Although Gary has said in another post that he doesn't run into the issue, I've always had problems with my mallets bumping into each other using the Burton Grip. I had sort of an Aha moment and I wanted to share with y'all.
I've struggled for a while using my inner mallets to play "lines" vs.the "Burton Technique" and have made a point to always play with four mallets. Probably because of other activities, my elbow has been bothering me and the Burton Grip seems to be less irritating after a long practice. I made a point to strictly play lines with the upper right mallet and not go back to my old ways. So here's the "Aha" moment.
Instead of hunching forward over the vibe, I leaned a little more back, standing with my weight back on my heels more. Just that little adjustment I felt my hands open up and the inner right mallet pulled back away from the vibe and the mallet collisions were reduced tenfold. Also, when playing lower notes if I slightly twist my body toward the low end of the vibe helps some too. To me the acid test is playing Take Five (in the original key -I think Eb Minor) and a Bb Major scale alternating; they are both doable now. (Granted one doesn't really need to alternate LRLR for a Bb Major scale)
Getting a little deeper into this, I notice that Gary at times lifts his right hand and will play on top of/over the inner left mallet. In my mind that's another technique that he uses to avoid the collisions. When I do that if I use a mushroom shaped mallet, the sound on the bar changes. But Gary's mallets are not mushroom heads, and using a set of his mallets (I have a old good vibes set) it's not much of an issue.
I like the idea of using a technique that's tried and true, and playing more melody oriented stuff on the top mallet makes a lot of sense.
So has anyone else had a similar situation with grips or a stance, or am I over-thinking this?
-- IG