I've got a question for you drummers out there that I wonder if you can help me with.
I'm curious about whether there's a difference in sound, or tone, between hickory and maple drumsticks, and does using a heavy stick, as opposed to a thinner one affect the tone of the drum.
One more if you don't mind. Do you think there's an advantage to using nylon tips over plain wood. Does that affect sound a lot, or is it just to make the sticks last longer?

Hey tribb, congrats on the mod thing!

The main difference you'll hear with different sticks is not actually in the drum, but with the cymbals. The type of wood, and the type of tip will effect the sound of the cymbal, notably the ride. I use a nylon tip when we are playing loud. In a more intimate setting, like a small club, or art gallery opening, a wood tip will bring your volume down.

The size of stick is more a question of how big your hands are, what type of music you play, and how loud you plan to be. Alex uses huge tree trunks, while jazz drummers like Bill Stewart and Brian Blades use smaller sticks. This produces a whole range of different volumes. I've used several different sticks in a set, depending on the song.

Most of your drum tone is gonna come from the head, and your stroke. A double ply head is more durable, but chokes the tone a little. A single ply is great for overtone and sustain, but usually needs to be replaced after one session.

The stroke is the key to tone. You should pull the sound from the drum, rather than pound it out. Striking the head in different places will also effect your tone.

Hope this helps...

Thanks paradiddle. Can I just ask you what a double ply head is?

Remo calls it a 'hydraulic' pinstripe head. It's two layers of thin resin separated by oil. The tone has a warm attack and a short sustain. The two ply makes them last longer, and have a wide tuning range.

Each drum head maker has a two ply head, but I've only used Remo's for some reason. I should try some others I suppose...

Single Ply, or thin drum heads come in varying thickness, with optional coating, a lot like air brush paint, so brush work stands out on mic.

Jeeze now I gotta go buy some new heads.... smilies/rolleyes.gif

[ April 17, 2001 at 10:10 PM: Message edited by: paradiddle ]

So that's why some drum skins have a gritty kind of feel to them. Thanks a lot man. That pretty well explains it.

No problem, as if you couldn't tell I could talk drums til I passed out from lack of oxygen. smilies/biggrin.gif

Hey guys! smilies/smile.gif
I have some input on this...and a couple of corrections (not to be a nitpicker, just want to get the correct info out)
Remo Pinstripes are not Hydraulic and dont have oil between them. That has been an age old missconception about them (I got this info straight from Remo themselves). They are double ply yes and sealed at the edge by a thin glue layer, but the rainbow affect you see in them in the light is simply tiny air pockets trapped inside. The only true Hydraulic heads separated by oil are made by Evans Drumheads.
As far as the sticks go, I do find subtle differences in sound between larger and smaller diameter sticks. Nylon tips tend to sound brighter and wood tips warmer. You can tune a drum higher and pull more sound out with a large stick (plus you'd dent looser heads with big trunks). Alex uses Regal Tip Alex Van Halen and Power Rock sticks, his signature model being 17.75" long and the Power Rock 16" long. They arent tree trunk thick however, which I find weird considereing how hard he hit! lol They are slightly thicker than 5As, but not quite 5B thickness. I tried em and I dont break them , but I do tend to shred thinner sticks very quickly.
He used to use 3S sticks, THOSE are THICK suckers lol - really marching rather than kit sticks.
Anyways, hope I helped!