Stick Taping Preferences

[snarwhal007]

Ive played snare for a few seasons, and I just love the feel of 1/2 taped! Ive tried it all the ways mentioned but for me its perfect. Full stick feels weird in my hands and sounds like crud(to me at least, way to dull of a sound), 2/3 stick is too heavy to play with comfortably, but 1/2 grip helps me play fast for a longer time because of the utilization of gravity, and missing hand is nice and balanced with a good hand feel but doesn't have the heft that I prefer, especially with lighter sticks. though with heavier sticks, I do half and then tape on the but for a more balanced feel.

[eatsleepdrum]

I prefer missing hand for snare. However I was watching Cavies this year and was wondering has anyone tried out their style, which appears to be "missing fulcrum"? It's basically missing hand but only appears to be enough for your fulcrum point, not the whole hand spacing. Perhaps only an inch/inch and a half wide.

Ok, another quick question. If you tape your stick any style that includes the bottom (missing hand, full, etc.), why do most people go all the way down? Does it make more sense to stop at a certain point so that if you do backsticking or using the butt end you don't make contact with the tape, I mean it's not like you tape the beads of the stick, so why would you do it to the butt end? Wouldn't you want the best sound quality possible? Or is it really not that big of a deal?

[alochsta]

I prefer missing hand for snare. However I was watching Cavies this year and was wondering has anyone tried out their style, which appears to be "missing fulcrum"? It's basically missing hand but only appears to be enough for your fulcrum point, not the whole hand spacing. Perhaps only an inch/inch and a half wide.

Ok, another quick question. If you tape your stick any style that includes the bottom (missing hand, full, etc.), why do most people go all the way down? Does it make more sense to stop at a certain point so that if you do backsticking or using the butt end you don't make contact with the tape, I mean it's not like you tape the beads of the stick, so why would you do it to the butt end? Wouldn't you want the best sound quality possible? Or is it really not that big of a deal?

I usually leave about an 1/8" not taped at the butt. If you're referring to taping the entire butt end of the stick, I've never seen anybody actually do that... ???

[eatsleepdrum]

I prefer missing hand for snare. However I was watching Cavies this year and was wondering has anyone tried out their style, which appears to be "missing fulcrum"? It's basically missing hand but only appears to be enough for your fulcrum point, not the whole hand spacing. Perhaps only an inch/inch and a half wide.

Ok, another quick question. If you tape your stick any style that includes the bottom (missing hand, full, etc.), why do most people go all the way down? Does it make more sense to stop at a certain point so that if you do backsticking or using the butt end you don't make contact with the tape, I mean it's not like you tape the beads of the stick, so why would you do it to the butt end? Wouldn't you want the best sound quality possible? Or is it really not that big of a deal?

I usually leave about an 1/8" not taped at the butt. If you're referring to taping the entire butt end of the stick, I've never seen anybody actually do that... ???

Oh no I meant like how you first thought, just taping it all the way down the shaft, not the bottom itself.

[swstarks]

Missing hand all day

[WayneKay]

i love missing hand. ive recently started using it instead of full tape and it feels great. especially on paintless sticks

[DrummerBOBO14]

Personaly I find that it completly depends on the sticks,and the type of drum that thier being used for (snare or tenors). Some sticks i like taped all the way some half some two thirds and some not taped at all.

[Lc_Drums]

Hmm, always used 2/3rds...for me personally the missing hand thing causes some tape to touch my hands,and i hate the feel of it, especially while sweaty. (texas is hot as mother D:) I don't see how it looks tacky either. I think full tape and 1/3 look kind of tacky, but i can understand the practical use of 1/3. I just think of it as you don't want tape on your hands because it slips, and 2/3 gives protection from full blown shots and pings rather than just pings. I also don't see a problem with colored tape, but i think it should be done to fit the show theme and not school colors. If you don't have a theme that works with color, white is a good uniform standard used by most.

[joe356]

I usually do "missing hand" on snare drum. I'm not a huge fan of the way tape feels under my hands. For tenors, I usually do about a third of the way down from the tip. I like more weight at the front end for tenors.

[VoteLobster]

I've noticed that missing hand kind of gives a choked-off feel. It's almost like the missing tape is absorbing the energy from the bead then not allowing the energy to transfer properly through the entire length of the stick. Whereas when I do a full wrap, (or better yet don't tape them at all) the stick feels like it rings throughout the entire stick. I guess a missing portion of tape limits the stick from its natural ring. But wood surface feels a little better than tape though.

[Kaitou]

I've noticed that missing hand kind of gives a choked-off feel. It's almost like the missing tape is absorbing the energy from the bead then not allowing the energy to transfer properly through the entire length of the stick. Whereas when I do a full wrap, (or better yet don't tape them at all) the stick feels like it rings throughout the entire stick. I guess a missing portion of tape limits the stick from its natural ring. But wood surface feels a little better than tape though.

