Just curious how many Penholders are on TTD?

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Holy wow, that’s thick! What are the dimensions? What rubbers are you using?

It looks awesome!

I’m also wondering how your grip is with the ST handle?

We don't get penhold blades very easily where I live because the style is almost non-existent here. In fact I have only come across three penhold players here, and not even one Jpen player in all my years of playing. A friend of mine who first taught me the game used to play Cpen so he conveyed the same to me otherwise I would have been a shakehander.

Anyway to cut a long story short, my first custom blade was also a straight handle. The Matsushita Pro Special with the old tag. The straight handle is the closest shakehand style to Cpen gripwise. So it can work with minimal adjustment.

Flared is too thin at the neck but it too can work if nothing else is available. I started out with a flared Butterfly Premade with Flextra rubbers. Back then I did not even know we could buy blades and rubbers separately and the general conception was that they are all terribly expensive and only champions play with customized combos.
Eventually I got around to ordering blades from abroad.

And that is a gorgeous blade Momus. I mean how can it not be. It is a Darker Speed 90.
;)

Is my bias showing? :rolleyes:
 
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We don't get penhold blades very easily where I live because the style is almost non-existent here. In fact I have only come across three penhold players here, and not even one Jpen player in all my years of playing. A friend of mine who first taught me the game used to play Cpen so he conveyed the same to me otherwise I would have been a shakehander.

Anyway to cut a long story short, my first custom blade was also a straight handle. The Matsushita Pro Special with the old tag. The straight handle is the closest shakehand style to Cpen gripwise. So it can work with minimal adjustment.

Flared is too thin at the neck but it too can work if nothing else is available. I started out with a flared Butterfly Premade with Flextra rubbers. Back then I did not even know we could buy blades and rubbers separately and the general conception was that they are all terribly expensive and only champions play with customized combos.
Eventually I got around to ordering blades from abroad.

And that is a gorgeous blade Momus. I mean how can it not be. It is a Darker Speed 90.
;)

Is my bias showing? :rolleyes:

Would you ever consider cutting the handle? Do you ever come close to hitting yourself when playing?
I use a C-Pen and I still occasionally smash my head on power loops or on loops against really heavy backspin (here I smash more of the top of my head)! Maybe there’s something really wrong with my stroke...it really hurts!!


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It's a magnificent blade with a unique feel. I love hinoki. For that reason I have two Speed 90. At one time I owned 5 single-ply hinoki blades.

I assume you are not doing RPB with Speed 90?

I recently changed my blade to Darker Speed 90. Before that, I've played with Butterfly Liu Shiwen (very nice blade) and Apollonia ZLC (nice gears but lacking a bit control). But Darker, what a revelation! My game improved from day one! It's so consistent controled and powerful at the same time, that my confidence in my strokes significantly increased. And the feeling is trully awesome, nothing like any other blade I held. I know I sound too excited, but I found my holy grail. I've already purchased another one as a backup.
(I should clarify that I've been always using ST handle blades, although modern rpb penholder)


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Would you ever consider cutting the handle? Do you ever come close to hitting yourself when playing?
I use a C-Pen and I still occasionally smash my head on power loops or on loops against really heavy backspin (here I smash more of the top of my head)! Maybe there’s something really wrong with my stroke...it really hurts!!

Actually I didn't cut the handle on that for two reasons. The primary was that I was not that aware of blade dynamics and physics or mechanics back ten so was not very well versed with head-heaviness or the lack of it so that thought never came to mind. I mean I put two rubbers on it; Sriver on one side and Mark V on the other even though I play TPB and did not twiddle at the time. I did twiddle later on but that was many years later.

The second reason I did not want to cut the handle was I did not want to in any way deform something I felt was so beautiful. The EJ was beginning to take root very early on.

As for hitting my forehead or something like that, I may come close but I have never hit myself no mater how hard I loop. My stroke follow through goes past my head, not really in line with my forehead so I am safe I guess. Now I prefer Jpen over Cpen anyway, and cutting the handle on that would not work anyway.
 
