Last comment on this video, I promise. I just wanted to say that, after being inspired by this video last night, I just used your instructions to make some mallets and they turned out beautifully! Thank you so much! BTW, I found some wooden balls at Michaels but they were too big. I ended up wrapping a 1/4 layer of electrical tape around a beautiful oak dowel from Lowe's. I couldn't be happier.
Great video... I have used this technique to make gong mallets. Used steel bolt as core, wrapped with seatbelt webbing, then yarn over. Or rubber gasket over wooden shaft and wrapped with yarn.
Thank you for the kind words! I find the wooden balls at a Hobby Lobby near me. You will likely find some form of them at most Hobby and DIY focused stores.
how do you control the brightness of these mallets? if i wanted more attack would i skip the rubber tape or use less yarn? or would i do something completely different? also, can you wrap the yarn past the point of no gaps to get a warmer sound? to put it shortly, what do i need to change in the making process to get a different sound?
Fortunately, I have never had an issue with tape or any other material sliding off the wooden core. The yarn itself is normally tight enough around the core to hold everything in place. With that said, if you are still having a problem, a small dab of super glue between your core and any other material you may be adding to it should keep everything in place.
It depends on the material of your core. If you plan to use some sort of rubber or latex core on a wooden shaft, super glue would be the best option. If you want to use some sort of wood glue similar to that in this video, wood glue will likely provide a better hold.
Where do you get the mallet shafts? I tried looking at Home Depot and craft stores and all the shafts are a flimsy dowel material. I feel like the mallet shaft would crack easily with little to no movement
A rubber ball or layered rubber tape might be your best option for marching and is much more common amongst commercially produced mallets. The wood ball is a great beginner core because you are working with a light material that is easy to obtain and shape. However, materials like rubber and latex will certainly have a warmer and fuller sound.
Yeah! Uhm, not necessary! So many good mallets out there that I don't need to make my own really. I prefer to spend my time becoming a better musician. Unless: 1. You can't, so you're looking to do something else with your time; or 2. you really have something unique to offer that no mallet company is already offering, in which case you should start your own company, invest thousands of hours in product development, innovation, build a company and so on, and then have some green student come along and say, "Oh, no, I prefer to make my own mallets thanks!"
In some places outside of the US (in my case, Canada) it can cost hundreds of dollars to bring in a set of mallets, which for many students is a hard decision to make, so it is more economical to wrap our own mallets, with the understanding that they won’t turn out as well as a professional set
We all know, unless we're artisans in the craft of mallet making, that home-made mallets wont be stunning by any means ;v;. They're very inexpensive and practical for a budget/practice use.☝🤓
