Risha material-experiences and advice

Hi all,

I wanted to start this thread for a while but never had the chance to get my head around it but now here goes...

I have in the past, as many of us have, used random pieces of plastic and discarded cable ties of various thickness/stiffness to try to find my "perfect" risha. I have also tried the Yissi 10 for a $1 or whatever pieces from ebay and also a few pyramid sizes. I was lucky enough to get a horn risha from resident Udi John Vergara which has served me very well for the last year and a half (I have been very careful to keep it oiled and well filed) until disaster struck and i seem to have lost it!

So although I intend to purchase a new risha from John at some point in the near future i would like to hear what people think of other materials that are available and also have a post with as much info on risha materials as possible... I thought we could start with the stock list of risha blanks from oudstrings.com:

1, Tortite
2, Mizrite
3, Talonite

any opinions on these 3 materials?

thanks in advance
Bodhi

The horn risha I had was the BEST risha I have had... and if these are that cheap they are worth a go for the money! I do like to try and keep the luthiers in the loop though so I would recommend John Vergara's to people if they don't have the time or inclination to scrape away at horn for a few hours!

I remember once someone posted on here about a horn risha they had made themself from a full cow horn... this is probably the cheapest way to get a horn risha but... experience is often more important than price

Thanks Dan but could you give a description of the difference between the mizrite and horn and Pyramid?