Making AR Cimbalom Mallets

On the right you can see the mallet what I can just dream about.... It has one of the most beautiful sound I have ever heard!  It is used by my former cimbalom teacher Ilona Szeverényi.
These AR mallets are named after Aladár Rácz who invented this type. My former teacher's mallets were made by her late husband (Ferenc Gerencsér, cimbalom player and former professor of Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Aladár Rácz's student) who had worked on a very high standard, including the high quality of wood, the workmanship and finish of the surface.


I think we all (cimbalom players) should follow him, making our own mallets, as oboists make their own reed! Unfortunately there are only few people whom can really make these kind of mallets. I am not sure these people will be always available rest of my life to get some help from, or simply purchase mallets from them...so I got motivated to try to make my own AR cimbalom mallets!
I found a person who has made a preliminary design of the handle parts and the sticks.
It has to be two different kind of wood. The handle must be something light, but strong what can be shaped easily. The handle can be white basswood and the stick (stalk) must be something hard wood (preferred acacia).

Finally I have made 3 pairs of handle!

The stick were under bending with the help of a very nice old colleague who has a special tool for this project. Without his help and this tool it would have been extremely difficult (almost impossible) to make the perfect 90 degree curve at the end of the stick.

 


















 Here are the sticks after bending and one mallet after putting together the stalk with the handle....almost ready!

 

I had to make the sticks little "skinnier" using a very sharp tool. Before painting them I used two different kind of sandpapers to make them very smooth and remove minor knife marks. 

During drying.....

After it dried. 














Making the "heads" of the mallets:

first layer: leather without glue just strong thread around

After this step is done you need a thicker layer of leather over it fixing with glue, then put the felt and finishing with a soft layer of leather over the felt.

Cutting the felt.

pair of mallet with leather-felt cover combination

 




Here are some closer views:

 mallet with cotton cover