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A Blast from the Past – Bringing a retro grip design back to life!
We are super excited to the launching the first model in our latest series of drumsticks, the TrueGrip 5AX.
The TrueGrip Series is a retro revival of a popular grip design from the 1980s/90s, first brought into the drumming world by the innovative brand TrueLine Drumsticks, USA.
The whole purpose of this bulb grip design was to allow drummers to relax their grip, as the bulb area slots into the fulcrum of the players’ hands, thus preventing any slippage. When you don’t need to hold on to the stick so tightly this alleviates muscle cramps, fatigue, and pain. By relaxing your grip you can also find a more efficient technique and better flow of movement.
These new sticks from LDCO. have been designed in close collaboration with one of TrueLine USA’s earliest employees and ex co-owners, Daniel Frank. Daniel started as a TrueLine Drumsticks employee in May of 1987 and four months later he bought out a partner to officially co-own the company with Lalo Barcelo, the Original TG stick designer, who started the company in 1981.
“We had a great time” Frank said, “Here we were, two drummers that love drumming and love making great drumsticks.”
The two went to great lengths to ensure the quality was top-notch, hand-selecting hickory boards for each model and carefully pairing them to ensure matched sticks. The guys were soon turning heads and gaining a huge following throughout the 80s and early 90s, securing worldwide distribution and high profile endorsers including Tool’s Danny Carey and USA session legend Billy Ward amongst many others.
In 1994, the two sold the company and the business eventually ended up in the hands of Moot Wood Turnings in Vermont. Moot Wood went on to hire Frank to manage sales and handle artist relations. The brand eventually lost its time in the spotlight as the landscape changed and the big brands began to dominate the industry, and the TrueLine grip design disappeared. Promark actually recreated the original design for a time in collaboration with Billy Ward, releasing ‘The Bulb’ model, however, this eventually went out of production. The disappearance of this grip design left a hole in the industry and forced many dedicated TrueLine players to move on and find other models to play. Many of whom have been desperate to find the old TrueLine designs again.
Other companies have attempted copies of this model, but never truly nailing it, as Barcelo and Frank spent a great deal of time placing the ‘bulb’ in exactly the right spot. Something that we at the London Drumstick Company have been working with Daniel Frank to get right, thus enabling us to bring the authentic TrueLine feel and balance back to the marketplace for all to enjoy.
“Lalo would be proud of these sticks” – Daniel Frank
The TrueGrip 5AX is available now in our webshop!
