Cut Down Penhold Blades
Dave Williams
It would appear to be true, as Wayne has suggested, that the vast majority
of penhold blades on the market are hard....with many Chinese style blade of
stiff and hard equal-width multi ply construction and many K/J blades being
flexy and hard Honoki and/or Cypress tuning forks.
Is this why we see so many cut down shakehand blades in the hands of our
penhold compatriots?
The softer "technical" blades proliferate in the shakeshands offerings,
notable late additions being the Boll and Kong additions to the Butterfly
line...both soft and slow. Of interest, however, is that two or three of
the new BTY blades are thick center ply Honoki wood shakehand blasters that
throw back somewhat the Yasaka Leopards discussed here recently. In fact,
if one looks at the BTY
"New for 2000" stuff, there are more hard blades than soft ones.
There are definitely enough choices out there, if one holds the blade in a
friendly fashion :)
Lefty
Andrew Gooding
> For discussion...
>
> It would appear to be true, as Wayne has suggested, that the vast majority
> of penhold blades on the market are hard....with many Chinese style blade of
> stiff and hard equal-width multi ply construction and many K/J blades being
> flexy and hard Honoki and/or Cypress tuning forks.
Actually Dave, as you've pointed out before, the Korean/Japanese style penhold
blades tend to be soft (but fast) 1 ply Hinoki Cypress. Butterfly has the best
selection out there of K/J penhold blades, and the newer ones (Layer-R and
Sitar) are both hard (either thick center balsa 5 ply or 7 ply). So Butterfly,
at least is trying to give a wider range of choices in the K/J penhold area.
I've got two myself and they're both soft feeling, though the Claves-R is
supposedly medium feel.
The chinese penhold choices do tend toward the hard side, perhaps because the
prototypical Chinese style game of block and smash close to the table favors
the harder blade, while the mid distance power looping game of the K/J
"stylist" favors a softer blade. Certainly the shakehads player has a wider
range of choices, though cutting a shakehands racket down to Chinese style
handle is not a difficult task.
According to a friend that has played with the old and new Avalox blades, the
new Blue Thunder series has a much softer feel than the old ones. Can anyone
confirm this perception?
-- Andrew
>
>
> Is this why we see so many cut down shakehand blades in the hands of our
> penhold compatriots?
>
> The softer "technical" blades proliferate in the shakeshands offerings,
> notable late additions being the Boll and Kong additions to the Butterfly
> line...both soft and slow. Of interest, however, is that two or three of
> the new BTY blades are thick center ply Honoki wood shakehand blasters that
> throw back somewhat the Yasaka Leopards discussed here recently. In fact,
> if one looks at the BTY
> "New for 2000" stuff, there are more hard blades than soft ones.
>
> There are definitely enough choices out there, if one holds the blade in a
> friendly fashion :)
>
> Lefty
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Dave Williams
>
>According to a friend that has played with the old and new Avalox blades, the
>new Blue Thunder series has a much softer feel than the old ones. Can anyone
>confirm this perception?
>
Your points are well taken that the blade choice horizon for penholders is a
little wider in the "New for 2" products. As for Blue Thunder I have played
with old and new and would consider that observation accurate.
Parenthetically, Julian Waters has spent some time the new BTY Kong and
finds it to be a very down the middle choice that plays on the soft
side....and Kong used Avalox most recently before his BTY endorsement deal.
Lefty
agent799
bought in early 90's and used to like when I was a fearless all forehand
hitter. Now it just seems like a piece of concrete.
Also had a BTY Senkoh-5. Looked cool but felt weird.
Donic Person Powerspeed with a Ch penhold handle. It seems like shots when
using it have a higher trajectory. Too high, as in off the table.
I tried buying a Stiga all-round (before they had the CH-PH handle
available) and cutting it but screwed up and cut it too short.
My current favorite blade is a super cheapo Chinese deal. I am not even sure
of the brand. Maybe Winning. Bought it years ago at the Louisiana open.
