Mallet Characteristics

What with buying mallets online and given the wide variety available (Steve Weiss lists 200 vibe mallets) and the expense, I find it difficult to know what to choose. I see some reviews posted on the Weiss site about shafts being too long, too short, too thick, and other characteristics not matching the player’s needs. I thought it would be useful to collect more details on various mallet products to help players make purchase decisions. Toward that end I created the attached chart of my mallets (only the ones with identifiable make and model on the shaft). I assigned a numeric value for the hardness, inspired by the Mohs scale, thinking it could be more informative than “hard, soft,  etc. The weight was measured by holding the butt end of the shaft with the head resting on a kitchen scale. Some of the mallets in my list may be well known enough for other players to be able to interpret the numbers. I don’t assume that vendors would take up this system, but other Vibesworkshop.com members could contribute similar information on other mallets in their collection, perhaps in some common location.

This of course doesn’t convey how the mallets will sound in actual use, but I think would help players narrow down their choices. If there is interest, future enhancements could include sound clips.