Today’s Stick: Pro-Mark Jazz Cafe MJZ-3

Wood Type: Maple

Length: 15 5/8″

Diameter: .495

Taper: Long

Tip: Acorn/Wood Only

Finish: Normal

Parallel Models: Pro-Mark MJZ 11, Vic Firth American Jazz AJ5

This is a great jazz stick-and the one of the most subtle!  One of the smallest sticks on the market, plus it is also made of maple for a super light feel and touch.  This will bring out sweet and subtle tones from your cymbals.  Much like the Bopworks Birdland model, it is nearly impossible to overplay with these sticks.  They are so easy to manuever and are light and fast in your hands.  They have enough beef to them to provide a nice cross-stick, though.  These are the sticks to use if you feel like you really want to play soft and and let your drums and cymbals speak subtley.  The small acorn tip gives a round and warm tone, both on cymbals and drums.

Pro-Mark makes 5 Jazz Cafe models, all of which are made of maple.  The MJZ-11 is virtually identical to the MJZ-3, except the 11 has small round tips and is just a tad bit shorter (1/4″).  The Vic Firth American Jazz AJ5 is very close, but it is made of hickory rather than maple.  The AJ5 is also a full 16″ in length, and is just a tiny bit smaller in diameter (.005″).

These MJZ-3 sticks really bring out a nice, “woody” quality out of your cymbals, but it is a less harsh “woody” sound than most any other model I have tried.  It’s almost as if you are playing a stick with a very worn down wood tip, but yet are still getting superb clarity with each note.  This stick will really want to make you “dig in” to your ride cymbal and see how many subtle sounds you can pull out of it!

Today’s Stick: Pro-Mark Jim Rupp Model

Wood Type: Hickory (it used to be made in Maple as well)

Length: 15 3/4″

Diameter: .531″

Taper: Short

Tip: Teardrop/Wood Only

Finish: Normal

Parallel Models: None

This is a very versatile stick that is fun to play!  It used to made in both maple and hickory, but the maple model has been discontinued.  It is basically a traditional Pro-Mark 7A on steroids.  I like using the maple model for jazz.  They have a great feel and the teardrop tip brings some sweet sounds from your ride cymbal.  It actually has a big stick feel, but is still light enough to manuever in your hands, and without being too big to give you unnecessary volume on your cymbals.

The hickory model is actually a bit too heavy for jazz, at least for my tastes.  Even though the diameter is only .531, it feels bigger than that.  However, I really enjoy using it on pop/rock gigs!  It’s very solid and gives you nice feel and lots of power, but it’s not too big to feel like you lose finesse and delicacy.  It would be also be good for a louder jazz gig, like with a big band.

This is essentially a Pro Mark 8A stick, but it differs from other companies 8A designations.  Both Vater and Regal Tip make an 8A, but they are thicker and have a barrel shaped tip.  The Zildjian 6A is also comparable, but it is 1/4″ longer and has a round tip.

This is a very versatile stick and has a really nice feel in your hands.  It’s a great happy medium, with a “not a toothpick” and “not a tree trunk” weight.  If you ever wished for a 7A with a bit more beef or a 5A with a little less beef, then this is about as close as you can get to perfection!

Jim has toyed with the idea of making the maple model again, albeit in a limited quantity, to sell exclusively at his store (Columbus Pro Percussion).  We’ll see if he does, because I do prefer the maple model over the hickory; at least for jazz.

Today’s Stick: Regal Tip Jeff Hamilton Performer Series

Wood Type: Hickory

Length: 15 7/8″

Diameter: .500″

Taper: Short

Tip: Arrowhead/Wood Only

Finish: Glossy

Parallel Models: None

That famous Regal Tip finish!  I love the glossy look and feel of the Regal Tip finish.  These are great jazz sticks, and give a great, articulate and woody cymbal sound.  The tip is a modified acorn shape; it actually looks like a small arrowhead.  This tip sounds awesome on cymbals and makes the drums really sing.  I am suprised at how full the drums sound, even though you would think the tip shape doesn’t leave much surface area to get a big drum sound, but it certainly does.  These sticks feel like they “swing themselves” and make you want to play jazz on your kit, even if it’s a monster double bass kit.  The short taper on this stick really gives it a nice, sturdy (I like that word seeing as how I use it in virtually every post) feel and the power to rimshot or crash without worrying about splintering it in half.  These sticks feel awesome in your hands, and you get awesome sounds from your cymbals and drums.  Have I mentioned how much I like the Regal Tip finish?

