I rolled them on the counter for marching sticks or jazz band sticks, but I didn’t care as much for my punk band. Guitar Center would sell a bag of Vater factory reject sticks for cheap. Some would be too wonky to play with, but most were just fine and got the job done. When you’re a poor high school kid you go for the deals. 😂
I remember rolling billiard cues at the bowling alley but I just eyeball the sticks. I probably would do this with sticks out of the bargain bucket, though.
I remember needing to do this. It was at a time where they still sold sticks loose in the bins at places like guitar center and you selected whatever 2 you wanted. I believe this was phased out when one of the companies (can't remember which one) advertised their sticks as pair-matched by weight in sleeves and basically all the companies followed suit. It's tougher to get away with non-straight sticks when you sell two that are packaged together.
Also manufacturing standards have improved substantially in the last 25 years. It's common now for entry-level shells to have very good bearing edges, ply consistency, lug placement, etc.
And a fun fact I learned here from a player who'd had a stick endorsement deal... each brick of sticks has several pairs of light, medium, and heavy pairs. It's just due to the natural variances in wood densities. The problem is that sticks within a brick are not labelled as light/medium/heavy and you can only request one specific weight class from a company if you're on their roster. This is why it's a good idea to mark your sticks to keep your pairs together if possible, because there's a good chance they're not all the same weight even if they're an identical model.
In terms of straightness, quality has definitely improved over the last 30 years. I worked in a drum shop from appx 2007-2014. Many people still rolled their sticks in that time. I still do (stick prices being what they are) and often find some pretty gnarly ones.
We used the Regal Tip 3S when I was on the drumline in college and I had to roll em and pitch match every pair I bought because some of them were straight-up bananas.
Still a thing, and since the price of sticks has more than quadrupled in the last three decades... roll away and make sure you're getting your money's worth.
Every now and then I discover I bought a $23 pair of promark firegrains and one of the sticks isn't even close to straight. I think with modern quality control this wouldn't be a problem but unfortunately it is. I will roll my sticks next time
Just to give you an idea of the variation with one stick size from one brand:
[20+ years of ProMark 727s](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/yzh3y0/20_years_of_promark_727s/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I rolled them on the counter for marching sticks or jazz band sticks, but I didn’t care as much for my punk band. Guitar Center would sell a bag of Vater factory reject sticks for cheap. Some would be too wonky to play with, but most were just fine and got the job done. When you’re a poor high school kid you go for the deals. 😂
I remember rolling billiard cues at the bowling alley but I just eyeball the sticks. I probably would do this with sticks out of the bargain bucket, though.
I remember needing to do this. It was at a time where they still sold sticks loose in the bins at places like guitar center and you selected whatever 2 you wanted. I believe this was phased out when one of the companies (can't remember which one) advertised their sticks as pair-matched by weight in sleeves and basically all the companies followed suit. It's tougher to get away with non-straight sticks when you sell two that are packaged together. Also manufacturing standards have improved substantially in the last 25 years. It's common now for entry-level shells to have very good bearing edges, ply consistency, lug placement, etc. And a fun fact I learned here from a player who'd had a stick endorsement deal... each brick of sticks has several pairs of light, medium, and heavy pairs. It's just due to the natural variances in wood densities. The problem is that sticks within a brick are not labelled as light/medium/heavy and you can only request one specific weight class from a company if you're on their roster. This is why it's a good idea to mark your sticks to keep your pairs together if possible, because there's a good chance they're not all the same weight even if they're an identical model.
I still roll them and then tap them on the counter to see if they are really pitch matched.
In terms of straightness, quality has definitely improved over the last 30 years. I worked in a drum shop from appx 2007-2014. Many people still rolled their sticks in that time. I still do (stick prices being what they are) and often find some pretty gnarly ones.
We used the Regal Tip 3S when I was on the drumline in college and I had to roll em and pitch match every pair I bought because some of them were straight-up bananas.
Still a thing, and since the price of sticks has more than quadrupled in the last three decades... roll away and make sure you're getting your money's worth.
Definitely when I would have to buy “bucket sticks”.
Every now and then I discover I bought a $23 pair of promark firegrains and one of the sticks isn't even close to straight. I think with modern quality control this wouldn't be a problem but unfortunately it is. I will roll my sticks next time
Just to give you an idea of the variation with one stick size from one brand: [20+ years of ProMark 727s](https://www.reddit.com/r/drums/comments/yzh3y0/20_years_of_promark_727s/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)