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Actually I didn't cut the handle on that for two reasons. The primary was that I was not that aware of blade dynamics and physics or mechanics back ten so was not very well versed with head-heaviness or the lack of it so that thought never came to mind. I mean I put two rubbers on it; Sriver on one side and Mark V on the other even though I play TPB and did not twiddle at the time. I did twiddle later on but that was many years later.

The second reason I did not want to cut the handle was I did not want to in any way deform something I felt was so beautiful. The EJ was beginning to take root very early on.

As for hitting my forehead or something like that, I may come close but I have never hit myself no mater how hard I loop. My stroke follow through goes past my head, not really in line with my forehead so I am safe I guess. Now I prefer Jpen over Cpen anyway, and cutting the handle on that would not work anyway.

Well if you don’t come close to hitting, it’s unnecessary for you. I agree, it’s beautiful and I would also be worried to cut it so much.

Unfortunately, my crappy loop follow-through leads to lumps on my head if I’m not careful. That’s something I’ve got to work on.


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Kuang Li turning 16 this year, keeps the penhold style alive!! Very entertaining to watch especially his BH serve seems to create some troubles for Yan An.

In the last set Li won 6 points in a row. For a 15yo this really shows a strong mentality. He could be the only one that can counter the genius Harimoto in the future?
 
Love the blades! But I have some technique questions regarding Rpb. It's becoming my best shot opening, blocking, smashing etc. However, I find it quite difficult blocking/attacking straight down the line or even more to the left (I'm right handed). I did see that Wang Hao recommends the right foot forward slightly and this works really well. I find this to be really awkward though as my forehand often has the right foot back slightly. Is this just standard practice for pH footwork? Just adjust with bouncy footwork?
 
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I recently changed my blade to Darker Speed 90. Before that, I've played with Butterfly Liu Shiwen (very nice blade) and Apollonia ZLC (nice gears but lacking a bit control). But Darker, what a revelation! My game improved from day one! It's so consistent controled and powerful at the same time, that my confidence in my strokes significantly increased. And the feeling is trully awesome, nothing like any other blade I held. I know I sound too excited, but I found my holy grail. I've already purchased another one as a backup.
(I should clarify that I've been always using ST handle blades, although modern rpb penholder)

Lovely Darker 90 - The Holy Grail of blades!!!

I used to be a J-pen player back in many years ago. Here is my old blade - Butterfly Senkoh-1, that I still love so much, although I have switched to shakehand recently.

Butterfly.jpg
 
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Love the blades! But I have some technique questions regarding Rpb. It's becoming my best shot opening, blocking, smashing etc. However, I find it quite difficult blocking/attacking straight down the line or even more to the left (I'm right handed). I did see that Wang Hao recommends the right foot forward slightly and this works really well. I find this to be really awkward though as my forehand often has the right foot back slightly. Is this just standard practice for pH footwork? Just adjust with bouncy footwork?
when u moving ur right foot slighly forward to make a straight lane shot dont forget to rotate ur torso,waist . only footworks isnt enough. you have to make bh shot in front of your body
 
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Love the blades! But I have some technique questions regarding Rpb. It's becoming my best shot opening, blocking, smashing etc. However, I find it quite difficult blocking/attacking straight down the line or even more to the left (I'm right handed). I did see that Wang Hao recommends the right foot forward slightly and this works really well. I find this to be really awkward though as my forehand often has the right foot back slightly. Is this just standard practice for pH footwork? Just adjust with bouncy footwork?
Its good foe balance, but for doing this you need really good footwork to came back to FH position

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Its good foe balance, but for doing this you need really good footwork to came back to FH position
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after make ANY move you have to return to your "neutral position", thats probably one of the main rules of tt :)
 
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Hello PHers!

