OSP Virtuoso +

I've played with both blades with several versions of both blades (straight, concave, small, medium) for over a year and have gotten to know some of the pros and cons of owning them

Background: Blades played for more than 3 months: Galaxy N10, Stiga allround Allround NCT, Zhang Jike ALC, Galaxy Earth 1, Virtuoso+, Virtuoso-. Good technique, lacking experience (3 years of proper play).

Currently playing the Virtuoso- for more than 6 months.

The both blades differ in their outer plies. The limba outer-ply is slightly treated to be a bit harder on the Virtuoso-
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1. First impressions/handle/Gluing

Both blades are very high quality. The workmanship is top-notch. Nothing to complain about here. You can get them in S/M/L head sizes. Weight is generally around 87-90 grams. From personal experience, straight handle + medium head size is head-heavy for most modern rubbers so keep that in mind. Straight + small head size is slightly head heavy. Concave + small is balanced at the center./handle I tried a friend's flaired+ medium and found it to be more or less balanced at the center too.

You can choose from a variety of handles. For some reason, I found the Virtuoso+'s flaired handle to be quite a bit larger than the Virtuoso-'s flaired handle. Don't go 100% on what I'm saying because I couldn't compare them side by side (bought the Virtuoso- after I sold the Virtuoso+) but it would be good to ask OSP yourself. I had to sell the Virtuoso+ in flaired simply because it didn't feel comfortable but I found the Virtuoso- in flaired to be much more comfortable.

I normally use Free Chack II but for the Virtuoso- I had to use the Free Chack I (stronger glue) because the rubber was simply not sticking that well to the top ply. Perhaps with time it will be easier to glue. I had a similar experience with my Stiga Allround NCT but it got better with time.

2. Playing characteristics.

2 a). Serving/Short game.

Both blades give you good dwell time though the Virtuoso- offers slightly more dwell. Serving was nearly identical with both of these blades. Spin production is similar to the Allround NCT and you can keep with serve short without any problems.

However, I did find that the Virtuoso- gave me slightly better feeling on my receives. It was easier to keep with ball short because of the softer outer ply.

I almost always do a soft spin-flick (either backhand or forehand). If you really want to go for a flipkill, you can get more acceleration with the Virtuoso+ as the top ply is better suited for harder flicks. It was definitely easier to do a spin-flick with the Virtuoso- though.

Wasn't too much difference in the long push but my long pushes aren't a very strong part of my game so I can't compare the performance very well in this department.

2 b) First topspin, spinny looping, drive-looping, mid-distance

Both blades had a relatively high throw angle but there are closer in terms of speed that I had expected. Both blades are noticeably faster than my Allround NCT, which makes the OSP Virtuoso- on the higher side of OFF-. With the Allround NCT, I was really having trouble playing tournaments or training for more than 2 hours, especially with the plastic ball, but both of the blades have enough zip for looping.

The throw angle is still lower than the Allround NCT blade as a direct result of the speed. Perhaps the V- has a slightly higher throw than the + but it's very, very marginal.

It was easy to open against backspin with both blades. The V- is a bit more tolerant of being in the wrong position because it takes less energy to activate the blade. Then again, my forehand rubber is also on the harder side so with a softer one both blades will forgive imperfect footwork. V+ is still much more forgiving compared to say, an ALC blade.

The spin quality is high but it's what I expected after getting used to the blade. My forehand opening shot is my strongest shot and I didn't really see a difference in terms of spin if I compared it with the Allround NCT. However, I did have better quality in my shot compared to the Earth 1 or the ZJK ALC but that's because my timing/contact is not good enough to create that much spin with a koto outer ply. What I'm trying to say is, that you shouldn't expect these blades to magically increase the spin of your loops but it can help you improve your contact (because of the feedback that I'll talk about later), which will improve the spin of your loops.

If you go for a harder loop or a drive-kill, you will feel the increased stiffness of the V+ giving you more zip but for regular looping and for half-distance spinny looping, both blades felt comfortable. However, as I said, the V- gives you a bit more safety.

