Crossword Genius

Uses adhesive to fix essential drumming equipment (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sticks

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'equipment' is the definition.
(I know that sticks is a type of photo equipment)

'uses adhesive to fix' is the wordplay.
'uses adhesive' becomes 's' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'fix' becomes 'stick' (sticking is a kind of fixing).
's' after 'stick' is 'STICKS'.

'essential drumming' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sticks that I've seen before include "Is bogged down" , "''... and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me''" , "bits of wood" , "potentially breaking our bones?" , "Glues" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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