Looking for advice (mainly on equipment)

UpSideDownCarl said:

So, here is some information.

The real issue with carbon is very simple. Carbon does some great things. Especially when it is weaved with something like Arylate which gives you some of the benefits of carbon and allowing some of the benefits of an all wood blade simultaneously. Viscaria is an ALC blade so it falls into that category of a blade that has many of the benefits of carbon and many of the benefits of an all wood blade at the same time.

Here is the biggest reason that a developing player who really wants to improve his/her technique would not want to use Carbon, even in a blade like the Stiga Allround Carbon or some other blade that is All, All+ or Off- speed rated: That speed rating is useful for a developing player. But adding the carbon is usually not: here is the reason:

Carbon deadens certain vibrations that make it harder to feel the ball while the ball is on the blade face.

This is the single biggest reason why an all wood blade in the All, All+ or Off- speed rating would be better for someone developing technique. However, there are several others that I will add after I explain this one.

The single most important aspect of developing technique is developing the ability to generate more spin; More Spin; MORE SPIN. you are truthfully not done with this process until you can generate MASSIVE spin: until you are close to semi-pro level.

The dual most important aspects of developing the technique for more spin are touch and feeling. They are two parts of ONE equation. The ability to feel and touch the ball well are developed side by side. It really has to do with how you use your hand on the racket, how you touch the ball, and what you do with how you touch the ball.

By deadening vibrations carbon blocks certain vibrations that you feel in your hand AND RETARDS (slows) THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING BETTER TOUCH AND FEEL.

The dampening of vibration is also part of why carbon creates a larger sweet spot. Here is what LARGER SWEET SPOT actually means. With a carbon blade, if your contact is BAD, it still feels good. In fact good contact and bad contact will feel almost the same.

For a developing player who does not know the difference between good contact and bad contact A CARBON BLADE WILL NOT PROVIDE FEEDBACK THAT HELPS YOUR SYSTEM LEARN THE DIFFERENCE.

With an all wood blade, good contact will feel really good. REALLY GOOD. And bad contact, when you make it, you will know you messed up because IT WILL FEEL BAD IN YOUR HAND and you will see your shot was bad too.

The interesting thing about this is, on a sub-cortical level (that means brain and neural feedback that is not conscious) on a sub-cortical level your nervous system will process the difference between good contact and bad contact and the ability to develop precise, good contact WILL improve with an all wood blade. This will not happen with a carbon blade with less vibration and a "larger sweetspot" (read: more room for making errors, bad shots, and bad contact).

So, with an all wood blade that is 5 plies, has decent flex, good dwell time, and an ability to help you feel the ball better. Usually the blades with a softer top ply like Limba are better for developing more spin and better technique. All Hinoki 5 plies that are All+Off- would be great as well.

The flex also helps you spin the ball more. Carbon also reduces flex.

So, what are carbon blades actually good for?????

Not for learning technique. But once your technique is really solid and your spin and shot quality is somewhere near a semi-pro level, then a carbon blade gives you more speed with less effort. A larger sweet spot so that if your contact is slightly off the shot will still work. And a lighter blade with more pace than you could get from an all wood blade without making it too stiff, heavy and hard.

And, by the way, when someone does have semi-pro level technique, they will be able to feel the difference between good and bad contact with a carbon blade because they have developed their technique to that extent.

Now, if you add Arylate to the equation like the Carbon+Arylate weave of an ALC blade like a Viscaria, a TB ALC or a ZJK ALC, then you add some of the spin capabilities of an all wood blade because of the softness of the Arylate. Arylate is a soft plastic that adds dwell time and the ability to spin the ball to the carbon's speed.

So, if your technique is at that level, this kind of blade is very good for balancing extra speed, keeping the spin and not making the blade too heavy.

Hope that answers your questions.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

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JekaE said:

Well after reading upsidedawn comment i understand the feeling thing and why i could feel more/less with some blades i tried at my club.
I agree that the best way is to try and feel and then decide , however our club is kind of small and most of the blades people have there are very old.
so not really a lot to try, so at this point i can on get advice's from you guys and hope for the best.

So what would be a decent all wood and rubbers combo to start with?

Thank you all

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JekaE said:

Yea that intensity blade was way nicer than mine , however it was a carbon blade as well.
So am i missing some thing ?
And i only tried like 5 blades overall , 3 was old blades that its been sold any more , intensity that was nice , and the last one was so so , i dont even remember the name..

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JekaE said:

What about fx-p ?
I used to play with mark v , and I remember I wasn't too happy with them.
Either way could you please just list several options.
Just as a guide line for what types I should be looking and picking from...

Thanks

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JekaE said:

Thanks , so as far as i understand the main idea is to put a softer one on the BH and a harder one on the FH.
Softer for the more control in BH and harder for more speed in FH , did i understand this correctly ?

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JekaE said:

Actually when you put it like this iam not so sure.
Close to the table my BH feel way better and i tend to hit the table more and just feel more confident in that shots.
However when going mid/far distance its the opposite , my BH suddenly feel very un confident and very weak/slow , and my FH get way way better spins , way faster spins as well which hit the table much more.

with that in mind , what do you think?
I did some reading about the all wood blades , and it sure looks like that is the way to go.
however rubbers wise i have no clue.
and iam just curios why there is not a single evolution rubber on your list?

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