When I play my drums, I use a 5A size stick. I am not a heavy hitter, so the “tight” clearance that is between the mesh drum head and the top of the 1/4″ jack is not a problem for me. However, the other day my six year old daughter was banging the heck out of one of my new X4Ls. She was using a 5B stick that I have had for years and never used, but watching her got me thinking, “If I were a heavy hitter using that 5B stick would that clearance be enough?” Well I tried it, and if you use a heavy stick and you are a heavy hitter, a small change is needed so you don’t hit the top of the 1/4″ jack. Below you will see that I replaced the standard 1/4″ input jack with a thick panel 1/4″ input jack. Any stereo thick panel 1/4″ input jack should work. I had to make a stand off for the jack. I used some 1/2″ copper pipe I had sitting around. The copper pipe is 7/8″ long. I covered it with aluminum tape to make it match better with the cake pan. I also had to enlarge the hole in the cake pan to accommodate the new panel jack. I used a round file for that. The jack is no longer a problem for you heavy handed players out there.

Keep in mind that if you use a light stick and don’t pound the heck out of your drums while playing, you will most likely not need to make this change.