2 c) Blocking, Countering, Smashing

It depends on your blocking style. If you like to punch or push the ball, or give it bit more speed, you will like the way the V+ blocks. If you like spin-blocking, you will like both of these blades. For an emergency block against a powerful shot, I think the V- gives me a touch more control, but the V+ also doesn't lack control.

For low-spin shots such as countering and smashing, you will feel an increase in speed with the V+.


3 Ball-feeling

As others have pointed out, the vibration that you feel with both blades is very pleasing and you do know where you've contacted the ball and how good your contact was. This is not exclusive to the V+ or V- as other allwood blades give you good feedback as well. I do have to say that the feeling and feedback from these blades and especially the V- were better than anything I've tried and the feeling from the V- was on par with the more expensive Nittaku Acoustic. This can really help non-advanced players improve their game. In the short game, I also felt that I had better feeling with the V- compared to with the V+.

4. Other Feedback

Two higher lever players (TTR 1700 and TTR 1900) than me also tested these blades. The 1900TTR rated player (2200+USATT) went with the V- as he really enjoyed the feeling. The 1700 TTR rated player still plays with his Boll ALC but preferred the V- as well. His reasoning was that if he wanted a blade with great feeling, he would get the V-, if wanted to go the stiffer route, he would rather have something like his Boll ALC.

5 Final thoughts

I think that the V- is a standout blade. It's fast enough and gives you great feeling. Personally, my playing level/rating is at the highest it's been because of how well I've been able to train with this blade. If you want a touch more speed on straight shots, you can get the V+ but the speed difference is not that high and not always felt. If you really want a stiffer all-wood blade, you can check out the other OSP 7 ply allwood blades.

I use this blade for penhold (I played penhold first before learning shakehand but I still play both styles) and I got the OSP Virtuoso + (chinese penhold handle) back in 2013. Mine came in at 84 grams (as I requested) which I suspect most penhold players would find a little heavy but that's how I like it. With OSP handmade blades you can actually request different head sizes and handle types and even handle orientation for a small additional cost. I just got a standard one and didn't ask for any changes. I am not totally sure what composition is each layer but I am confident that it's a 5 ply wood with limba as outer layers. By the way I would say I am slightly weaker penhold style nowadays (I play more with shakehand now), maybe around 1800 USATT.

General characteristics:

This blade has impressive dwell and feedback for all shots. You can really feel the shot whether you are doing standard drives/loops/blocks and even I feel it has good control when mucking around and doing some lobbing as a penhold player. Before I got the Virtuoso + I played with YEO Ma Lin and DHS Hao 1 and this blade is definitely an upgrade in terms of power and speed. It also has immaculate control for the short receive game which I feel is really important in a penholder's game.

FH: This is obviously vital for a penholder's game and I get the impression with an OSP penhold handle the handle orientation is naturally FH orientated as in the angle of the handle is not perfectly in centre with the rest of the blade. For me drives/loops/counters/blocks have excellent power and feel and dwell time is plenty whether you like hitting off the bounce or take a step back and loop from mid distance. The only small issue I have is that I feel perhaps the a slightly harder out ply would work better for me so in fact I have been thinking about getting a OSP V'King blade which I believe is identical except that it uses koto as outer ply instead of limba. I don't really play many topspin rallies way off the table but to me the trajectory is mid-low so you have to adjust further away from the table.

BH: I use both penhold traditional backhand, particularly those which comes fast into the middle of my body and RPB for looping top and backspin mid-far distance. Traditional backhand block feels really good with this blade, it has a very solid feeling when blocking and there is plenty of control and the blade feels like it borrows the opponent's power very well on blocks. I would say I have a pretty good RPB for an intermediate player and I can generate a surprising amount of power with my wrist even for loop kills with RPB. I have to say though that the orientation of the racquet handle (OSP penhold style) is not advantageous for RPB in my opinion, blades such as DHS Hurricane Hao II are in fact better in this one respect. I would also prefer a more stiff, direct feeling for RPB blocks/punches (see above for the V'King blade). RPB loops are very good though due to the softer, high dwell time.

