Great value. . though some issues

Rating
Posted by
Sean Sullivan
Date Posted
01/12/2012

So I bought these for my girlfriend as a gift. . .she plays Marimba for a drum and bugle corps and needed a set of practice mallets. Granted these are not the best quality out there, but they are a good buy for the quality and value. However, their are some things I would like to point out. . . A previous review mentioned the mallet bag. The mallet bag I received was actually bigger then the one pictured. In fact, it was similar in size and design to the large Humes and Burg or Innovative size bags - a welcomed / pleasant surprise which alone was worth the cost of the bag/mallet pack. The mallets themselves were of some concern however, the soft mallets are a little on the hard side for a marimba. While the quality and craftsmanship seemed adequate, after about 2 hours of straight practicing, the wrapped acorn head popped off the birch shaft. This was a little disheartening, but since I have made my own mallets before, a very small dab of liquid nails type glue, some constant pressure to keep the head from popping off, and a few hours of drying overnight did the trick, and the mallet head stayed securely on the shaft through 5 straight hours of practice the following day. Overall, a good buy for the money. And even with the mallet head popping off issue, I would definately suggest these to a beginer, or even someone looking to just get a larger stick bag - the price is roughly the same as Humes and Burges or Innovative plus you get some extra mallets to beat around with.

Rating
Posted by
Sridhar Rokkam
Date Posted
06/23/2006

Good for beginning players, The mallet bag was very sturdy, though got a bit crowded when i tried to stuff a pair of snare sticks and vibe mallets into them. The hard malelts were not as aggressive as i would have liked. The soft mallets had a better dynamic range than i woudl ahve expected for a student model. Overall it is a good deal, the mallets are a bit slippery when i tried using them with a burton grip and in 2-mallet repertoire, but should be fine for musser-stevens grip users.