A brief history of Ron Vaughn's High-Density Head Mallets

Today our mallets are made with uncompromising standards. The matching and pairing of mallet shafts is unparalleled. Another of the key elements of these no-contact-noise mallets is the hand-adjusted surface tension of each mallet made. This aspect is unique to Ron Vaughn mallets, and to the way they are made today at Ron Vaughn Percussion.

The high-density mallets sold by Ron Vaughn are all original designs of Ron Vaughn.  These design origins go back some decades and are continually honed and fine tuned through years of playing experience by Ron.  Changes and improvements to the mallets take place over the years to make certain they continue to provide the ideal performance and tonal purpose they are designed for.  The most recent of these design improvements were made in 2009 and are in the mallets you buy today.

Ron’s High-Density mallets have become indispensable tools for many players around the world for both live and recorded performance.  Today players continue to discover the clarity of sound these unique mallets can produce.

These latest mallets of Ron Vaughn produce a purity of sound we describe as ‘zero-contact’.  This means that when playing an instrument, the natural sound of the instrument is all that is heard.  In many performances involving mallets there is often a second, undesirable sound produced we call ‘contact noise’.  Contact Noise is the sound of the mallet coming in contact with the instrument.  It’s noise that detracts from the pure sound of the instrument that the musician aspires to bring out in his or her work.  This additional sound is detectable in live and recorded performance, sometimes quite audible, depending on the particular mallet/instrument combination.

Mallets are made in Birch/Maple shafts, or Rattan shafts, sometimes referred to as Rattan handles.

Today, our high-density mallets continue to evolve. The challenges and opportunities are more exciting and demanding than ever before.  It’s a great time to be in the music industry, whether you are a player, manufacturer, designer, or enthusiastic listener. After 40 years, our product development and advances continue every day at Ron Vaughn Percussion.