I am absolutely thrilled to write these words. Encore is now part of the Salyers Percussion family. I have been a fan of Encore since I was a young college percussionist and several years ago I was fortunate enough to become friends with Dan Lidster, founder of Encore Mallets. I am honored that Dan selected us to carry on the Encore tradition of quality and service. Encore has a reputation of making the finest mallets in the industry and has developed signature product lines with many of the world's most respected artists, including Nancy Zeltsman, Naoko Takada, Nanae Mimura, Kana Omori, Anthony DiSanza, Nick Petrella, Valerie Naranjo, Le Yu, Doug Walter and Bryan Carrott.
While the official acquisition took place in January, Salyers Percussion actually started learning the process and assisting Dan with productions a few years ago. This has made for a very smooth transition. The heart of the Encore Mallet sound is the hand crafted latex cores that Dan developed in the early 1980's. Unlike other mallet manufacturers who use latex tubing as part of their mallet construction, Encore uses a unique hand wrapped latex inner wrap that is inspired by traditional Guatemalan latex mallets. Using this process produces a very full fundamental tone and can also be used to create very subtle graduations in mallet hardness.
Dan described part of the original development process that took place while studying with Dr. Vita Chenoweth, “I took a large Guatemalan latex mallet home with me after a lesson and looked for ways to duplicate its sound using the latex I had developed. Dr. Chenoweth was a lady of few words and to the point. When I would bring my mallet back to her each week for critique, her answer was always, ‘not yet.’ Then one day when she finally made the pronouncement, ‘Now!’ I knew I had successfully achieved the sound she was looking for".
Encore has relocated manufacturing to the Salyers Percussion facility in Sugar Land, TX. Please send any questions to bruce@salyerspercussion.com.