I have been musing on this topic for a while, not making my own mind but trying to get myself together enough to buy some more tippers! I rely heavily on 2 main tippers both bamboo made over 10 years ago in London by my good friend & Bodhrán player extraordinaire Bob Armstrong.
Now when I say I rely heavily on them I mean heavily, they are my mainstay sticks and if I lost em I would be as we say in Dublin, fecked! In fact I had 3 from Bob, 2 I used and 1 I was leaving to break in, I took it out at a session in Howth once and some ol bag pinched it! leaving me only the 2 and much as I might press Bob into making some more he simply doesn't have the time I mean the guy aint even playing Bodhrán these days which is a major loss to our frat!!
Sure I have a huge range of beaters but those 2 from Bob are the ones I use most. I like the the fact that they offer a heavy timbre but also that little bit of jazz hot-rod. My style of playing varies between top end and traditional but I like to throw in a large amount of rock grooves too and these sticks with an RWE Hedwitschak Bodhrán are too cool for school.

A good session mate of mine Johnathan Isaacs turned a nice rosewood tipped for me over 10 years ago now and its nice and light and gets occasional use, I also have an ebony stick made by that Eoin Leonard of Belgarth Bodhráns but it never gets much of an outing. I'm not into the thin fiddle bow style of stick I prefer to get down and dirty with the bass tones and pitches and hot rods to me offer the best sound well that mixed with Christians Bodhráns.

So any thoughts guys on how I might get past my reliance on Bobs beaters?



I have been onto Ralf at the Bodhrán shop so many times it aint funny but I am yet to purchase anything from him. I'm not in a position to turn my own has anyone got any off the peg Tipper tips? i.e. experience of Ralf Siepmann's tippers in particular the hot rods?

Hi,

I have played one of Ralf's Power rods and it sounds amazing!
I would recommend getting one, also if you have a particular
stick in mind ask ralf to make it custom for you..

Am awaiting their arrival of my sticks from ralf will tell you about
them when they get here :P

Cillian.

Hey Mike,

I'm loving Ralf's beech rod tippers. I took the thinner (4mm rods) one and cut it down to 8", just above the grip. I think Ralf nearly had a fit when he found out :). It's awesome for me on the egg, but the stick stops at the top of my thumb, I don't use the top end so ymmv.

The fat rod [my name] with 5mm rods is great for phat kerry basslines but heavy for any kind of one ended speed. Lovely for grooving.

One I also recommend is to get a plastic bristled drummers brush and have only 1-1.5" of bristle showing. Bend that in one direction and play on the curve, it's a gorgeous brushy sound and bass tones are beautiful. You can adjust the level of brush sound by retracting / extending the bristles.

You know how it is - we only look after tippers in any case!

The skill is in the hand, decent tools just make us look good :)

P

Got my sticks from Ralf there a while back,
My favourites have to be the ThinRods the Ebony Drumstick and the custom Snakewood snakewood drumtip I got made for myself..
I would definitely recommend getting a stick or two off him - they are amazing.

Cillian.

+1 recommendation for all of Ralf's stuff. I play with the standard HotRod about 95% of the time.

For kerry style tippers I also recommend Christian Hedwitschak. Christians ME13 Makassar Ebony Tipper is a beauty.

(I love the ME4 as well!)
http://www.bodhranmaker.de/

in particular
http://www.bodhranmaker.de/new/index.php?Accessories:Tippers:%93Makassar_Ebony%94_Tippers

i have made some bamboo beaters. but my favorites are some hickory jazz drumsticks that i cut to nine inches. fast, loud, solid and absolutely straight (no taper.)