Side tape REALLY change the feeling or not? What do you think?

[Newbiee]

Come on guys, relax 😅

 

[NetProphet]

Come on guys, relax 😅

Relax with or without Edgetape????

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Relax with or without Edgetape????

You can use edge tape or not as you choose. It is a personal choice. Either is fine. Relaxing is not a bad idea though.

 

[NetProphet]

You can use edge tape or not as you choose. It is a personal choice. Either is fine. Relaxing is not a bad idea though.

I'm sorry, I don't understand 🤷

 

[NDH]

Yeah, it was just a friendly back and forth banter, one believing one thing and one another. I don't think you'll find anything overly pushy, arrogant, untoward or otherwise is any of my posts but then it comes to, I just don't understand much about the game from the one going off on mental essay length tangents to convince all.
Of course he is entitled to his belief and opinion, as is anyone and if you write essays then they may be challenged but no need to resort to insult to those who don't necessarily agree, right?
Oh and the footage thing, you must record and post videos of yourself to have a worthwhile opinion it seems...

Up to speed now I hope 😁

I relatively new returning to the sport (~3yrs ago now) but have 10 yrs total experience, possibly a baby by the yrs and quality of experience some ppl in here would have but I see the point is that moderators and others will just label you low IQ with difficulty understanding if you can't be flogged into agreement.
Unless your playing 40yrs and have video to prove it 😉

You are preaching to the choir on the video point.

For as long as TTD has existed (slight exaggeration), I've advocated that people should post a short video of their level (just basic stuff) because it really helps add context.

It's not to say a newbies opinion becomes worthless, far from it! It just adds a level of understanding that is otherwise missing.

Experience does not necessarily mean a well informed/knowledgable opinion either.

I know 100's (literally) of TT players in the UK who have been playing for many many years, and simply don't care (or have never looked into) equipment or technique (including edge tape!)

They probably don't even know what their rubbers are! 😂

And yet they still play at a very high level (likely higher than the majority of the forum)

So, back on point...

Carl (and others) feel some people can feel the difference. He's speaking from a very, very experienced POV within the TT community.

Myself (and you, plus others) think it's unlikely they'd be able to feel the difference if blindfolded (I reckon the placebo effect would be real though, and if it was a known test, people would likely say they could).

The answer is likely somewhere in the middle.

It's one of those questions that really only has one answer..... Try it for yourself. If you feel the difference (and like it), then great.

If you don't, then it's up to you if you use it or not.

I didn't used to, and now I do 😁

 

[Loop Lob Smash]

Talking about context...
Here's some interesting context:

"BTW: I have a few friends who are crazy good, semi-pro level. They can beat many players playing seriously for under 3 years with a tiny racket, a cell phone, a shoe, a rock, a block of wood, a big lollipop. Now, that sounds like I am joking, and it is pretty silly. But it is also true. These guys can play with anything and beat most players who are (USATT rating) under 1500, with almost any object you hand to them....even a frying pan."
(https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/need-help-selecting-a-blade.28545/#post-387016)

A bit of edge tape hardly turns a bat into a shoe does it?

 

[omelet]

Videos, please!!!! Its the honorable, vulnerable thing to do so we know people arent just talking shit.

 

[Newbiee]

Videos, please!!!! Its the honorable, vulnerable thing to do so we know people arent just talking shit.

🤔🤔🤔

 

[NetProphet]

Videos, please!!!! Its the honorable, vulnerable thing to do so we know people arent just talking shit.

I will upload video one day, probably when season starts again. I have no idea what my lvl is within different ranking systems so it will eventually be fun to find out.
But I also hate seeing myself in videos or photos, even my wedding video! I just can't handle being in the middle of it so to speak so videoing myself is alien to me. Let alone uploading that vid to a public forum!!!
But I will do it when I have a question on my technique etc that I think can be helped by input and reaction from the knowledge community here.
Just not yet tho😂

 

[Tyce]

People seem on edge here... Maybe some tape will fix it

 

[Gozo Zyreruna]

No edge tape?

Preposterous!

