Chop Pad from Rudimental Drummers.
Because the production at LaBB is relatively low, it's best to check back regularly (like a few times a week!) to see if the pair you want is back on the shelf, and when it is, buy several pairs at a time.
 

And I'd recommend this pad for anyone who wishes they had a tan RealFeel. The response and rebound are similar enough that you could be happy with this one and stop looking for unicorns.

 

Happy Chopping!

In praise of 2B sticks

I was recently invited to join yet another Facebook group, this one devoted to "Boutique and Collectible Drumsticks," where I've been getting an education in the range and scope of high-zoot, hand-turned sticks.

Since most of what the other members own and use is beyond my paygrade, I decided to stick with my focus of vintage sticks in the sizes I normally use. It's a cheaper option and in most cases, a more attainable one. It also allows me to start in a more familiar landscape; most of the fancy sticks are made and enjoyed by folks in either the symphonic or ancient drum corps categories, neither of which I inhabit.

So here I am with a bag full of sticks in the most familiar and ordinary size of 2B.

This is the size most beginning drum students learn on (except for me -- my hands were too small at age ten to manage the size, so my 5th grade band director gave me a pair of 5A's instead. In retrospect it may not have been the best choice but my hands eventually grew to manage large sizes and, well, here we are.) It's a good all-around stick for school use and remains my personal favorite for ordinary concert, rudimental and pad work.

(Before we continue, feel free to read this excellent overview of how and why drum sticks sizes came about.)

As with all things manufactured, there's a fair amount of variety within a given size designation. Below is a spread of drumsticks in my collection, all labeled "2B" and all slightly different from each other.

Below, Left to Right: Vater 2B, Vater "Classics" 2B, KK 2B (made in Russia), Vic Firth American Sound 2B (no longer made), Speedex 2B (1960s), Fibes 2B "Band" and 2B "Power" (both circa 1978 or so), Carroll 2B (1960s, Mercury 2B (1950s) and Slingerland Haskell Harr signature 2B (early 1960s, nylon tip)

The variety found in this small group illustrates the lack of standardization, which remains with us today. Up close, you can see even more variety, just by looking at the tip and taper of each pair:

For example, the Fibes sticks are freakishly different in tip and taper from the rest. (I admit that I loved playing with "Power" 2Bs in high school band, and when I found a pair recently I HAD to have them again.) Otherwise, with the exception of The Vic Firth American Sound's round tip, everything else has some variation of the rounded or acorn tip found commonly in this designation.

I enjoy comparing and contrasting the response and sound of different sticks within a size designation, but for most of my daily pad work, I always end up returning to the Vater 2B (Far left). The balance and feel just work well for my hands at this point.

When looking for a pair of sticks I'm going to play a lot, I always want to check for straightness, weight and pitch-matching.
When I was kid, this meant going to the stick display and trying every pair of sticks in a brand and size designation until I found a pair or two that checked all the boxes.
Today, most of the major manufacturers claim to do this as part of their quality controls before the sticks leave the factory; its been my experience that the top three -- Vic Firth, Promark and Vater -- do a pretty good job of this, and I tend to trust their judgment most of the time.
However, it helps that if I order their sticks through the mail and am not satisfied, I can send them back for replacement. (Vater is especially great about this in my limited experience.)

With the advent of custom sticks, it has become possible to establish a relationship with a small maker over time, and then bring to them an older mass-produced stick for their suggestions and improvement, making for a truly custom -- and expensive -- product. Again, that's too rich for my blood, but I'm glad to know the option exists.

Finally, Here's an example of a "mass-produced" pair of sticks from the 1960s, before strict quality controls were in place:

Speedex 2B. Note the difference in length --

-- and in taper and tip shape as well.

This would be far less likely to happen today. But I keep this pair on hand to remind me what things were like and to see how far we've come.

Today it is possible to find even a cheap pair of drumsticks with tighter tolerances and quality control than "better" sticks of my childhood, so anyone can find a decent pair of sticks and get started on their next drumming adventure.

Carry on.
Happy chopping!

Vintage Corner: Ludwig & Ludwig marching sticks, ca 1940s (??)

These heavy marching sticks were made by Ludwig & Ludwig sometime in the 1940s, possibly earlier (though I can't tell for sure).

From Wikipedia:
In the late 1920s, the company was sold to the C.G. Conn instrument company. William Ludwig stayed on to run the company for Conn (which also owned the Leedy Drum Co. at this time). Eventually, William Ludwig decided to leave Conn and start a new company of his own. He was unable to use the Ludwig name since that trademark now belonged to Conn who continued to market Ludwig & Ludwig drums.

In 1937, William bought a factory building and started The WFL Drum Company (his initials). The company continued producing drums at a small scale for the duration of World War II, but William got back to the idea of making the company a large drum manufacturer after the armistice. WFL was a competitor with Ludwig and Ludwig. Conn combined their two drum brands into one in the early 1950s, forming Leedy & Ludwig, and then decided to quit the drum business altogether. In 1955, William and his son Bill Jr. were able to buy the Ludwig trademark back from Conn, and over the next few years their company and its products transitioned from the WFL brand to being called "Ludwig" again.
My research indicates that these sticks had to be made before William Ludwig bought the rights to his name back from Conn; so these sticks were in fact made and sold by Conn under the Ludwig & Ludwig name. I think they date from the 1940s, but they could be older than that. More research is needed to be sure.

Marked as size 3S, a standard size for marching drums, they are not exactly the same diameter, but the wear pattern indicates they were sold and used as a pair. I suspect that the difference was in the turning during manufacture. It's significant enough to tell by feel in the hands, though interestingly, the weight feels about the same for both sticks.

I love the patina these sticks came with, indicating honest wear through use. And although they're big, they fit comfortably in my hands and play beautifully, with the tips still intact.
The wood is too dark to look like modern American hickory. In fact, they look like mahoghany in color and grain, but I don't know if that was an available choice for drumstick manufacture back then. I'll ask my brother-in-law, a woodworker, what he thinks they're made from.
These came in a box of vintage sticks I recently obtained. I'll share the other pairs as I research and photograph them.