Today’s Stick: Zildjian Hal Blaine Model

Zildjian Hal Blaine Model

Wood Type: Hickory

Length: 15.25″

Diameter: .500″

Taper: Medium

Tip: Acorn/Wood Only

Finish: Normal

Parallel Models: Bopworks Shelley Manne Model

This is another one of my favorite sticks!  It’s got a great feel to it, and it feels solid and sturdy for such a small model.  The medium taper gives it a bit more weight at the tip end, so it has a great balance point.  Not too top heavy, and not too light at the tip (many small models tend to feel a bit light at the tip end).  The small acorn tip (it’s almost arrowhead shaped) gives a nice and warm, yet defined sound on your cymbals, and a good snap on your drums.  It’s on the shorter side, so that gives it great manueverability in your hands and around the kit.  It’s a very lightweight stick, but feels a little bigger than it is, and I mean that in a good way.  The Bopworks Shelley Manne model is essentially this stick’s twin brother, but the Manne is 1/8″ shorter.  I would recommend this stick to someone who wants a light stick and great cymbal tones, or to someone who doesn’t want to sacrifice their normal playing style for a reduction in volume.  These sticks will make you a bit quieter than with a 5A or so stick.  And with the way these feel, you’ll want to play quieter, just to enjoy the warm tones and the smooth, laid back vibe that these will have in your hands.

I also really like how Zildjian uses a subtle logo on the stick.  Their “Artist Series” sticks feature all of the words printed on the stick in a “foil” ink in various colors, depending on the artist (for example, these Hal Blaine’s are stamped  in green).  This shiny foil ink is very classy looking and really makes the stick look good.  The only downside is, the printing is located where your hands grip the stick, so the foil ink tends to wear off rather quickly (at least not on your hands, though).  Wait a minute, am I actually saying I like the look of a logo on a stick?

Company Logos on Drumsticks: Speak softly or carry a big stick………….logo?

I have mentioned before (in my Vic Firth SD4 Combo Post) that I don’t like Vic’s large logo on their sticks.  Is it really necessary?  I’m not sure why Vic Firth chooses to make the logo so large on their sticks.

I believe it’s the drummer that “makes” the sticks, not the other way around.  For example:  If a fellow drummer digs my playing and cymbal sounds etc. (and let’s be realistic: Outside of a fellow drummer, who would really care?), he or she will come up to me and ask me what sticks I use.  Apparently, Vic wants everyone within 50 feet to be able to read their logo!  The truth is, 99.999% of the audience members that see the stick could care less, so why make it so big?  Honestly, aren’t the sticks moving too fast to even be legible to an audience member anyway?

Vater and Zildjian have small and subtle logos, and Pro Mark’s is larger but is still smaller than Vic’s.  I also like the Pro-Mark “dual stripe” idea, which is instantly identifiable to them (and much easier to see than words printed on a stick from any kind of distance).  Regal Tip has a fairly large logo, but it’s more laid back than the “HEY LOOK AT ME!!!” Vic Firth logo, in my opinion.  Bopworks designs their logo to be very retro and old school, just like the stick they produce.  I’m cool with that.

To me, as long as the brand and model number are visible to us drummers so we know what we are buying (or pulling out of the stick bag for a given tune), then that should be good enough.  What do you think about logos on drumsticks?

Today’s Stick: Vic Firth American Custom SD4 Combo

Vic Firth American Custom SD4 Combo

Wood Type: Maple

Length: 15 7/8″

Diameter: .545″

Taper: Medium-Short

Tip: Barrel/Wood Only

Finish: Normal

Parallel Models: Pro Mark SD4 (Bill Bruford Signature Model), Vic Firth American Classic HD4 (Hickory).

