Wingspan blade

[Tyce]

Nah I didn't get around to it but the partial project is still in my TT cupboard

 

[Kenspin]

Has anyone really tried one out before?

As a serve/receive + BH oriented chiquita player I am really intrigued by this blade.

So apparently the grip can be held in a shakehand manner (thumb and index finger on rubber), but because all the fingers are closer to the rubber relatively, it seems to play with a lot more flexibility just like a penhold grip!

What is the blade composition of this ommadawn blade thing? Is it like outer ALC?

I think it depends how you grip it. If i put the ball in my palm then fh is much easier and you can force your opponent very wide, but down the line shots need your body more open. For backhands blocking is ok but anything with force needs either an RPB type shot or a 90 degree bat angle change, having the ball at the top to open the blade, with the arm vertical otherwise its quite closed. If you are backhand orientated I would hold it ball up, but that means quite a closed face on the forehand, which means you hit more of a hook shot. You can also grip it penhold style or between index and middle finger, ball down. I stabilise the grip by wrapping grip tape between the ball and the blade. Overall its great for serving spinny wide balls, but for general play you need to practice a lot to deal with the awkwardness of switching from backhand to forehand shots and visa versa. I think it favours players with pips or anti on the backhand to provide some disruption to compensate for the weaker backhand, if you grip it ball in palm.

 

[SlowPower]

Some news about my wingspan experiences.
As I said I have 2 main problems using the wingspan.
1. FH lacks Power
2. When using FH the racket angle is open too wide.

So I build 2 more blades and tried to combine with rubbers to eliminate these cons.

1st one is a 1-ply Kiri blade with G1 1,8 on BH and R50 ultramax on FH.
Backhand is great and I feel I could use any rubber with high arc.
The R50 on the FH promised to have more power than hybrid rubbers and a lower arc to compensate the open angle.
This blade works fine at 1st glance for the FH loop and I could overpower my opponent quite a few times despite he plays 3 leagues above me.
Short game and receive was a little inconsistent as the blade has a strong trampolin effect.
I will try 9,5mm Kiri instead of 11mm next session (blade is built already).

2nd blade is unique.
From FH:
Koto-Kevlar-Abachi-WRC-ALC-Spruce-Cedar, 6mm in total
FH with Nuzn50 max and BH with Hybrid MK.
FH loop wasn't as consistent as with the 1st blade, but everything else was better.
For FH loop I have to focus on this totally relaxed no effort swing then loops are great and hard to block. Way better than with the K3 setup I had before on the other blade.
Playing drills is fun, but in practice matches I overshot quite a few balls so power is there!

This is a setup I will definitely play more often.

Right now I only build the bare blades with a hole to screw on the handle- this way I can customise them (ordered 35 and 40mm balls to try) and they are switched between the blades in a few seconds.
I also implemented a slight tilt to the ball as it closes the angle on FH a little more.

Tennis elbow is still no problem😀

 

[Dr Cho]

I made mine 6 months ago.. used balsa core and kiri tops
Recently changed the ball handle for another version more comfrortable.
Im surprised what it can do.. forehand is better than normal and backhand is nice.
Probably ppl expressing not enough power is the wood combination.
further testing will be ongoing.

 

[Kenspin]

I made mine 6 months ago.. used balsa core and kiri tops
Recently changed the ball handle for another version more comfrortable.
Im surprised what it can do.. forehand is better than normal and backhand is nice.
Probably ppl expressing not enough power is the wood combination.
further testing will be ongoing.

I recently took one along to our club to practice with, now the league season has ended. I put AK47 red sponge on the FH and it does not lack power. Because the grip leads to quite a closed face on the FH I loosened the grip. This had the effect of varying the angle of the stroke each time and my opponents commented they could not read the direction of the ball. The lack of a handle makes this loose grip possible but not to the extent you feel the bat will fly out of your hand. There is less flexibility for BH strokes but a step around can solve that to a large degree and exaggerated hooking and fade loops are possible. Chiquitas are much easier to execute.

 

[suds79]

So I've been fascinated by this blade ever since I initially saw it. I can't quite figure out if it'd be more gimmick or if it could legitimately good.

I think one would have to play with it to feel it out but there's a simple feel test we can all do (shakehand or penhold like myself) to imagine what it would be like. Take your current blade & flip it around. Same thing pretty much.

So as a lefty penholder, I see stuff I like and stuff I have questions about.

First some pictures to point out how I see it.

