I have a pair of Ahead aluminum alloy drumsticks. But one of my Ahead sticks suffered from a broken core (yes, the core!). This happened about 3 or 4 years ago. I was using it one time, then out of nowhere, its feel became different. It felt frail. When I removed the cover, there I discovered the broken core. It cracked and broke into two. It's still a mystery to me; how could my Ahead stick broke? I'm not a hard and heavy hitter. Factory defect? I still kept it. I'll take a picture of it one of these days...