This is a very versatile stick that is a lot of fun to play!  The taper is on the short side of medium, so this gives the stick a solid and sturdy feel.  Also, by being just a tad short, this adds to it’s sturdiness.  Because it’s maple though, it still feels light enough to manuever delicatley.  On the flip side, it still feels very solid and you can hit with some power if you need to, without feeling “wimpy” or “hollow” like some lighter maple models can feel.  The barrel tip really gives fat tones from your ride cymbal, but again, because it’s maple there is still some subtlety there that you can’t get with a hickory barrel tip.  The barrel tip also sounds great on the toms and snares, with full and fat tones without having to hit hard at all.  This is an excellent all-purpose stick.  The overall feel and tip can give you power and authority when you require it (which many small maple models can’t), but it can also give you the light touch and sensitivity when you require it (which many hickory barrel tip models cannot-without some serious restraint from you).  The Pro Mark Bill Bruford Signature model is identical to this stick in every single way.  The Bruford model even says “SD4″ on it.  The Vic Firth American Classic HD4 is the same exact stick, but in hickory.  All in all, this is one of the most solid feeling maple models I have played, and it would be hard to think of any gig where the sticks wouldn’t work to a tea.  The only downside is that the maple barrel tips tend to wear down rather quickly.  I’ve found that barrel shaped tips wear out more quickly than acorn or oval tips, and this is especially the case with a softer wood like maple.

If I could change anything about the stick, it would be the same thing I would change on all Vic Firth sticks:  The logo.  It’s too big!  I prefer smaller and more subtle logos on products (see my seperate post on this for more info).

Today’s Stick: Bopworks Birdland Model

Bopworks Birdland Model

Wood Type: Hickory

Length: 15 5/16″

Diameter: .500″

Taper: Long

Tip: Oval/Wood Only

Finish: Regular

Parallel Models:  None

This is the flagship stick from the small Bopworks line of drumsticks.  Bopworks is a small company located in Austin, Texas that is targeting the jazz player and is offering modern sticks with vintage sizes and styles.  I own all of their products.  They are a great company and are doing something truly unique in the drumstick market (isn’t that refreshing?)

I really like this stick!  In fact, it has developed into one of my absolute favorites! It has a great feel and is super thin.  It’s great at getting subtle tones from your ride cymbal.  The oval tip sounds great on cymbals, and also gives a full tone on the drums.  It’s hard to overplay with this stick.  Very hard. It’s so light and has a real “airy” feel and sound to it.  I wouldn’t use this for a hard driving rock band, but that is not what they are made for.  You can still use your normal arm, hand and wrist motion and play quieter than you normally would with a larger stick.  You can really dig into your cymbal without it being too loud or getting excessive overtones from your cymbal.  Because of the long taper and overall lightness of the stick, it is easier to play fast ride cymbal patterns with this stick.  Being a shorter model, this also helps with the quick feel.  This stick has a great feel, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to experience the subtleties that their cymbals have to offer, and for anyone who wants to use a “vintage” style light weight stick.  This stick is all about subtlety, in both sound and feel.

The Inaugural Post!

Welcome one and all to my drumstick blog!  I obsess a little (ok, a LOT) over drumsticks.  Tip shape, tip type, weight, wood type, length, taper, finish.  I love knowing all of these things about drumsticks, and how it affects the feel in your (or someone else’s) hands.  I was sitting around one night going through a bunch of drumsticks I own and thought to myself:  “I should create a blog and write about drumsticks and opinions of them to share with the rest of the world”.  I then said to myself:  “Well, maybe someday I will”.  Well people, that someday is today.  My hope is that you will find my posts in the coming days and months to be informative, well written and enjoyable.  I also hope that you like this blog enough to want to “stick” around (pun intended).

I would like your help in deciding which way this blog should go.  My idea was to talk about a certain model of drumstick (that I own and have experience with) and talk about what I like about it, what I would change about it, how it sounds on drums and cymbals etc.  Then, get your feedback with comments, suggestions etc.  Mixed within these specific stick discussions, I thought I would also write certain posts about just general stick discussions and topics, that apply to any company, model etc.  Again, your feedback and comments would be an integral part of the post.

Do you have any ideas on what you would like to see from this blog?

Thanks again for stopping by!  I look forward to writing future posts and interacting with all of you!