Motivation:

For the past 10 years, I’ve favored slender drumsticks, usually 7A or other “jazz” sticks, as they give me a balance of speed and grip for my small(er) hand.

However,being in a VERY LOUD metal band requires more wood.

I’ve had the opportunity to tinker in the woodshop, so I cross-bread some features of a “ballistic” heavy stick onto a more agile “jazz stick” profile.

Design:

For general purpose and speed playing, the (usually Vic Firth) 7A drum sticks I use feature:

• lightweight (North American hickory) 14.75”-long 0.5” dowel.
• acorn style tip
• long taper from full-thickness to the neck of the tip

 

However, for WormRider, I’ve started using Regal Tip Quantum 1000s (their lightest duty marching-band stick), which has

• stiffer (lacquered hickory) 15.5”-long 0.55″-diameter dowel
• almost NO taper
• oversized round ball tip

 

So, I brought one of each to the campus woodshop and taught myself how to cut drumsticks on the lathe.

I wanted to be able to carve slow, and work gradually as I learned, so to start with, I chose the stiffest lightweight wood I could find.

I chose a block of Thai ebony wood, cut into half-inch square lenghts, then corner cut into octagonal dowels.

 

These were then cut (slowly) into smooth round as I approach the desired

 

Having no capacity to make or attach nylon tips, I had to improvise and cut a wood-tip.

 

I experimented with several test dowels until I found a way to cut the acorn-shape of the jazz stick at the size of the heavier Q1000.

Result:

Behold, the “Meat Hammer” :

Comparison:

 

NEXT:

If I continue experimenting, I’ll hope to explore some novel feature of the more exotic sticks I’ve used:

Questions ? comment below !