I generally wouldn't ever rate 5/5 or 10/10 when reviewing any equipment since I simply believe there is always room for improvement for the "perfect" blade. The TTD reviews only allows whole numbers on rating, but I would rate this blade generally more like 4.5/5, I believe only the outer ply could be a little more stiff (either koto or slightly thicker?) and it would be near perfect for me. This is a battle hardened weapon for me, the blade has plenty of "scars" and of course like any wooden blade you will get scratches and small chips off edges but the durability is pretty amazing as much as I can tell.

Virtuoso +

OSP Blades, made the old fashioned way: hand made, built after you order it.

Blade construction: Limba-Limba-Ayous-Limba-Limba


Okay, I think this is the perfect racket for me right now. It is an Off (speed rated) blade. It is fast enough but not too fast. The outer plies are fairly soft and it has great touch for the short game. So pushing the ball short or looping or flipping short are easy and the blade allows you to make all kinds of touch shots.


You can make your pushes very short and nice and spinny. This helps make receiving serve much easier. Flipping short balls is also pretty easy because this blade allows you to do all touch shots with good control.


It also has great feedback and really nice wood feeling. So it is easy to feel exactly where on the blade surface you have made contact.


The blade has excellent dwell time so you can loop with control and a lot of spin. It feels like I can put the ball exactly where I want to. But it also has good gears so that when I swing harder I can make shots with great power.


The blade is good at looping from any distance. When I am backed up I have no problem playing from far. But the blade really shines close to the table and at mid-distance where you can make power loops with precision.


This blade is ideal for an Allround Offensive player who does a little of everything and values spin and placement on his shots but also wants to be able to put the ball away with power shots when the opportunity arises.


The blade has some flex but not as much as the Virtuoso. The blade has a really nice deep pitch on contact that makes me want to keep driving the ball and making power loops. This blade can make you addicted to the feeling of a good loop or drive.


All in all, this blade feels like the ideal blade for an intermediate to advanced offensive minded player.


A friend of mine who is a semi-pro player has one of those 6mm Clippers which he got in 1991. He also has two Nittaku/Avalox P-700s from back in the same year. Those two blades feel unreal. Before I felt this and my Virtuoso (OFF-), those three blades felt better than any other blade I had tried. The Virtuoso + and the Virtuoso (OFF-) feel just as good but a little bit slower with more control and dwell time. But they have that big wood feeling that I really love.

Some people who don't like it say it is too soft. I asked for it to be, basically, as heavy as possible: I have the small head (150mm x 157mm) and it is over 90 grams which is what they list as the heaviest weight. That is perfect for me, especially since the handle is NOT hollow so it is NOT head heavy which I also like.

It is center balanced. Not too much weight in the handle. Not too much weight in the head. So some people will like that and others will not. Like Der_Echte will want more weight in the handle and someone else will want more weight in the head. But for me it is perfect. [emoji2]

And one person told me he didn't like it because it freaked him out how he could feel exactly where the ball was on the blade face when he hit. That also is not a downside to me.

A lot of people will complain it is too slow, I definitely don't think so. But those people who want Sardius or Schlager Carbon speed will. Someone who is used to a TB ALC will notice it is a bit slower but, if that is not a concern, they will adjust to it.

For me it is more than fast enough even though my technique is good enough to handle a Schlager Carbon. [emoji2]

I just like the all wood, moderate speed thing and generating my own power.

Oh, one more positive. For a long time I have felt that Butterfly blades are the most solid I have seen. You bang the side on the edge of the table by accident while serving and they seem to sustain the least damage.

Somehow this one seems indestructible. My Virtuoso (OFF-) and my V'King are both solid and about the same in terms of sustaining blows as a Butterfly blade.

But this V+ is a tank. It may be because they made the small head with the highest weight. But I have slammed it into the edge of the table a couple of times and it barely got scratched. I was actually amazed by how solid it is. I have never seen a blade as strong as this one.