Never really played with it until recent when I started looking for more
control. It is super comfy. Comes with the grooves already cut for the
penhold grip (why doesn't BTY do this?). Is medium speed with fantastic
springy feel. Want to get another, might try to order from TTI as they have
the Winning brand and see if it the same company.
I am a short-pips, at the table blocker-hitter. Around 1700 level. Once or
twice a week player. Glad to see some penhold discussion here! Have thought
about doing a web site dedicated to penhold grip but too busy.
Has anyone tried the new BTY short pips called RELOP? I have tried about
everything and always come back to Friendship 799.
Agent799
Dave Williams <dwil...@miworld.net> wrote in message
news:82j093$fvu$1...@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net...
> For discussion...
>
> It would appear to be true, as Wayne has suggested, that the vast majority
> of penhold blades on the market are hard....with many Chinese style blade
of
> stiff and hard equal-width multi ply construction and many K/J blades
being
> flexy and hard Honoki and/or Cypress tuning forks.
>
Iskandar Taib
Andrew Gooding <good...@marshall.edu> wrote:
>Actually Dave, as you've pointed out before, the Korean/Japanese
>style penhold blades tend to be soft (but fast) 1 ply Hinoki Cypress.
>Butterfly has the best selection out there of K/J penhold blades, and
>the newer ones (Layer-R and Sitar) are both hard (either thick center
>balsa 5 ply or 7 ply). So Butterfly, at least is trying to give a
>wider range of choices in the K/J penhold area. I've got two myself
>and they're both soft feeling, though the Claves-R is supposedly
>medium feel.
Layer R has been around for a while. Actually, I don't know if most
K/J blades are one ply - in my 86-87 Butterfly catalog, I see 12
different 5 ply blades, and 10 1 ply blades. The five ply blades are
described as being for close to the table attackers, or are for
twirling (Rotor, Twirler). Most of the one ply blades come in square
and round versions - the round versions are for close-to-the-table
play, and the square versions are for "drive attackers at half
distance".
The Senkoh 5 and 1 seem to be only survivors of this line - in the
86-87 catalog, there was the Senkoh 6,7,8,9,DX and Z.
I remember buying several Senkoh Z blades overseas and selling them to
others years ago. Fairly inexpensive in comparison to the
Senkoh-1. The name apparently means "Lightning", I was told.
I should try making a K/J blade sometime. I found a source of cork,
and I can try making the handle out of styrofoam.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: nt...@steel.ucs.indiana.edu | Frog is Frog ala Peach
Home page: http://bigwig.geology.indiana.edu/iskandar/isk2.html
Victor Kan
Dave Williams wrote in message <82jd9q$1ja$1...@nntp4.atl.mindspring.net>...
>Andrew Gooding <good...@marshall.edu> wrote:
>>
>>According to a friend that has played with the old and new Avalox blades,
the
>>new Blue Thunder series has a much softer feel than the old ones. Can
anyone
>>confirm this perception?
I don't know how the Blue Thunder and the older Avalox (Power-series?)
compare, but having recently picked up penhold again, I must say the older
Avalox (I have the 5-ply) is harder than I remember (I gave it up a couple
of years ago).
It is definitely harder feeling than my Butterfly Setaru (one of Butterfly's
softest blades according to their old catalog charts). But it's definitely
softer than the 5-ply Double Happiness penhold blades I have. I'd say it's
middle of the road, maybe tilting to the hard side.
>Parenthetically, Julian Waters has spent some time the new BTY Kong and
>finds it to be a very down the middle choice that plays on the soft
>side....and Kong used Avalox most recently before his BTY endorsement deal.
Speaking of Kong's BTY deal, is the new Tackifire Special the 999
replacement that Kong finally accepted? Or is it the rubber he peeled off
because it didn't feel right to him?
Andrew Gooding
replaces, which is a much slower, softer blade that features Hinoki Cypress plys
rather than a thick balsa center ply. The Layer-R sounds much too hard for my
game.
