REGAL TIP ALEX VAN HALEN LIMITED EDITION SIGNATURE STICK

2008 certainly seems to be the year of the anniversary celebration. For USA drumstick supremos Regal Tip, it’s their 50th Anniversary.

Another anniversary has coincided with Regal Tip – it’s 30th Anniversary of Van Halen’s legendary first album wreaking its high-speed fretwork-frenzied havoc on the charts! And of course Diamond Dave himself, Mr Dave Lee Roth has re-joined his old band, the Van Halen family of Eddie on guitar, Alex on drums and Eddie’s son Wolfgang on bass, for a globe-straddling re-union tour.

Although Regal Tip already offer an Alex Van Halen signature stick which was introduced some years back, they’ve certainly upped the collectability factor with this ‘Limited Edition’ version of the AVH sticks for this anniversary year.

Presented in a clear plastic removable cap tube, the famous ‘VH’ winged Van Halen logo is prominently featured on the packaging – and rightly so.

OK, pop the top and we’re removing the sticks. They slide out of the tube, and slide... and slide. Great Scot, these are the biggest sticks I’ve ever seen in my life! Do Regal Tip just match up a pair of small trees, shave off the bark, sand and smooth them off, carve out the bead then emboss them?

Looking around them, the AVH sticks are a beautifully matched and finished pair of high-grade hickory sticks, very easy to take to with their thin skin-application non-sticky satin lacquer coating which gives the sticks an appealingly ‘natural’ pale wood look.

They also balance really well, certainly considering their quite gargantuan dimensions – gargantuan as in 17.75" long and well over a half-inch (0.57") thickness! Further adding to the brutish dimensions of these sticks is the fact that there’s a fairly short taper before the neck and carved oval-esque bead work, which means the shaft thickness runs for most of the length of the stick, giving them a quite weaponly aura.

In use, well, as a rock god’s stick, they’re something of an ultimate statement. You’d also better make sure your drum heads are all in good condition and nicely tensioned, because they won’t last one round with these monsters beating down on them. But that’s half the fun, and what a sound you can get from walloping your way around the kit with the AVH sticks, it’s like somebody just doubled up the volume of your kit – until your poor snare cries enough.

Only real men need apply, for sure. They’re Limited Edition and genuinely do look special, they’re great value at £16.99rrp (considering the amount and quality of wood involved), they’re attractively packaged and look the absolute biz – because they are the absolute biz. If nothing else, the AVH sticks give you a whole new respect for the Van Halen skinsman’s ability and stamina – neither of which have ever been in doubt, of course.

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