Malletech MR20B Markus Rhoten Orange Timpani Mallets

The Malletech line of Markus Rhoten bamboo timpani mallets are handcrafted for the professional timpanist, and those who intend to become professional timpanists. Markus Rhoten, Principal Timpanist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and faculty of the Juilliard School of Music, is the perfect musician to design a line of timpani mallets that bring European timpani traditions to America. Born to American parents, schooled in Germany, Markus's previous posts included The Berlin Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra. While most bamboo timpani mallets are made in the American tradition of core plus one, or at maximum two layers of felt, the Markus Rhoten line has up to five functional layers of construction with a variety of core materials and structures.

Of course, such a labor-intensive, multi-layered design costs a little more, but it offers the serious musician a degree of expressive nuance that is unachievable with less-complex designs. The mallets in this line require several cycles of "play-in" on a hard surface, depending on the number of layers of felt. A custom re-felting service is offered by Malletech felt sewing experts, so that timpanists can be confident that they will be able to use each pair of these musical instruments for many years.