After playing with the Senkoh-1 and the Claves-R, I think I like the rounded
blade shape on the Claves-R and its controllability (rated All+ by Paddle
Palace, one of the slowest penhold blades, according to Butterfly). It feels
awfully slow in comparison though, so I might switch to faster rubber than the
Avalox Sogno, maybe to Ekrips.
The Senkoh-1 needs constant practice or soft sponge rubber for me to control it
and I seem to mishit slightly more often with it.
I have a Persson Powerspeed with Friendship 802. Feels not terribly hard and
blocks and hits better than the Claves-R. I tend to play at mid distance and
block less than the classic Chinese game. I'm still not used to the Chinese
style grip, but it seems essential for a pips out game as I can't get enough
wrist movement with the K/J style penhold grip to serve effectively or keep
balls on the table. I've been looking at one of the inexpensive Yasaka Sokkoh 5
ply blades to try with inverted, anyone use those?
Haven't tried the Relop, has anyone tried the new Joola Tango Short Pips, the
Tibhar Speedy Soft short pips or the Yasaka PB-1?
-- Andrew
agent799
close look at my cheapo Chinese blade I mentioned in my previous post. It
appears to have a fairly thick (not near as thick as the K/J blades) center
ply of balsa.
I came to the conclusion that perhaps this is why I like the feel of this
blade over all others I have tried. It has a unique springy snappy feel.
Very lively compared to the harder Japanese and even the Swedish blades.
When I got home I checked my catalogs and noticed that BTY's Shamada blade
has a center ply of balsa. Might get one of those as I am paranoid about
only having one blade on hand that I like.
Andrew, you mention both inverted and pips. Which do you normally play with?
I am thinking about going to a thin sheet of inverted on my backhand side
which I almost never use currently. Right now I have long pips no sponge.
Just for an occasional serve or use when I am out of position and desperate.
But if I have inverted, I could serve with it, the flip to my pips to hit.
Also could fool around with the Liu penhold backhand loop!
Also, you mention not being able to get used to the Chinese PH grip. When I
first started PH I used a Chinese blade, but had my fingers fanned out for
stability. This gave me a strong forehand, but zero backhand. But, when I
tried the Chinese grip, the blade just seemed to flop around in my hand. I
was lucky to get one lesson in PH technique from (I think former) US coach
Li Zenshi (sp?). He told that on the Chinese grip that when hitting a
forehand, use pressure on my thumb to stabilize the blade, and on a
backhand, use pressure from the finger. This simple idea helped immensely.
I have not tried any of the pips you mentioned. But I have used:
(I always try to get 1.5 or 1.7 sponge.)
Impartial - yuck
resilon - super yuck
rein - I like it
spin pips - seems ok. lots of people like it.
baxter 25 - seems great for a shakehand backhand control, too slow for any
attack I think.
friendship 799 - what I always come back to. Super control, seems to play
closer to inverted that alot of other pips. I think I have had this with
both Chinese and jap sponge. But not sure as it has been too long since my
first sheets. Current sponge is Japanese. Have found a new source on the
net. $12 a sheet!
have hit a few with juic 889 - seemed like a rock for a sponge, but would
like to try again.
have hit a few with juic pip ace - seemed like mush for a sponge. yuck.
Gotta get to work,
Agent799
Andrew Gooding <good...@marshall.edu> wrote in message
news:384E6792...@marshall.edu...
Andrew Gooding
> Last night at the club myself and a guy who knows the different woods took a
> close look at my cheapo Chinese blade I mentioned in my previous post. It
> appears to have a fairly thick (not near as thick as the K/J blades) center
> ply of balsa.
>
> I came to the conclusion that perhaps this is why I like the feel of this
> blade over all others I have tried. It has a unique springy snappy feel.
> Very lively compared to the harder Japanese and even the Swedish blades.
>
> When I got home I checked my catalogs and noticed that BTY's Shamada blade
> has a center ply of balsa. Might get one of those as I am paranoid about
> only having one blade on hand that I like.
