Selecting your sticks

 FELT
Our soft hand made felt is available in seven closely spaced depths to give subtle,
precise control of articulation

 1mm - grade 10
 
  Very articulate with excellent tone and none of the
  harshness usually associated with hard sticks.
  2mm - grade 20  
  Articulate intermediate grade.
  3mm - grade 30  
  Medium articulate. 
  Excellent for solo work, clear rolls in  
  fortissimo and pianissimo, and single strokes.
  4mm - grade 40 
  Medium articulate - excellent for less articulate 
  general playing, rolls and single strokes.
  5mm - grade 50  
  Intermediate medium soft grade.
  6mm - grade 60 
  Less articulate - excellent for symphonic rolls  
  and strokes where less definition is required.
  7mm - grade 70 
  More muted and sonorous than grade 60.
 CORES
Choose your sound
by selecting the size and type of core
 Wood - Our classic core - clear and vibrant. 
 Cork  Lighter, more rounded than wood.
  Hard felt - Very warm rounded sound.

  Smaller cores (300 & 400 series)
 Less power, lighter sound, clearer articulation.

  Larger cores (500 & 600 series)
 Greater power, fullness and tone.
 When making your selection, please take  
 account of your timpani, the music, the size of 
 your ensemble and the size and acoustic qualities 
 of your performance venue. 
 There is more information about this subject 
 further  down the page.
 
SHAFTS
Our timpani mallets can be made with a
wide choice of shaft sizes and weights

 The core and felt are the primary factors in 
 sound production when playing with our sticks. 

 The size and weight of the shafts will
 determine how the sticks feel in  your hands.

 The sound produced by our sticks is not  
 significantly affected by the size and weight of  
 the shaft. 

 Standard dimensions
 
Our standard shafts are sized from 10.0mm to  
 11.0mm diameter (measured at the gripping point).

 The overall length of our timpani sticks is 38cm.

 The weight of a complete timpani stick with  
 standard shafts varies from 24g to 36g 
 depending upon the shaft diameter and the model.

 Please choose the diameter you require and we
 will ensure that the sticks are ideally weighted 
 and balanced. 


 Other sizes, weights and lengths can be  
 custom made to your own requirements.


 On certain models we can fit larger shafts with    
 diameters from 11.5mm to 14mm.  These large 
 shafts are heavier than normal, and make
the 
 weight of a complete stick between 30g and 46g.

 MODEL NUMBERING
Each one of our timpani sticks and mallets
has its own clear model identifier wrapped around the shaft for quick and easy selection

 Upper band 
 (felt grade)

 Lower band
 (core size)

 Number band




 Examples:
   Model number 460
 4  =  400 series 28mm core 
 60  =  felt number - 60 grade 6mm
 no letters  =  wood core
 Black bands  =  wood core
   Model number 530KK
 
5  =  500 series 32mm core 
 30  =  felt number - 30 grade 3mm
 KK  = cork core
 White bands  =  cork core
PLAYING and ACOUSTICS
General

Large core sizes increase power and depth.  Use large cores when you want maximum power and tone on large timpani.  Higher head tensions generally need a larger core and/or more felt than lower head tensions.

Some types of timpani produce a less focused sound than others and may need smaller cores and/or less felt than other types to give good projection.

Natural skin timpani heads generally need a smaller core and slightly more felt than plastic heads.

Very slack heads and low notes are generally better with cork or hard-felt cores.

Clarity of sound and the acoustic qualities of your concert venue

The exact degree of clarity that your audience hears will be affected by many factors including your timpani and heads, but most significantly by the sticks you use and the acoustics of your concert venue.     

Very resonant acoustics such as cathedrals can make the timpani very indistinct with a very heavy bass quality to the sound.  This type of acoustic needs a more sharply focused, less full sound than usual.  You can achieve this by using smaller cores and thinner felt than usual.  The smaller cores will produce less fullness and depth from your timpani and the thinner felt will give a clearer and more articulate sound.  

Concert halls with very dry acoustics need the opposite treatment and you may wish to select larger cores to maximise the depth of tone and resonance produced by the timpani and use thicker felt to reduce the articulation heard by the audience.

When playing in smaller halls or with a small group of players, you may wish to reduce the fullness of sound by choosing smaller than normal cores so that the timpani are not overpowering.

The perceived hardness of the sticks

The size of the core can affect the perceived hardness of the sound.   For example a 310 stick (small core) will sound harder and more brittle than the larger 610, even though they both use the same 1mm depth of felt.  This is because the 600 core produces more tone and depth than the 300 core and this bigger, fuller more rounded tone is perceived as less hard than the sound of the 300 core.

 

ALL OUR STICKS AND MALLETS
Stick Sets and the whole model range

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SET A  --------------------------------

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SET B  ---------------------
        
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SET C  ----------              ----------  SET D  ----------



300 series 25mm WOOD CORE

300FF series 25mm FELT CORE

400 series 28mm WOOD CORE

400KK series 28mm CORK CORE

400FF series 28mm FELT CORE

500 series 32mm WOOD CORE

500KK series 32mm CORK CORE

500FF series 32mm FELT CORE

600 series 36mm WOOD CORE

600KK series 36mm CORK CORK

HARD FELT ONLY 25mm, 28mm, 32mm
     
ONE PIECE MAPLE WOOD STICKS
28mm x 35cm


WOOD STICKS Bamboo shafts - 25mm, 28mm,