Brian O'Connor inspects unfinished drumsticks and places them with similar sticks. They'll be paired for tone once finished.
David Crocker, vice president of operations at the Vic Firth Co., holds drumsticks stamped with the company logo.
It takes two pairs of hands to sew a cushion head to a bass beater at the Vic Firth Co.
Angel Paul hand-sews mallet heads at the Vic Firth Company in Newport.
Marcel Lamoureux on Oct. 1 drills holes into mallet heads, one of the percussion products made at the Vic Firth Company in Newport.
Vic Firth Company employee Amanda Farmer sorts drumsticks during manufacturing at the Newport plant on Oct. 1.
Stacks of dyed drumsticks are dried at the Vic Firth Company in Newport on Oct. 1.
Vic Firth Co. employee Derrick Basford loads hickory into a grinder to turn them into drumsticks in Newport on Oct. 1.
Vic Firth Co. employees at the Newport business work at different stations in the manufacturing process to transform hickory into drumsticks that are sold in 140 countries.
Hickory dowels are stacked before being further shaped into drumsticks at the Vic Firth Company in Newport on Oct. 1.
Staff photo by David Leaming Stacks of rough-cut hickory await the next step in manufacturing drumsticks as Vic Firth Co. workers cut and sort the wood.
David Crocker, vice president of operations at the Vic Firth Co. in Newport, explains how much hickory shrinks after it is placed into the kiln at left.
Drumsticks come off a conveyor belt into bins, where they are paired.
Chris Vaughn inspects the plastic tip added to hickory drumsticks at the Vic Firth Company in Newport on Oct. 1. The tips help keep drum surfaces unmarked.
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