How dare you? What if during such violent and vigorous play you accidentally damage the club table? Dent it for example.

How will you compensate the club owner. Do you even have adequate third party liability insurance? Or USD 450.00 spare cash on stand by?

Edge tape: Coz' it's worth it.

Gozo: Helping the EJ community since 2021.

 

[Der_Echte]

Lets separate the issues of whether it changes the weight, whether it changes the feel, and whether it matters.

1) It definitely adds weight since the tape does weigh something and you are putting it on the edge of the blade. It adds more of a feeling of weight than if you put the same amount of tape on the handle. But the amount of weight is still minor.

Yes, minor and weight distribution isn't too terrible in net terms to my feel.

2) I can feel the difference. But maybe not everyone would care. I don't personally care either. But I have gone back and forth with a piece of edge tape, on, off, on, off to see if it was just in my head. I could feel the difference. But the difference wasn't that important to me. If you had me blindfolded and you were handing me the same blade with the tape on, then with it off and repeating while randomly taking on and off, if I felt each 10 times, as long as it is one blade and the same piece of tape being added and taken away, I am pretty comfortable that I could feel which is which. But it still does not matter because (read next part....)

I never really felt it affected my play at all nor could I feel it different immediately... but if you were to test out a dozen blades the same hour, you would be hitting the edge of bat with ball a LOT as the way the bat moves in the air is different blade to blade. I have seen sum pretty damn good players do that a lot when they EJd.

3) Does it matter: If you used the setup with tape for 5 min, you would adjust and it would not really change anything about what you do in training or match play. You would adjust how much force you need for your strokes so everything was pretty much the same. You can say the same thing in reverse.

Korrekt IMO. You can adjust to it pretty damn fast... and Carl quantified it.

So, based on number 3, the issue boils down to whether you like edge tape or not. I like seeing the wood. To me it looks more raw when you see the wood of the blade.

I used to like side tape, especially branded side tape... lately, last few years I do not use it.

By the way: number 3 applies to many changes in TT equipment as well. Regardless of the setup, as long as it is not wildly too fast for the player to handle, if you play with it for a while, you will adjust to the setup and then the setup does not matter.

Yes and no. Equipment makes it easier to do or harder to do things... we can all adjust, but never overcome laws of physics... but recently Der_Echte did exactly that by losing 40 lbs in 4 months.

If you played with a pretty fast setup that you could handle for 6 months and used nothing else, and then switched to a setup that was a few notches slower, at first the setup would feel REALLY SLOW. But if you used it for 6 months and then switched to the faster setup that you had been using prior, the faster setup would feel really fast.....And then, as you used it, you would adjust and get used to it.

My experience is that if I have been using a faster blade for a year plus, then go down to an all wood ALL+ to OFF- class wood blade... I immediately play better and better... then when I go back to faster blade, I play better than before.

Maybe it is because I learned to see and lineup the ball into the effective strike zone better with slower blade... then that skill carried on. Just a thought and not science.

The reason a developing player would not benefit from a fast fast setup is, it would cause the player to cut down his stroke, to NOT TAKE a FULL stroke. Once a full stroke is in muscle memory for real and a player can adjust his stroke to get the ball to land on the table without cutting the stroke down, then you can kind of use almost anything.

This is the classical argument of a pundit... I used to be really not into this thinking, but the pundit ways do work. So of course there is merit to this.

I think the real skill is seeing what happened at impact, so you know where - when -with what spin, pace and vector when ball gets past you endline... all so you can quickly figure out what you wanna do about it and get into position to do it.

I that is number one skill in TT... so many misses and mistakes stem from that. The next number one skill follows that... which is getting the ball into the center of effective strike zone while you are balanced and exploding to the ball.

This is regardless of equipment. I would argue in favor of pundit type thinking in that slower bat and control oriented rubbers make it easier for the player to strike shots in the strike zone... and you know when you mis-strike... so you develop a better skill of getting ball to strike zone... that skill is big time and carries over to faster equipment...

