Here is another gear review I felt would be interesting. While warming up on my practice pad in a dressing room before a show, I had a chance to meet another drummer from a band which was opening for us that night. He was using a pair of sticks made by Ahead. The sticks are actually made of synthetic material. I was curious to try them on a bare piece of wood and compare the feel to the regular hickory wood sticks I was using that night. As I expected, there was much less vibration transferring from the stick into the wrist. So if you are a hard hitter and do a lot of heavy playing on a thick ride cymbal, you might benefit from it. On the other hand, the stick doesn't bounce as much as a regular wood stick, so for a light lively jazz feel or practicing on the pad it will not be the best choice. Now let's talk about the balance of the stick. The front feels heavier than the back, which feels quite unusual (the handle is made of hollowed light aluminum). To make stick feel more balanced, you need to hold it a bit closer to the middle - right by the plastic ring which connects the handle and the shaft (that's where the fulcrum point happens to be). Potentially it might result in blisters. That's one of the reasons why some players use drummer's gloves.