I was wanting some opinions of Encore's mallets (particularly the Yarn Wound and Nancy Zeltsman series). I own the full set of Innovative's Soloists and Malletech's Concertos. How would you rate the Encores, in terms of sound, construction, durability, etc?

I've played on the harder concerto mallets, and on the innovative soloist mallets. I have several pairs of Encore mallets including the Zeltsmans, latex wound, yarn, and cord wound.

The Zeltsman mallets are really sweet with a really nice full sound, I use them on cellos suites and ensemble playing. They are a little heavier (like the concertos) The cord wound ones are maybe my favorite, but I wish they would have a mallet between their med. hard and med. I also use some of the blue med. hard yarns and they are really nice. I've only had them for a short time, but construction seems bomber. The latex ones I have had for a long time and they do get a little harder with age, but they seem to hold up exceedingly well. I have all my students buy the latex ones (23ALB) because they are so cheap (18.90/pr at www.percussionspecialist.com).