A friend has a Shamada, felt very hard to me, but remember I like super soft
blades. He liked it for playing his game, placement and spin using Juic Elite
or Spinspiel.
>
> Andrew, you mention both inverted and pips. Which do you normally play with?
I started off with inverted, after a long absence went to pips and decided with
the K/J grip that pips didn't work for me. Went to lower and then medium spin
inverted. Tried some higher spin inverted (Sogno) for learning to loop, but
think I will go back to medium spin (Ekrips or Sriver perhaps).
I use my Donic Powerspeed with the Chinese grip with 802 and 2.1 mm GPI sponge.
Like that combination, the fresh pips and the thicker sponge (and perhaps the
black color, which I noticed most one-sided pips out players go to) along with
the increased wrist flexibility from tucking my fingers allow me to get enough
spin to keep forehand drives and full stroke backhands on the table and give me
enough spin for effective serving. I found that Impartial 1.7 mm and Juic
Offense 2.0 mm weren't effective on my Senkoh-1.
>
> I am thinking about going to a thin sheet of inverted on my backhand side
> which I almost never use currently. Right now I have long pips no sponge.
> Just for an occasional serve or use when I am out of position and desperate.
> But if I have inverted, I could serve with it, the flip to my pips to hit.
> Also could fool around with the Liu penhold backhand loop!
I've got some Globe 999 on my backhand, but haven't worked with it enough to be
effective yet. I'm slow at twirling and I'm weighing whether the added weight
is worth it. Maybe a lighter, but still spinny rubber like Juic Elite would be
good for serves and the Penhold backhand loop. The guy who sold me the racket
likes Japanese style inverted on his backhand for the loop, serves and variation
in blocking, but suggested the 999 for learning the backhand loop.
> Also, you mention not being able to get used to the Chinese PH grip. When I
> first started PH I used a Chinese blade, but had my fingers fanned out for
> stability. This gave me a strong forehand, but zero backhand. But, when I
> tried the Chinese grip, the blade just seemed to flop around in my hand. I
> was lucky to get one lesson in PH technique from (I think former) US coach
> Li Zenshi (sp?). He told that on the Chinese grip that when hitting a
> forehand, use pressure on my thumb to stabilize the blade, and on a
> backhand, use pressure from the finger. This simple idea helped immensely.
Good idea, I will try that. Going back and forth from Chinese to K/J penhold is
probably not optimal. Right now I only play every week or two, and the places I
play I need to stay close to the table. With more space the rectangular blade
and softer sponge come into their own.
>
> I have not tried any of the pips you mentioned. But I have used:
> (I always try to get 1.5 or 1.7 sponge.)
> Impartial - yuck
> resilon - super yuck
> rein - I like it
> spin pips - seems ok. lots of people like it.
> baxter 25 - seems great for a shakehand backhand control, too slow for any
> attack I think.
> friendship 799 - what I always come back to. Super control, seems to play
> closer to inverted that alot of other pips. I think I have had this with
> both Chinese and jap sponge. But not sure as it has been too long since my
> first sheets. Current sponge is Japanese. Have found a new source on the
> net. $12 a sheet!
> have hit a few with juic 889 - seemed like a rock for a sponge, but would
> like to try again.
> have hit a few with juic pip ace - seemed like mush for a sponge. yuck.
I like the thicker sponge, didn't like the thinner on the Impartial. I like my
paddle to feel more like a pillow. I like the 802 so far, I heard that it was a
bit spinnier than the 799, with larger pips is that your perception? The guy
who sold me the paddle likes Nittaku Magic Carbon short pips and TSP Spectol,
plays a similar style to you. He thought the 889 was similar though a tick
below those two.