Picture 1 | Left Handed Penhold. Arm extended straight in front of me with wrist straight.

and

Picture 2 | RPB with a top down view (again left handed) to help explain how I see it.

Picture 1:
So you can see when you hold a cpen or jpen naturally, the face of the blade is actually cocked at an angle a little bit as the blade handle rests on the meaty area between your forefinger & thumb. With the handle out of the way, the blade can be much more in line with your arm.

Disadvantage: This means on a FH flip, if you want the face of your blade to face the table, you actually have to cock your wrist back even more. Maybe this is a big deal for you. Maybe it isn't.

Regular FH how it's effected? I can't tell yet. I would need to feel it out but I imagine I could get along with it being about the same level as it is now.

Picture 2:
This is where this design I believe tends to shine in regards to the RPB. Normally when you hold a standard Cpen in the RPB grip, the blade is very closed and it's kinda angled down & to the left for me. For a righty it'd be down and to the right. This is again because the handle is on the meaty part between your forefinger & thumb thus angling the blade. Remove that and I get the feeling opening the blade is much easier and I'd imagine BH blocking or attacking, while I can do it with RPB, would feel more natural.

Thoughts on this? Have you guys tried it?

Okay so making it. How do we do it? Sure we could buy it but I imagine we all have backup blades collecting dust. I do. I got this Japanese saw blade thing from Harbor Freight a few years ago. I think it'd allow me to cut the handles off a blade without damaging the blade itself. It's very thin & flexible. Better ideas on this I'm open to. Once the handles are off, I'm assuming some sort of curved reciprocating saw cut in a half circle shape? Would then need to find the ball like gripper to I'm thinking glue on. Open to ideas on any of this.

 

[suds79]

I recently took one along to our club to practice with, now the league season has ended. I put AK47 red sponge on the FH and it does not lack power. Because the grip leads to quite a closed face on the FH I loosened the grip. This had the effect of varying the angle of the stroke each time and my opponents commented they could not read the direction of the ball. The lack of a handle makes this loose grip possible but not to the extent you feel the bat will fly out of your hand. There is less flexibility for BH strokes but a step around can solve that to a large degree and exaggerated hooking and fade loops are possible. Chiquitas are much easier to execute.

just for clarification I'm assuming you're playing this shakehand?

 

[Kenspin]

just for clarification I'm assuming you're playing this shakehand?

Yes I am, with the ball handle in the palm.

 

[suds79]

Yes I am, with the ball handle in the palm.

Good to know.

Seems to me that the majority of reviewers of this blade have been playing it shakehand with how you hold it. ball in the hand.

It makes sense how they all say with service & flips how there's unlimited wrist movement. You can twist your wrist around in any possible way and never have the handle get in the way because it's not there.

But with this grip the head of the blade is also closer to your hand compared to well any other paddle. Penhold or shakehand. So for that reason, I can understand why some have said there's less power. Not everybody but it has been said a fair amount. That makes sense too. There's simply less centripetal force going on.

There was a guy at our club years ago who showed up with a custom blade with a pretty long handle. He was a former tennis player. I'd say the handle was about twice as long as the normal shakehand blade. Now I'm sure if we were to all hit with it, we'd say it feels clunky to switch between FH & BH. But that's just an exaggerated example of a blade that's the exact opposite of this one. The centripetal force on that was huge and when he got in his FH, watch out. That was about as spiny & fast as you could imagine.

I can also understand how with this blade people have said FH flicking is easy. You're practically catching it in your palm. Be like just throwing a ball over the net.

So just like anything, I'm sure there are advantages & disadvantages.

 

[Wheeljuke]

Played with a custom made Wingspan blade by Gerry Handcraft from Taiwan. The blade is made with viscaria structure with the signature wingspan handle.
FH: DHS Hurricane 3 Orange Sponge Provincional Version
BH: Xiom Vega Pro

Hold: I hold the blade with the sphere on the back hand side
FH: the angle of the blade is a little bit odd, with the racket pointing towards the right, angle of the wrist must be adjusted. The blade feels powerful, however comfort level must be improved, I would really like to add some support to the spherical handle to provide better grip and fill my palm.
BH: BH flicks are incredible with extraordinary side spin. However normal BH stroke angles are a little hard to adjust, some extra supports to provide angle feedback of the blade would help immensely.
Serve: Amazing serve, both FH and BH serves are amazing, prior comments suggested holding the blade with the index finger on the side, I find it plenty powerful without doing so.

Conclusion: Great with wrist motions, stability is slighly lower, thus requiring a more established movement framework, especially in FH. Serve and receive are amazing.