I have tuned ONE Euro rubber (an old sheet of Aurus) and ONE Japanese rubber (an ANCIENT sheet of Bryce)
I waz careful and the result was a rubber WAY better in spin and control than what they were, old, worn-out rubbers. Waz prolly a 10-15% bump in spin and good feel. Nothing beets the feel of the topsheetof a new sheet of Aurus, that feels like supple, expensive Italian crafted leather.
The few Chinese sheets I tried had mixed results. I over-did the tuner on one sheet and it turned to mush. USELESS. The other sheets I tried made them 3X better rubbers in every way, but the speed increase wasn't there, which is just fine by me. I rely on spin and placement on my opening attacks if the ball isn't powerloop height.
I concur with the previous poster who sez the Chinese like their rubber/sponge combo tuned. It works for them obviously. It is NOT like they do not have access to other equipment, s go figure.
For us Amatures, we can make custom combos ourselves. Now
www.colestt.com sells some Chinese topsheets separately as well as a few sponges. If you have the time and patience, try separating the TENERGY sponge from an expired sheet and glue it onto a sheet of 999. That topsheet is about as good as it gets for ALLROUND control and versatility. I used to use 999 on a firm Dawei Quattro sponge for a few Years on both FH and BH. On the TBS, that was one controllable attacking force on either wing, and as a PLUS, it was pretty damned immune to getting wet/slippery during HUMID summers where most players had to wipe their rubbers with their hands literally after each hit. Imagine trying to play a match like that. For real, in extreme humidity, T05 and Xiom Omega II are about the WORST rubbers, they all get wet and slippery in a hurry. Something about the topsheet does it. Imagine you wiped off your rubber right before your opponent serves. The opponent serves, you push short, opponent pushes short, you both play cat and mouse until someone hits one long and you get into a counterlooping rally. You get the ball to your powerzone and attempt to unleash a strong shot. You already see what you shot s going to do - huge damage to opponent as it rushes and spins heavy over the net to land away from opponent. You now wake up and see reality as your now moist topsheet failed to grab the ball and the shot didn't even make it to the net.
ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH !!!
A tacky Chinese topsheet (that you rendered more Euro/Japanese by using sweat to takeaway half the tack) is still very resistant to moisture accumulation. In tourneys in Korea, you could inspect the opponent's bat and not now, but during 2009-2012, not everyone had Tenergy, so if opponent saw you notice he had Tenergy, he smrked like he knew he had the advantage. When he saw 999 on my bat, he asked what it was and I told him it costs less than $10 a topsheet compared to his $60 Tenergy. (Hehe, it costs MOAR now, eh?) Now opponent is about to laugh hiz arse off thinking he is about to outgun me. As the match goes on and the hall get moar humid, he is missing moar and moar and my shots are landing with heavy spin. WTF is going on he thinks and to this day he is clueless.
A Chinese topsheet on a sponge of your choice is NOT a bad choice (for summer).