> Gotta get to work,
> Agent799
Nice talking to you,
Andrew
agent799
> I've got some Globe 999 on my backhand, but haven't worked with it enough
to be
> effective yet. I'm slow at twirling and I'm weighing whether the added
weight
> is worth it. Maybe a lighter, but still spinny rubber like Juic Elite
would be
> good for serves and the Penhold backhand loop. The guy who sold me the
racket
> likes Japanese style inverted on his backhand for the loop, serves and
variation
> in blocking, but suggested the 999 for learning the backhand loop.
Yeah, like you, I am debating whether the 2 sided penhold approach is worth
it. The weight is a factor. Plus for someone of my level, will I really see
benefits, or will I lose as many points as gained by getting caught
in-between a twiddle? The whole reason I went to penhold (in early 90's)
after close to 2 years shakehand was I realized that for me, only being able
to play once or twice a week and not being blessed with great athletic
ability, I needed to simplfy my game.
I got this idea after viewing a tape of the '87 worlds and watching in
amazement as Jiang Jiliang won the world championship (beating Waldner) by
using mostly 3 strokes. Push, block and hit. I started to play pip-out
penhold at the club, everyone thought I was crazy at first, but within weeks
I was able to beat, or at least play even with players I never had a chance
with before.
>
>
> Good idea, I will try that. Going back and forth from Chinese to K/J
penhold is
> probably not optimal. Right now I only play every week or two, and the
places I
> play I need to stay close to the table. With more space the rectangular
blade
> and softer sponge come into their own.
Let me know how this works for you...
> I like the thicker sponge, didn't like the thinner on the Impartial. I
like my
> paddle to feel more like a pillow. I like the 802 so far, I heard that it
was a
> bit spinnier than the 799, with larger pips is that your perception? The
guy
> who sold me the paddle likes Nittaku Magic Carbon short pips and TSP
Spectol,
> plays a similar style to you. He thought the 889 was similar though a
tick
> below those two.
I remember I did try 802 once with 1.5 sponge and did not like it. But this
was years ago when I was using the ridiculasly fast BTY Chinese carbon
blade. I am probably going to try it again. I mentioned the place I found on
the web selling 799 & 802 for $12. Update, it is all chinese sponge. TG
enterprise sells 799 & 802 with japenese sponge which is what I currently
have. I am probably going to try a sheet of each with the Chinese sponge to
see what I think. Might actually be better to have the hard sponge for my at
the table block and hit game.
Later,
Agent799 (could later become Agent802 or even AgentRelop!)
Victor Kan
>it. The weight is a factor.
I'm going to try to make an all-balsa blade to see how low I can go with the
weight to make two-sided penhold more feasible for me. I couldn't handle
the weight of my Avalox 5-ply with a sheet of ASTI Lightspeed SP 2.0 and DH
PF4-651 pips 2.0.
The lightest blade I've made is a shakehand model with a medium head size.
It was < 60g using 1/8" balsa and .8mm 3-ply birch faces, and a cherry
handle. I'm going to try using either three 3/32" balsa plies, or
3/32"+1/8"+3/32" balsa and maybe a cork handle. Maybe I can knock down the
weight of the blade another 20g and get the total weight down to like
120-130g, which is about the same as a typical one-sided penhold racket with
Chinese rubber on it.
>Plus for someone of my level, will I really see
>benefits, or will I lose as many points as gained by getting caught
>in-between a twiddle? The whole reason I went to penhold (in early 90's)
>after close to 2 years shakehand was I realized that for me, only being
able
>to play once or twice a week and not being blessed with great athletic
>ability, I needed to simplfy my game.
For the short term, simplifying my penhold game to a one-sided racket has
helped a lot. But I'm still not in good enough shape to be at the same
level in penhold as I am at shakehand (not that that's so high :-).
I think the two-sided penhold has a bright future if it's taught as a major
backhand technique rather than a variation. It has a lot of possibilities
making it almost the equal of the shakehand backhand (IMHO, the most
versatile of all TT strokes).
