The TG8 or "Stacatti" is the hardest felt mallet of the bamboo felt series with exception of the Rite of Spring Mallet. It is the only mallet that uses American felt, but, like the TG7, has a slightly thicker shaft and enough weight so that the sound is full bodied while pointed at the same time. This mallet is built so that the core has more of a donut shape to it.  I used a cork core because I wanted the weight to be distributed more to the upper-middle portion of the stick, as to not be cumbersome when playing fast passages.