I was thinking...we all consider a "real driver" as someone who knows how to "drive a stick (shift)" or a car with manual transmission. I say we should also consider a "real panman" or a "real panwoman" as someone who could "wrap a (pan) stick", from tenor to bass. Anyone could slip on a piece of surgical tubing onto a stick, but "de real panman" knows how to wrap his own sticks. How say you?

George D. Goddard (Ghost), On the Art of Stick Wrapping. 

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  • ...but ah hear yuh Ghost...and I know lots of people in your predicament...especially nowadays...wrapping sticks for me is like riding a bike...once yuh know how to you never ever forget...at any rate back in the day there was no rubber tubeing...one even had make the sticks from somebody ole chair or worse, a branch in extreme situations... if yuh have a link to a good wood work shop then t'ings was nice with you...I have access to a real nice white rubber that I sometimes add to old sticks after a year or so...

    • Captain, yuh have meh crackin' up! lmao!!! Ghost Who STILL Cyar Wrap Ah Stick! ☺

  • Here is a tip for pan players who have served in the United States Armed Forces. If you want to get the perfect rubber for pan free, visit any Veterans medical center and go to the area were blood testing is done. They throw away tons of rubber every day. All you have to do is ask them for them. I usually gather them from the trash cans. The beauty of this  is that they are already cut to size.

  • That is the Canal street address. At 79 years of age, you tend to forget addresses, but i still remember how to get to the store

    They also sell sticks.  Thanks a bunch for the update. Pan 4 ever.

  • Cecil,  You are absolutley right. That's how it is done.

  • That is 'ole time thing'. The difference between a 'stick shift' and an automatic transmission is not analogous to the difference between a wrapped stick and a rubber tube unless the wrapped stick somehow produces a better sound or gives the pan player some sort of additional control (as in the manual shifting transmission)

    In any case the modern automatic is becoming more sophisticated in it's ability to simulate the manual shifting process so the manual transmission might soon be a long forgotten aspect of the driving experience.

    Good drivers don't actually need to know how to tune an engine just as good pan players needn't know how to tune a pan but it an additional skill that might make the player more autonomous and not have to depend on someone else to tune his instrument (like guitar players but not piano players).

    good pan players certainly need not know how to wrap a stick but the skill might  serve them well if they are stranded on a desert island with only a pan and a bicycle tire.

  • As a youth ,the first time I was being beig exposed to the Steelpan  was in the year 1968, sticks were were wraped with bicycle tube /red for this had more elasticity..,further for the guitar pan sticks ,,the Jack ball that young girls used for their feminine game was used ,,,for the treble bass  was the normal sponge ball/ cut in half sometimes also for the bass pans/5 bass/7 bass or the 13 bass.,,,luckily I never had a problem in wraping them ,after awhile I always had a half pair of pan sticks in my back pocket,this  I had also taught my students to practice at the then time,,quite an interesting topic..nuff respect Pantum,,and all the other member on WST  .

  • Thanks again for the fun and informative posts, WST peeps. With all the "white noise" (PUN INTENDED) around us, it is soothing to read these relationships that (true) panmen and panwomen have with their pan sticks. I always have at least three pairs of sticks, and sometimes when I am doing vocals, I have four pair in my hand. I usually can voice up to three notes around any of the chord changes (thanks for the 4ths and 5ths design) in my repertoire. But I have this one pair of sticks that I've had for over 10 years that is my favorite. I like playing with light sticks, as I tend to hear less stick and more rubber, allowing my notes to produce a variety of overtones. Anyway, I also do not like short sticks, but the sticks cannot be too long that it chokes my fingering around the instrument. (I'll measure my sticks, and post the length.) Also, I tend to use a very thin strip of rubber; actually just thick enough to be able to ring out my notes without slipping off the stick. That way, I tend to hear less rubber, and more note. Thanks again for the responses, and keep it coming. Again, it is WE, THE PAN PEOPLE, who know about our "pan culture". We breathe,eat, live, and die knowing that without our culture, we carry no value to the larger global community. PAN is what we have to offer. Let us focus on how WE feel based on what WE know, and not focus on those who do not know because they cannot feel. Trini 2 D Bone! Ghost. 

  • Wrapped sticks voices the pan a lot better than the surgical tubing which is widely used.Surgical tubing reduces the volume on the higher notes. Many people cannot wrap to suit the different pans and 2. they do not use the correct grade of rubber which is 1/32 for the best sound.Although you wrap your tenor sticks which work well on your pan,based on the size/shape of notes on another tenor, you may have to add or remove from your sticks to get the best results on another. You will hear the difference and then know what to do. You get different grades of tourniquets but 1/32 gives the best results.I buy Fisherbrand manufactured in India, for Fisher scientific Pittsburgh PA 15275. You have to purchase from outlets, as they only sell to suppliers re medical supply stores. They are 1 inch wide x 18 inches long so you cut and use to suit.You get 100 pieces per box.

    Most surgical tubing is a bit too hard and only work best when it gets older and loses tension.

    • Gerard, I have to agree with you. That is one of the main reasons I use as thin a piece of rubber as I can get away with. Gerald, this is what Dr. Lance was referring to, when he said some "Ph. D. material does be sharing on WST". (Now to copy and paste your post into a document. Lesson!!!☺) Respect and thanks, sir. Ghost.

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