TigerBill's DrumBeat Community Forums for Free Expert Advice on Drums and Percussion.

Welcome, MK!

I don't know if the bars are actually teak (I doubt it, but I can't be sure), but synthetic xylophone bars are going to be far more resistant to damage from hard plastic mallets. It doesn't surprise me to hear that you're spotting signs of damage even after this brief period of time.

There are hard plastic mallets designed for use on xylophone, and even harder ones designed for use on orchestra bells (which have bars made of aluminum or steel). It sounds as though the mallets he's using now are extremely hard, probably meant for bells or synthetic xylophone bars.

Wooden marimba and xylophone bars tend to be made of relatively soft woods - rosewood on top level instruments, and often padauk on "student" models. I only have minimal experience with Kosth instruments, so I can't say for sure what kind of wood was used to craft the bars on your son's instrument.

I'd strongly suggest investing another twenty or thirty dollars or so in a set of mallets designed for use on wooden bars - either a softer plastic material, or hard rubber. Your son's instrument will last longer if the appropriate mallets are used.

The mallets I've seen for sale in local music stores usually have recommended uses listed on the packaging material. If you go online to buy (some place like Steve Weiss Music), the item descriptions usually give indications of what instrument(s) the mallets are meant for.

Some name brands include Mike Balter, Innovative Percussion, Vic Firth, Malletech, and Grover. I'd recommend looking for mallets designed for concert band or orchestral xylophone, not for marching band or drum corps.

Another possible consideration is your son's hearing. If he's practicing often with very hard mallets, and hitting hard enough to cause visible signs of damage, it's possible that he's playing loud enough to damage his hearing. In addition to using hearing protection as needed, it might not be a bad idea for him to use softer rubber mallets for practice, or even harder wrapped mallets like those made for vibraphone or marimba, to limit the volume and the harshness of the sound that very hard mallets can yield.

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