I used to be hard on sticks. When I was playing heavy metal I would break about one stick per song. For a while I had sticks made out of that marble looking stuff they make bowling balls from.

I haven't really broken sticks. Some have split on me at the grain. Kind of came apart. I whittle mine away on the hi hats. I hit the hi hat with the edge of my stick just below the bead. When I am playing a groove or beat.

I will hit the top hi hat with the bead on top of the hat when playing a jazz groove. But all my sticks I play with eventually die a slow death. Whittled to death.

Same here. But my love for soft rock (Barry Manilow, Air Supply, Carpenters..) is no threat :)

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=37332 This was a fun thread from a while back. :)

I broke only a few sticks decades ago! Simply from using a small stick, such as a 7A, and hitting too hard. No broken sticks since!

-Mark

I broke one last year and I think one this year. Never ever on jazz gigs, or when I practicing home here. They just wear down until I have to use them on the fire and replace them.

When you played acid rock in the old days id break the tips and the nylon ones would fly off I broke the metal plastic ones and a head along with it this all was circa 67,68! At coffe house and outdoor gigs those were the days ......

First few years I played I broke a lot and whittled a lot... Most sticks I broke were Yamaha.. The Yamaha's were fairly dense timber, I think maple.. but when they broke they would split "big time" right down along the grain sometimes unexpectedly. I played with Fibes 5B's for a long time these were hickory but not the best quality timber. The Fibes I would whittle away fairly quickly, probably a pair every couple of gigs.. Never really worried me much as we were wholesaler for both of those brands.. ( I remember 70's when I was paying 1.72 per pair for the Yami's and around 2.50 for Fibes & buying by the box). I always found Ludwig sticks to be light to the feel and split quite a few of those along the way. Johnny Rabb sticks I liked and they lasted well but I can't find any more.. so I switched to Firth 7a's a few years back and have never broken one. I still do some whittling on the HH but you can feel when a stick has had enough.. they then make good kindling,

Cheers

John