I haven't posted in a month or 2. Here's a brief recap in my "unretirement" from TT lol

1. I haven't played for 32 years. A little over 3 years ago, I unretired from TT and starting playing again.

2. I have been mostly self-learning RPB for the past year. With a little help initially from a coach friend, he wanted me to learn the RPB basics of block, punch, and flat hit before attempting to learn to RPB spin. He advised a grip which makes it very easy for me to RPB block/punch/flat hit/spin. However, the grip for me is unorthodox. The past 2 or 3 months, I have tried to play with this unorthodox grip. I feel I don't get as much spin on my serves compared to when I used a traditional grip. It's unorthodox because I cannot find any YouTube teaching this grip .... thumb is gripping past the 'centerline' of the handle... that is, my thumb is past the thumb side of a traditional grip and onto the index finger side of the handle. My thumb crossed centerline. My index finger is resting on the edge of the blade, sometimes it's even on the back of the blade! I also feel I don't push as well as I used to.

3. I have gotten somewhat accustomed to the unorthodox grip. My RPB is getting steadier. I am able to rally deeper into the point. Lately, fellow members/friends have commented after playing against me as well as watching me play that I have improved. One friend/member who has an a LOT of wins over me, like 40 or 50 wins over me, i am exaggerating but it's not that far off LOL. I have had only 3 or 4 wins off of him and those were usually at 5 games. Most of the time it's me forcing myself to use RPB to spin or punch and i lose the point.

Last week, I beat him 3-0, but he got 8 pts average a game. I'm still messing up, but finally my RPB is also winning some points. Others and even he himself says I'm more skilled than him, but he plays steady to return the ball and i 'hang myself' and make unforced errors most of the time from my RPB missing. So finally after a year or so and changing to a different grip, my RPB is starting to 'click'. I played him again this week and lost 3-2 LOL. In my 3-0 win, I RPB slow heavy topsin to his BH and he had no answer for it. Funny that I learn this tactic or strategy from Der_Echte for my FH loop which I have neglected in the past year while concentrating on my RPB.

I also play another friend who is better than me. JPenner who has a FH loop, killer FH smash, and a BH smash. He still wins 3-0 or 3-1, but I am averaging 7 or 8 points a game against him when I used to only get 4 or 5.

The other factor of my gameplay is that I rush my shots. On some points, when I'm mindful of it, I don't rush my shots and am able to get longer rallies instead of losing the point on 2nd or 3rd ball, I'm now winning/losing on 5th-7th.

4. I am slowly working on my FH loop again. I am mostly arm. I am not using my core/legs as much. This is because when I was a kid, I wasn't officially taught the loop. I picked it up on my own watching other players looping.

5. Working on my other weaknesses too sooner or later ... slow to reset to neutral after serve or shots, reading spin (partly because I should wear glasses but don't when I play LOL), relaxing and slowing down/don't rush myself.

And for all that read this far, thank you LOL

Very truly yours in TT,

~osph
 
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Love the blades! But I have some technique questions regarding Rpb. It's becoming my best shot opening, blocking, smashing etc. However, I find it quite difficult blocking/attacking straight down the line or even more to the left (I'm right handed). I did see that Wang Hao recommends the right foot forward slightly and this works really well. I find this to be really awkward though as my forehand often has the right foot back slightly. Is this just standard practice for pH footwork? Just adjust with bouncy footwork?

IIRC, you are way more skilled than me so take this FWIW.

When I used to play TPB, one of my tactics was to serve a rocket to oppoent's BH and they return to my BH and I punch down the line. Right or wrong, I have my left foot in front and my right in the rear, like on a clock ... 10-3 or 10-4 positions.

After a year of learning how to RPB, these past few weeks, my punch down the line is starting to 'work'. My left foot is also in the lead.

My footwork is bad to non-existent as I'm 54 yrs old and playing for 3 yrs or so after a 32 yrs break from the game. I am trying to work on it. With that said, I seem to be ok with left foot forward and punching down the line.
 
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