All taped would resonate less..more constricted wood = less resonation

[Cubee]

I've noticed that missing hand kind of gives a choked-off feel. It's almost like the missing tape is absorbing the energy from the bead then not allowing the energy to transfer properly through the entire length of the stick. Whereas when I do a full wrap, (or better yet don't tape them at all) the stick feels like it rings throughout the entire stick. I guess a missing portion of tape limits the stick from its natural ring. But wood surface feels a little better than tape though.

All taped would resonate less..more constricted wood = less resonation

I don't think that's going to make a noticeable difference

[Kaitou]

I've noticed that missing hand kind of gives a choked-off feel. It's almost like the missing tape is absorbing the energy from the bead then not allowing the energy to transfer properly through the entire length of the stick. Whereas when I do a full wrap, (or better yet don't tape them at all) the stick feels like it rings throughout the entire stick. I guess a missing portion of tape limits the stick from its natural ring. But wood surface feels a little better than tape though.

All taped would resonate less..more constricted wood = less resonation

I don't think that's going to make a noticeable difference

Neither do I..I was just following the train of thought VoteLobster presented

[VoteLobster]

[

Neither do I..I was just following the train of thought VoteLobster presented

I guess that pair may be dead. The stick may just feel more whole or full. I don't know. There's something different. It might be balance issues. With a full wrap they seem to rebound easier and feel a lot more beefy. That may be a result of restricted resonation. Maybe not. Just as far as balance and and rebound goes, fully taped feels best, but just on the hands, missing hand or 1/2 is best. Just my opinion.

[Kaitou]

[

Neither do I..I was just following the train of thought VoteLobster presented

I guess that pair may be dead. The stick may just feel more whole or full. I don't know. There's something different. It might be balance issues. With a full wrap they seem to rebound easier and feel a lot more beefy. That may be a result of restricted resonation. Maybe not. Just as far as balance and and rebound goes, fully taped feels best, but just on the hands, missing hand or 1/2 is best. Just my opinion.

It's probably mostly personal preference haha..to me anything taped more than 2/3s sounds and feel terrible

[coderedinstructor]

I use Vic's, and my personal preference is to tape to the flag, where I usually tell my students to place the thumb when playing. Usually a good rule of thumb, and since every pair has that flag, I get a consistent grip out of my students every time just by pointing that flag.

[TruePercussion]

The missing hand works really well weight-wise and it can also help highlight where the sweet spot is for cross sticking!

Chris @ TP

[SteelSampson]

I'm only ok with full and missing hand for snares. Although, missing hand can be a pain. I've only done missing hand with Hardimons and the fulcrums end up being in a slightly different place. I've seen it where the right hand fulcrum was placed at the middle finger.

For those of you who do missing hand on snares how do you determine where to put the fulcrum?

Also, for tenors I've seen closer to 3/5 than 1/3 or 1/2. Thoughts?

Also what about the black strips? like the BD does? Anyone know why they do that?

[roastduck]

For those of you who do missing hand on snares how do you determine where to put the fulcrum?

Also, for tenors I've seen closer to 3/5 than 1/3 or 1/2. Thoughts?

I use VF Mike Jacksons, and on any VF stick I tape down until the H is covered, leave enough room for my thumb, index, and middle finger, then tape down the the bottom. Where I live and teach, I think missing hand is the best way to go by far. It's always so humid here, even into November/December, that the moisture really has no place to go with a full tape job. Leaving that little stretch of exposed wood gives the moisture and sweat on the fulcrum a place to get soaked up, causing less stick slippage.

On tenors, I like tape in the 1/3 to 1/2 range. Front-heavy sticks feel much better to me on tenors, and my students tend to agree.

[Csewell]

My hands feel better on wood, rather than tape. I also prefer a front heavy stick, and maybe a few rings on the butt for counterweight to keep them beefy. What about particular taping methods? Two layers overlapping/single layer all the way down/etc?

[Stickbag]

It definitely depends on the sticks for me. On average I'll usually do 2/3

[Matt_1423]

I don't wanna sound like a noob, but what is 2/3 and missing hand? I've always only done Full.

[gnarwall]

guys ima let you in on a little secret- stick taping is all personal preference. Every group I've ever worked with has always had individual nuances. It's pretty common for a group to have drastically different tape jobs. Whatever feels good is fine, just do what you like and no one will be able to tell from the stands anyways... Like seriously if you're worrying about an 1/8th of an inch of tape, you have some serious issues. That's not going to effect sound.

[Spirit Snare 80]

After decades of taping sticks every way you can imagine, I find that I like the feel of wood better.

[littlesnareboy]

Snares - full, I think every other attempt to make it look full (like missing hand) doesn't quite do the job and looks pretty weird.

Quads - to the fulcrum with one small piece wrapped around the back. Gives the illusion of full

Bass - to the fulcrum

Do it that way and it's completely uniform. Looks amazing, and that amount of tape doesn't really effect the weight. My $0.02