Thread: making drumsticks and suitable material

Hickory is one wood used for drumsticks. Im not a drummer but at one stage I got keen and I recall being told to look for hickory drumsticks.

I made some out of some aussie hardwood (maybe blue gum) for a friend.

They should be around 350mm long and 10ish mm thick

I made some many years ago for my father... nothing too spectacular though. I just used some standard wood dowel (don't recall what diameter, but roughly that of a drum stick), and got the tip much like that of a proper drum stick by using a belt sander held upside down in a vice...

They worked fine for him, and he still uses them, however he isn't any kind of belter. Fancies himself more as a blues/jazz man, brushes and all... I guess this probably wouldn't suit your friends purpose, as typical wood dowel isn't that strong in comparison.

This may help. Yanks tend to go for hickory axe handles, blokes down here make them from blue gum. As to the correlation between axes and drumsticks..... can't help you.

ill have a look at the specs of bluegum, thanks guys.

I understand that Spotted Gum is used for tool handles in NSW.

They say it is strong and doesn't jar like other dense timbers.
I think that is why Hickory is used for tool handles.

Does this have anything to do with drumsticks?

No idea.

Whatever timber you use needs to be strong, straight and clear grained, and flexible. If it's like a lump of steel, it will be no good for a drumstick. If the grain isn't straight, it will probably snap. You don't want any knots or voids or gum veins. To get the responsiveness required, you need to turn the necks quite thin and that doesn't leave a lot of wood holding the tip to the stick.

I'd say most Aussie hardwoods would be unsuitable, which is why it's hard to find Australian made sticks that are made from anything other than American hickory (of which there are several species).

I reckon jarrah would be too heavy and not responsive enough. You could try spotted gum if you can find some nice straight stuff clear of gum veins etc.

I'd turn them with the cutting tool because you need them to be as identical as possible in shape and weight. Are you going to use an existing stick to pattern yours on? There are quite a few different shapes and sizes and it's a bit of a personal thing.

I made a pair out of jarrah, they were nice and heavy (i can't stand light sticks) and they lasted a while too, about a year if i can recall.

they were nice and heavy (i can't stand light sticks)

See what I mean? I hate heavy sticks

Here's a link you might find useful:

http://www.pearldrum.com/2002_techspeak/drumsticks.asp

Are they for kit drumming? pipe band drums? marching band drums?

The ones I use the most are made of maple. The others that I have differ substantially in profile.

It all depends.

BTW, I like light sticks.

That would be one of the American maples I think. The 'maple' you get here is what they now call meranti. There is a QLD rock maple which is often used in guitars. I don't know how it would go in a drumstick though. Might be a bit light.

Machine up a couple of old solid core fishing rods

i was going to pattern it after an existing stick to get it to be as close as possible to the shape. i can rotate the compound slide to change the angle to get the taper correct and equal on each of them. might even make 2 jarrah and 2 spotted gum, i cant imagine it taking too long.

macher, you say that you think jarrah would be too heavy, how do you find hickory sticks? according to a website im looking at, jarrah is around 820 kg/m^3 with hickory at 830. but then again the jarrah said that it could be + or - 20% . being the internet those figures may not be as accurate as nessesary. i know that she is using hickory sticks at the moment. i will make sure i get to know what she likes in a stick before i buy anything.