As an occasional variation, I think it's not worth the extra 40g or so of
weight for a second rubber. I just watched the 1996 World Cup semis and
finals again and I think Liu Guoliang used the back side loop less than 10
times total in both matches (against Saive and Waldner) and probably got the
point less than half the time. One of the spectacular, quite unexpected
point winners was a fast backhand loop down the line by Liu. I bet it was
especially surprising to his opponent.
Scott Gordon
That way you could be a classical penhold hitter off the forehand,
with scary backhand loops!... and the weight would be the same as
a regular penhold paddle.
Scott
Andrew Gooding
The whole reason I went to penhold (in early 90's)
after close to 2 years shakehand was I realized that for me, only being able
> to play once or twice a week and not being blessed with great athletic
> ability, I needed to simplfy my game.
I agree, this way I don't have to worry about going backhand or forehand, just
fade to the forehand. I rarely get caught in between the two, and I don't have
to agonize like Dave W. does about my backhand -- get it on the table and wind
up for the forehand.
> I got this idea after viewing a tape of the '87 worlds and watching in
> amazement as Jiang Jiliang won the world championship (beating Waldner) by
> using mostly 3 strokes. Push, block and hit. I started to play pip-out
> penhold at the club, everyone thought I was crazy at first, but within weeks
> I was able to beat, or at least play even with players I never had a chance
> with before.
I like the freedom to hit anything with the pips out -- and leaving welts is a
good psychological ploy.
> I remember I did try 802 once with 1.5 sponge and did not like it. But this
> was years ago when I was using the ridiculasly fast BTY Chinese carbon
> blade. I am probably going to try it again. I mentioned the place I found on
> the web selling 799 & 802 for $12. Update, it is all chinese sponge. TG
> enterprise sells 799 & 802 with japenese sponge which is what I currently
> have. I am probably going to try a sheet of each with the Chinese sponge to
> see what I think. Might actually be better to have the hard sponge for my at
> the table block and hit game.
Try www.alphatt.com and you can get the topsheet and sponge separately, either
Japanese (4-5 different hardnesses, I'm using the fastest) or Chinese in 3
choices of thickness. I've heard that the sponge is better quality too, and
along with the topsheet is $18-20, though you have to assemble yourself.
>
> Later,
> Agent799 (could later become Agent802 or even AgentRelop!)
See you!
-- Andrew
Dave Williams
>
>I agree, this way I don't have to worry about going backhand or forehand, just
>fade to the forehand. I rarely get caught in between the two, and I don't have
>to agonize like Dave W. does about my backhand -- get it on the table and wind
>up for the forehand.
>
great shakehands guilt with me that somehow more is possible:)
>
>Try www.alphatt.com and you can get the topsheet and sponge separately, either
>Japanese (4-5 different hardnesses, I'm using the fastest) or Chinese in 3
>choices of thickness. I've heard that the sponge is better quality too, and
>along with the topsheet is $18-20, though you have to assemble yourself.
>
free of charge, I recall. He has a medium soft (pale yellow) 1.9 mm
Japanese sponge that is darn near perfect with 802!
agent799
cool to an extent. Could absolutely hit anything without fear of the spin,
but, if I did not get the initiative in the point immediately I was in big
trouble. Hard to control blocks and shots deep to my backhand. People
absolutely hated playing against it, even though I was not very good at
controlling it!
Agent799
Scott Gordon <sgo...@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:NID34.1127$2h.1...@typhoon.sonic.net...
>
agent799
lonely out here! This is inspiring me to find the time to do a website
dedicated to PH stuff. Could be a watch on different PH's in US and around
the world. Our state (TN) championship was won this year by a PH. A guy from
Malaysia (I think) plays Korean style using what looked like a 1-ply. He
used Sriver rubber. His name is Tai Long Tey. Around 23-2400 level.
Andrew, you mentioned you like your Donic Powerspeed. I hate mine. Seem to
be addicted to 5-ply's. Interested in a swap? I would like to try another
K/J style as long as it was a five ply with rounded head. Like Senkoh-5 or
Claves. I had a Senkoh-5 before but did not give it much of a chance as I
was addicted to the Chinese carbon at the time. One of my fav. players Hyung
Jung Hwa (sp?) supposedly used one. Anyway let me know and I'll send this
one to you.
