Period Bass Drum Sticks

[zfrederick]

I am a reenactor and play the bass. For the last 13 years I have been using all wood Cooperman bass sticks but a person I play with brought in a stick with a soft leather coated head. I did some searching and finally found a period stick just like that but I cannot find anyone to sell them or on how to make the head properly. Any help would be appreciated. If I could figure how to post a pic I would attach it.

Zach Frederick

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Zach,

Even though we haven't met yet, it wasn't hard to figure out that the bass drum beater you're talking about was mine! Paul told me he tried out my original at the last practice. I'm glad they busted that bass drum head instead of my beater! He should have used one of the copies he just picked up for me, although I still have to cover them with string and buckskin. The copies were made by Joe Carter, who now has a pattern to make period correct snare drum sticks, thanks to me. You have probably noticed several of the drummers from Liberty Hall playing with the rosewood sticks. Those were made by Joe. I don't know if he made a pattern for the bass drum beaters though. If anyone else is interested, send me a PM and I will find out if he can make more bass drum beaters, although you will have to find someone to handle the leather and twine part if you are afraid to do it yourself.

[zfrederick]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Your right it was Paul who had it. The period one sounded alot deeper when compared to the wood head. It will probaly be a little better on the skin heads also.

[Hardtack Herring]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Haaaa. To funny. I never expected this to make it to the forums. We only tested the sound from the original beater. A couple soft hits. It sounds good. The original beater is still in fine shape. Don't worry Will. Edwins Rosewood beaters did in the bass drum head.

The rosewood snare sticks that Will speaks of are very fine indeed. The bass beaters are looking very good. I know when they are finished they are going to be just fine.

As we all know correct reproduction sticks are very hard to come by. Many thanks to Will and Joe for having these sticks made up. It truly adds adds to our impression.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

For your amusement, a plain wood beater, possibly from the CW era

And some more examples:

http://www.geocities.com/cwfifedrum/p35.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/cwfifedrum/p24.jpg

[Hardtack Herring]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

And another bass beater and cool sling. We have plans to reproduce this sling as well. Anyone have any ideas of where to get the webbing?

The beater in this picture is more like the type Will is reproducing. The exception is this beater has has the fancy design cut into the handle.

[Tertel]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Will, Paul,
Very cool beaters and sling. Just as described in R&H. I know Needle and Thread in Gettysburg has regular white cotton webbing that I have used to make slings. Perhaps they can refer you to other vendors that might carry a fancier pattern webbing.
Can you send me or post pics of the period correct rosewood snare sticks that Joe Carter made for you? I would be very interested in getting them for the Fort McHenry Guard drummers.
Thanks,
Tim Ertel

[markj]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Zach,

I presume you've already seen this thread?

http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12797&highlight=fantastic+militia

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Hardtack Herring]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Tim, good seeing you the other week.

I tried to take some pictures of the drum sticks but they came out pretty bad. I had to use my sons webcam as I seem to have lost my good camera..... Long Story.

Hopefully Will can post some pictures of the sticks soon. If not I will try to get a camera from a friend and post them as soon as I can.

Mark, I forgot about that thread. I did get that image from E-bay. A very cool sling it is. Our Bass Drummer is slow to fall due to the straps we have for the drum now. We normally have to help him out with it. Hopefully when we make this sling it will solve that problem. It will be a very authentic and unique sling and it will look cool too.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

ebay 230186313384

[TheRegularsDrummerCo.H]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Hey Will

It is Adam from Sept. Storm. I enjoyed playing the bass drum that night. I was wondering, How could I buy a pair of those Rosewood Snare Drum Sticks you were talking about. I am going to buy a pair and I just read this forum.

______________________
Adam Ward
Sykes Regulars 2nd & 4th U.S. Infantry

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Adam, I sent you a PM. Joe Carter is a drummer with the Monumental City Fife and Drum Corps in Baltimore. I need to get his permission before I post his email address here. He made about 15 pairs of snare sticks for me. I have sold or given most of them away. I will have to give him a call and warn him that people will be asking for more.