... but I am right there with the pundits arguing that it is damned difficult to get the skill of consistent middle of strike zone when you got master blaster bat... you can mis strike ball and it still feels like a great strike, even though it waz crap.

So, so much of the equipment dialogue is not actually important to a player developing the skills of TT.

I would argue equipment does matter for the reasons we discussed, but agree with Carl's sentiment that a modern fast bat isn't gunna give you the number one skill or grow into it faster.

Do you like edge tape? Use it! Do you not like edge tape? Don't use it. The rest does not matter.

Stimmt. Gesundheit, that is how you say agree in German.

But feel free to try that test of hitting three balls with the edge tape on, and then pulling it off and hitting another three balls, and putting it back on, and taking it off. Do it several times while trying to pay attention and see if you can feel any difference. What someone else can feel does not matter that much. See if you can feel any difference or not. It is a very easy test and it won't cost anything. The glue on edge tape allows you to take it off and put it back on many times. .................... Der_Echte would not be able to tell .......................

I am a real latekommer to da thread. I commented below Sir Carl's remarks.

I have played many years with and a few without side tape. I play well with either. Yes, there is weight, but the overall net distribution outside is not so bad to affect it much... and you get used to it pretty fast.

Blades look better with branded side tape, you feel better with it and it gives some small degree of protection.

That doesn't sound terribly bad.

 

[Der_Echte]

I didn't really get into the physics of head heavy hollowed out or solid lower balance.

Research my past posts on this to learn how I feel. (you would see I like heavy weight low balance solid)

 

[SofaChamp]

My gut feeling as a low-mid level amateur: yes it does change the feel. My first coach told me that edge tape isn't masculine (this was a long time ago when you were still allowed to say such things) and I am convinced that edge tape makes my shots less explosive because of the extra drag it creates.

 

[lodro]

edge tape makes my shots less explosive because of the extra drag it creates.

Now I have heard it all 😂
😂 😂 😂 😂

 

[omelet]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25371-pro-violinists-fail-to-spot-stradivarius-in-blind-test/

somethings are BS like tone-wood mattering for electric guitars. a double blind test is the gold standard we ought to do for this topic matter. LOLOLOL!!!

AND some things are bit like the shitty movie Man of Tai Chi's wise conversation:

• Master Yang : You must meditate.
  'Tiger' Chen Lin Hu : Why?
  Master Yang : To clear your mind, guide your Chi and gain control.
  'Tiger' Chen Lin Hu : I have control.
  Master Yang : No, you have power not control.
  'Tiger' Chen Lin Hu : Power is control.
  Master Yang : That is an illusion.
  'Tiger' Chen Lin Hu : It is not an illusion... it's reality. I live in it, you don't. What I learn here I can't use out there.
  Master Yang : How can you use what you have not yet learned? Only when you've dispelled these illusions, will you find your way again.

 

[Loop Lob Smash]

My gut feeling as a low-mid level amateur: yes it does change the feel. My first coach told me that edge tape isn't masculine (this was a long time ago when you were still allowed to say such things) and I am convinced that edge tape makes my shots less explosive because of the extra drag it creates.

Yeah, but its pointless making your bat go au naturel if you don't shave your legs as well

 

[Tyce]

Yeah, but its pointless making your bat go au naturel if you don't shave your legs as well

You know... You can actually use that edge tape for your legs instead

 

[NetProphet]

My gut feeling as a low-mid level amateur: yes it does change the feel. My first coach told me that edge tape isn't masculine (this was a long time ago when you were still allowed to say such things) and I am convinced that edge tape makes my shots less explosive because of the extra drag it creates.

Ah yes, in the way that drag queens are not masculine..... except that they are 😉
I get it

 

[darkky65]

I wouldn't believe what pros believe in 100%. these people are top class athletes where a tiny placebo can work wonders, they can have misconceptions purely off of how good (too good) they are at the game.

remember those ion bands?

the only objective way is attach different setups (5 ply, 7 ply, 3+2, 5+2 inner/outer with CN and Tensor) to a robot with the right sensors and do a swing test and hit test, see if there's any significant difference with tape on or off.

but no one is probably willing to do all that.