Vic Firth VFESB Essential Stick Bag

Are you a drummer tired of bringing around big, cumbersome stick bags full of beaters and mallets you won't even use for yet another time? Maybe you have noticed in your last gig you were using just 2-3 pairs of sticks and 1-2 specialty mallets? Well, Vic Firth has come with a solution for you: the Vic Firth VFESB Essential Stick Bag is a compact, thin & lightweight stick bag that comes with all the necessary features for the gigging drummer. It has 2 main compartments that can accomodate up to 5 pairs of assorted sticks and mallets, plus one very handy slot for tuning key and one extra pocket for storing small pieces. It comes with 2 floor tom lug attachments easy to set up and unmount and a little handle for transport. The whole bag is compact enough to fit in most backpacks, also. This said, the only con of the product is represented by the price, definitely too high for such an amount of material: the only thing we can hope is that other manufacturers put similar items on the market at more affordable prices.

My first impression: It is not as small as I expected after looking at its picture.
Nonetheless, compared to other portable stick bags, I found it to be most practical one. It at ease carries 5 pairs ( I keep Vic firth 5A Hingestix, VF 7A, VF Kidstick, Pro-mark 5B and Pro-mark 7BN) of sticks. Also there is a webbed slot for keeping Earplugs (fits my in-ears perfectly). As drummers we need to carry a key all the time and this bag does provide a elastic loop inside where you can tuck the key. I tried my Evan's Torque drum key which fits with a little adjustment of the sticks for easy closing of the bag. You can use it as a replacement of Stick caddy since it feature 2 slings on opening the bag which you can use to hand the stick bag to Toms. For its price, quality seems great and would easily last for years. I would highly recommend it if you're planning to travel often with sticks over even if you plan to use it at home like a Stick Caddy.