Cooperman used to offer two models of drumsticks that were copied from originals. They were what I call the "thick" model, about 13/16 in diameter and the "extrathick" model, about 7/8" in diameter. Now they only offer the extrathick model. Joe copied the 13/16" Cooperman which I have had for about 15 years. He still has this drumstick. Before I met Joe, I managed to turn about 3 non-matching pairs of drumsticks out of cocobolo (I can use the excuse that the originals were usually slightly different also!). I did however sucessfully turn a pair of bass drum beaters, starting with an ash baseball bat blank. But without a duplicator, turning drumsticks, especially from dense woods like ebony, cocobolo, or true rosewood can difficult. Both Joe and I have experienced the wood splitting and shattering while on the lathe.

What all the fifers and drummers on this forum should do is get together and let Cooperman know that there is a demand for products such as these. They have the equipment available, and there is no reason why they cannot produce products closer to the originals. They restore original drums all the time.

They could produce drumsticks with the proper taper and without the deeply carved rings and make them 3/4" in diameter. Very few original drumsticks were as small as modern drumsticks, but they weren't all logs either. They could make drums finished with shellac, like the originals, rather than polyurethane. They can make counterhoops that were 1/4" - 5/16" thick and about 1 1/2 inches tall, just like the originals. A 3/8" thick 1 7/8" counterhoop is too chunky and adds unneccesary weight. I have had them make the thinner and shorter hoops for me before, special order, which I have used to fix up drums, but they should come standard on a "Civil War" model drum.

If one looks at original drums, even drums from the early 1900's, before the advent of plastic heads, he will notice that everything fit very tight. When tucking and mounting a skin head, the flesh hoop/skin will sometimes have to be literally forced onto the shell. There will be no big gaps between the flesh hoop and the shell. When the original style counterhoops and flesh hoops together are used together there be no gaps, and the head will retain its collar and not cause the skin to stretch on one side, making the drum, when sitting flat on the ground, appear to be at an incline. Modern plastic heads are all made oversized compared to the old wooden flesh hoops which could be custom fitted to the drum's shell. And a big bonus is that if a drum is put together well, and the outer diameter of the shell is very close to the inner diameter of flesh hoops and counterhoops, that RING, which so many people can't stand, will be minimized. I believe the thickness of the hoops and shell also is a factor in the resonance of the drum, and the high-pitched overtones. I have tested this theory on two different 16x12 drums, one with Cooperman's standard thick hoops and loose flesh hoops and one with smaller hoops and tight flesh hoops. The first drum rang much more than the second one. Also, the $100 thin solid white skins with machine sanded thickness ring more than the cheaper, thicker Paki heads.

Today drum makers go to great lengths to increase the resonance of their products (free-floating hardware, 50-ply!! snare drum shells). They go all to that trouble to make the drum resonate and ring, then drummers put mufflers or duck tape on them. Likewise, a modern repro rope drum with thick ply shell and thick hoops will definitely ring (resonate) more. They resonate to the point that most will want to put a muffler in it. I quote the late Gus Moeller here, when referring to "rags" in drums. "No good drum needs one of these". We should all get with Cooperman at least on those sticks, or maybe drums. A good friend of mine, however, who has made a couple drums, has plans to make some more authentic drums. So watch out, Cooperman.

Sorry for the rant.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

I can't believe how many originals are on ebay this week.

Ebay 140173621608

[joewhitney]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

Doesn't surprise me. They're on ebay all the time, and can usually be picked up for less than $50. I've got nine, and no two are alike.

The double beater method seems to have been the rare exception, based on the lack of surviving pairs and looking at bass drumers in photos. Nevertheless, Hart in 1862 had bass parts which used two beaters. So I'd say, generally one, sometimes two. Probably the more advanced corps with fancier music used two.

Of course how old are these beaters? Hard to say. Not alot of technological innovations in stick design over the years. As with snare sticks, the only distinguishing feature I can see is later, more modern sticks tapered much less. Most modern sticks are cylindrical. The drumming theory through the nineteenth century apparently was you had to have that counter wieght on the back of the stick for balance and good drumming. That theory apparently died in the 20th century, and is almost non-existent today.

Joe Whitney
2nd SC String Band
Md LIne Field Music

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: Period Bass Drum Sticks

http://www.theoldglorydrumshop.com/cwreplica.html

Looks like someone is making some correct sticks and beaters.

I had asked about his replica sticks a while back...the rosewood and ebony ones with the maple butts. I wondered why he didn't make them out of solid ebony or rosewood. All I could figure was that the originals he owns used to have brass caps that fell off. But I think he's offering a similar solid model now.