All sticks are made with top quality bamboo cane, the choice of professionals.  The canes are carefully matched for weight and diameter before being straightened and polished. These processes are meticulous, with the professional range undergoing over thirty processes. The student and speciality ranges are finished with top quality hard wax oil, with extra finishes being applied to the speciality range. The finish on the professional range is secret, but it is worth the extra trouble.

Seán has always chosen to make the sticks from raw bamboo cane rather than buying in ready-made handles, which is the way some makers work. The extremes of heat and pressure used in making cane handles in a factory take away a huge amount of the “feel” of the cane which is what makes sticks if this sort so special. Also, ready-made handles tend to be of one set diameter, typically 10 mm. With Timpani sticks being of so many different weights and sizes (there are more than fifty different models in Seán’s range) it is obvious that a one-size-fits-all policy can’t work.

The centres used are of various sizes and shapes; the hugely varied range of sounds available with Seán’s sticks is partly due to this, partly due to a range of different thicknesses and tightness of the felt coverings. A simplistic approach which typically would have “small head, one, two or three layers of felt, medium head, one, two or three layers of felt” etc. can mean that what seems to be a large range of sticks can lead to a range of sticks which are harder/softer or lighter heavier versions of the same basic stick.

Many sticks in Seán’s range come with alternative centres – wood or cork.  Wood centres are heavier, and work well on timpani with plastic heads, pedal timpani and metal shelled timpani.  Cork centres work best for hand-tuned instruments, calfskin timpani and fibreglass timpani.  For more advice about which sticks will suit the instruments, and music, which you are playing, don’t hesitate to contact Seán for advice.