Grover Medium Soft Gong Rollers - Aluminum Handles

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These mallets are generally quite good. They have good length, shaft diameter, felt, and weight. Note: these mallets are not the heaviest; this is good given they're rollers and need to be easily manipulated, but it's possible they may not be as effective on large tam-tams. I've used them to great effect on tam-tams in the 30-40" range. I like that the flat heads mean you can stand them up on the ground if needed. The main issue I have with the pair I received is the prominent seams on the heads that are some sort of hard plastic or adhesive and that you must keep away from the tam-tam at all costs. This means checking each time before playing to ensure it doesn't sound like you're playing with sticks. I might experiment with a tactile "reminder" on the shafts to eliminate the need to look, but as of yet I haven't done so. If the seam were sorted out, these would be solidly 5-star rollers. (Note I bought my mallets several years ago, so this assessment is based on mallets from that period.)

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These mallets sound good, but honestly I'm worried about how long they will last. Essentially, they consist of a aluminum shaft and a plastic "hockey puck" with felt glued around it. For the ones I received, the gluing was kind of a mess. One one mallet, the felt was not glued on evenly, so the felt strips kind of dip up and down along the plastic head. There is also glue residue on the top of the mallet. Additionally, it's very clear where the outer strip of felt was cut, and there is a a couple mm' gap that's already beginning to fray. It's not enough for me to return the mallets, but for the price Grover is charging, I will not be purchasing their gong mallets in the future.

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