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For over 40 years, Vic Firth Inc. has produced the finest drumsticks and mallets available. Innovative design coupled with uncompromising quality control - highlighted by the recent improvements to our proprietary tone pairing system - truly provide our customers with the "Perfect Pair". It is this commitment that makes us the world's largest manufacturer of drumsticks and mallets. |
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I.
Kiln Drying
As
every Vic Firth drumstick passes through the manufacturing process,
it is inspected and reinspected to ensure the highest quality product.
This begins at the sawmill, where only the finest logs are cut into
squares. These squares are dried to an exact moisture level in our
own kilns under closely monitored conditions which prevent stress,
cracks and warpage.
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II. Doweling Process
After
reaching the proper moisture level, pallets of wooden squares are
brought into our manufacturing facility. Each wooden square is then
processed individually into a round dowel.
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III. Dowel Inspection
The wood dowels
are then carefully inspected and graded into several categories,
based on color, grain straightness, mineral streaks, blemishes and
structural defects.
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IV. Centerless Grinding
To become a
Vic Firth drumstick, a system of grinding takes place. The dowels
are positioned in front of an abrasive grinding wheel which is turning
at a high speed. The dowels are spun and pressed into the wheel
which grinds the wheel profile into the stick.
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V. Backknife Lathe
Most of our
timpani mallets and bass drum beaters are not made on centerless
grinders, but instead on a lathe that is called a "back knife".
The wood dowel is loaded between centers and spun at a very high
speed. Then, the carriage strokes the length of the wood and cuts
off the excess. Finally, a knife cuts the profile of the stick.
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VI. Computer Shaping
Sticks or mallets
with complex profiles are shaped on a machine known as a CNC lathe
(Computer Numerical Control). The CAD specifications for the stick
are first loaded into the CNC computer. As the dowel is spun at
a high rate of speed, the computer selects a particular type of
knife to cut the profile as determined by the numerical configurations
of the design.
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VII. Injection Molded Nylon Tips
All Vic Firth nylon tips are injection molded. This process allows us to truly guarantee our nylon tips will stay on the stick. The injection molded nylon is formulated specifically for high impact and durability - in fact - the wood will break before the nylon tip!
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VIII. Finishing & Logo Stamping
All clear finished
sticks are placed into large hexagonal tumblers. Small wooden balls
are added to the tumblers to carry the finish to the tapered part
of the sticks. After being inspected once more for all possible
defects, sticks that meet our quality standards are printed with
our logo.
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IX.
Weight Sorting
The stick is
checked one more time for straightness by rotating it under an infrared
fiber optic sensor. As the stick is rotated, the computer detects
any variation in the straightness of the stick. The sticks are then
loaded on a conveyor and are placed one at a time on a computer
scale. The computer records the weight of each stick and places
it into a bin containing sticks of a specific weight.
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X.
Tone Pairing
After being
sorted for weight, the sticks are loaded into a testing station
where they are struck by a hammer. The computer analyzes the frequency
spectrum to find the value of the fundamental frequency that the
stick produces. The computer records the exact peak frequency and
then places the stick into a bin with others that match.
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here for more info, pictures and video >>
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XI.
Color Matching & Packaging
After the sticks
have been weight & tone sorted, an operator then chooses two
sticks from each bin that match in color and places them in our
pairing sleeves. A label is then applied to each pair, along with
a bar code. The
paired sticks are then "bricked" into groups of 12, bound,
shrink-wrapped and shipped to our distributors.
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