If you’ve ever sat down at a drum kit, picked up a pair of beat up wooden sticks, and started pounding, chances are those sticks had the name, “Vic Firth” written on them. For over four decades, Vic Firth has been supplying drummers with the highest quality, most innovative drumsticks on the market. His sticks have become a popular choice among some of the most well known drummers in the world of music.

According to the man himself, the Vic Firth drumstick was born out of pure necessity rather than imagination or an idea to start a business. It began in 1960 when Mr. Firth was playing the timpani for the Boston Symphony. He was being asked to play music that he felt his current drumsticks could not handle. He wondered why a violinist could pay thousands of dollars for a good violin and bow, and a drummer paid two dollars for sticks that were worth less than that. He wanted access to a high quality product with superior design. So he did what any drummer would do in his predicament. He whittled his own.

The first pair of Vic Firth drumsticks was born. After testing them out for a while, he sent the prototype to a wood turner and had one pair each of two designs manufactured. These would later become the SD1 and the SD2. Vic’s new sticks came to the attention of his students and they began asking to buy some from him. He said that he hadn’t really intended to sell any, but he contacted the wood turner and had ten pairs made. After the students had owned these sticks for a while, the word spread to the music shop owners who also wanted to buy these coveted Vic Firth drumsticks. Vic upped his production from ten pair to twenty, and successfully sold every pair. It made sense to keep on going.

For years Vic would receive a box of his drumsticks from the turner and personally hand pair them. He would check each stick for perfect straightness by rolling them on his kitchen table and he developed a highly effective method of finding each stick’s mate. He noticed that when the stick was dropped onto his tile floor, it produced a “ping” with a certain pitch. He realized that this pitch was in direct relation to the stick’s density. So Vic and his supportive family dropped each individual stick on the floor to find two with the exact same pitch to be paired up and sold. In those days Vic had an old wood burner and carefully burned his name into each stick. This is an example of the care and quality that Vic Firth has been and still puts into his drumsticks for over 40 years.

What started as a small basement operation has grown into a fine company with over 150 employees who manufacture and produce around 12 million sticks a year. The sticks are shipped to every corner of the globe and his designs have grown into the hundreds. He is even so wise, generous, and savvy as to have the worlds greatest drummers design their own sticks and put them on his line. These are known as the signature series and your favorite drummer’s name is probably on a pair. Something to look into!

There are two important things that should be brought to mind when thinking about or discussing Vic Firth drumsticks and Vic himself. The first is the amount of passion and quality that has gone into each pair of sticks since the beginning. You know you are getting a high quality, straight stick with perfect pitch every time. With Vic Firth, your satisfaction is guaranteed. The other thing he brings to mind is the old American dream of beginning with something small and necessary, and using dedication, drive, and good old elbow grease to plant the seed and grow a garden. Vic Firth, we salute you.