I once had a pair of the Zildjian 5A DIP sticks and let’s just say that Zildjian should stick to cymbals. But of course, they weren’t total crap, so there are always some good things to say about something. But overall, I would say look into some other pairs of sticks like Pro-mark, Vater, or of course Vic Firth.

We’ll start out with the good aspects of the sticks. The one thing that I did like about these sticks was the heads of them. Very standard bead style, at least they weren’t trying too hard. This style of tip has a nice ride cymbal sound as well as good rebound to drum heads or cowbells. The next thing that I liked about them was the weight of them. Not too heavy, or too light. But that really just comes standard with all 5A drum sticks.
Now we’ll talk about the bad parts of these sticks. First off, I think that the whole “Dip” idea is just a bad one. If you’re honestly having that much trouble holding onto your drumsticks, it’s time to get some tape, or even just some lighter sticks. The grip ended up wearing off on the top and bottom, as well as where I placed my fingers. Another thing is that the golden Zildjian logo was rubbed off within a few days. When I bought these sticks I made the mistake of not doing the whole “Straight Roll” test in the store. What that is, is you pull both of the sticks out of the sleeve, put them on a flat surface, and roll them. If one of the sticks is offset and wobbling a little bit, you know it’s made from warped wood. Sure enough, both of these sticks were warped when I actually got around to testing them at home.

Overall, like I said earlier, I think Zildjian should stick to making cymbals. They make great ones. Not some much in the stick department. If you like the size and weight of the 5A sticks, you should go with a different brand. It’s a pretty standard size.