Agent799
Dave Williams
players at the 1998 North American Teams revealed a proliferation of the
familiar red lenses of the Avalox brand, among both penhold and shakehands
players. Avalox is made in Sweden to the "specifications of the Chinese
National Team"
Wondering out loud, are the Avalox chinese penhold blades distinct from
Stiga products or simply "lense swaps"?
Lefty the inquisitive marketer
agent799
Just got the new TG Enterprises catalog. Big news is there is actually a
page dedicated to various BTY penhold blades!
Complaint...does anyone else get tired of these lame and uninformative
descriptions of rubbers? I look mostly at short pips, but I am sure it is
the same for inverted. Case in point...page 45...3 different versions of
yasaka short pips with very vague and similar descriptions. I wish they
would just tell us the hardness of the sponge and topsheet, plus the height
and diameter of the pips. Also noted that Paddle Palace refers to Omote as
having a hard sponge, but TG says it is a "soft pips out rubber" !
Iskandar Taib
Andrew Gooding <good...@marshall.edu> wrote:
>The Layer-R is new for 2000, according to Butterfly. The Claves-R is
>what it replaces, which is a much slower, softer blade that features
>Hinoki Cypress plys rather than a thick balsa center ply. The
>Layer-R sounds much too hard for my game.
Butterfly tends to recycle old products as "New". My 86-87 catalog
contains the Layer-R, and the supposedly new Challenger pips out
rubber. Wonder when Fraulein rubber makes it's second debut..
Victor Kan
>contains the Layer-R, and the supposedly new Challenger pips out
>rubber. Wonder when Fraulein rubber makes it's second debut..
Yasaka too--some catalogs are listing Visco rubber as new. Some folks tell
me it's been around long enough to have been available in colors like gold.
As for a product called Fraulein coming back--well, maybe when Germany gets
a woman player in the top ten who was actually born in Germany. (Might be a
long time :-). Maybe they'll just rename it "ehemaliger chinesischer
spieler" or "ehemchinspiel" for short.
Iskandar Taib
"Soft rubber" seems to be a euphemism (from Japanese usage, I think)
for "sponge rubber" (no sponge is "hard rubber", hence "hardbat"). So
essentially, everything from Sriver to Phantom 009 is "soft rubber".
Yeah, I agree that rubber descriptions are more colorful than helpful
- but that's why I love to pore through the catalogs.
I've finally figured out why Donic has so many lines of rubber. The
"Coppa-Waldner" line is made in Japan, while the "Desto" line is made
in Germany. In a parallel world, we'd have them described as
"German-style" and "Japanese-style" lines.
Incidentally - does all 999 topsheet rubber bear the "Globe"
trademark, or is Juic's embossed with the Juic brandname, etc.?
Matt Cary
<good...@marshall.edu> wrote:
>I like the freedom to hit anything with the pips out -- and leaving welts is a
>good psychological ploy.
If you hit someone medium-hard it leaves a red circle, but if you get
a really hard hit, it leaves a red ring with a white circle in the
middle. I like to call them donuts. On a day where I'm hitting
consistently hard, but just long, I've left several donuts on my
opponent. It's pretty strange looking.
--
"His intellectual property has expired."
Andrew Gooding
agent799 wrote:
Thanks for the offer, but the only 5 ply with a rounded head I have (the
Claves-R) is what I usually play with right now. I'd like to try an Aspyte, but
don't have the cash. I do have an extra 1 ply with rectangular head (Juic
Jupiter 120) but I'v already modified it for a lefty, which may make it less
desirable. Probably not ideal for your style anyway. You might want to try
the new Butterfly Layer-R if you like hard and fast blades. I'll keep my ears
open to see if someone is looking for a Powerspeed, 1 is enough for me right
now.
-- Andrew