Custom Bat advice

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Hi so ive been playing more seriously for 6 months now and recently started attending training at a local club with intentions to join the league in September later this year. Im currently using a half decent pre made bat however I wonder if its worth now getting a custom bat with my choice of rubbers too. I play with lots of top spin and apply pressure when possible. With that in mind what kind of setup would you recommend? thanks in advance
 
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I do not think equipment is the most important if you have only been playing for 6 months. As long as it is good grip in the rubbers so you can do all the strokes properly you are good to go. Try brushing a ball against the rubber, or touching it with your hand or wiping it in your hair to try to exam the grip. I think your developement will benefit from having slower equipment, faster gear will make it harder to learn all the strokes.
 

JST

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I do agree with Lula. You can find countless threads on this topic (newcomer asking for first custom bat set-up) on this and other TT forums and you will get the same answers again and again. Each brand has some suitable 5-ply allwood ALL/ALL+ blade and intro rubbers which may be recommended, it's just about brand preferences (but result is pretty much the same). Key is to train good footwork and mechanics of the strokes, ideally with coach. Invest into training, not equipment. Keep one blade, same rubbers, change them once per 6 months (in average, depends on amount of training hours and budget).

(Btw. when I keep seeing people describing their game as "I play with lots of top spin and apply pressure when possible." after 6 months and I can hardly describe with these words offensive players who are in the game for 5+ years, I just shake my head. With all the respect if you really play as you describe then you are probably the biggest talent I've ever seen;)
 
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says I would recommend all wood. Samsonov Alpha sgs is the...
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I suggest something like Samsonov Alpha SGS (blade) and something like Mark5 rubbers.

You can go on TT11 and order it. Shipment will probably be for free and they'll assemble the racket for you so you get it glued and the wood lacquered and all.
 
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My club is a yasaka club. Alot of beginners play with Yasaka Sweden Extra and Markv rubbers or rakza 7 soft rubbers or Rigan rubbers. It will proably be more fun to play with rakza or rigan but i think you will become a better player in the long term if you use Markv. I think that in my club some of the player start with rakza to soon, and it makes it harder for them to learn the strokes and learn how spin works since the ball leaves the racket to fast for theirs ability.

I would give my self the same advice if i started again. No speed glueing and slower equipment. Then i would have becomed a better player.
 

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With that in mind what kind of inro rubbers what would recommend? And okay haha good point ill keep that In mind?

Again I'm with Lula. Yasaka Sweden Extra is good ALL+/OFF- blade, I personally prefer softer outer ply so I would go with something in ALL/ALL+/OFF- range with Limba outer. However on your level it most probably doesn't matter. Look into your favorite UK shops (if you are from UK) and get one of these combos. Old fashion rubbers like Bfly Sriver or Yasaka Mark V (or alternatively cheap Chinese sticky rubbers) - without "tensor" effect (whatever you call it) - are harder way but if you commit to training at least twice a weak with some supervision of skilled colleague or trainer it will probably pay off. Alternatively Yasaka Rakze 7 Soft or Xiom Vega Intro or Stiga Innova or similar cheaper and softer "tensor" will give you more but you will be tempted to rely on its bounce and soft feel and you might resign on finding proper angles with your bat and doing proper moves with your body and arm.

To be honest most of my peers in my club who started in their 30s or 40s few years ago are better with "intro" tensors because they will never get enough training and their body and muscles won't never be agile enough to really get proper TT moves. But they just want to play decent matches in low regional league and keep some sport for health till high age (there are people playing TT till 70s in my country and it's probably good for both mental and physical health).

Now choose what is your way;) As I say basically every brand has blade and rubbers in these categories and it's not worth spending hours on the internet and speculating if this one has 0.1 better rating from 4 people then other product. These are totally subjective and you can feel it totally differently (or better you won't feel any real difference on your level!) So tell us which brands you prefer or what is your budget and which on-line retailers you have in mind (must it be domestic UK or you are fine with other who ship to your home?) and we can give you few hints.
 
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I played for a fairly long time with a Butterfly premade racket that had Flextra rubbers on both sides. And then the next blade I got was a Matsushita Pro Special with Butterfly Sriver on it. This a pretty slow blade since it is basically made for defenders but there is no reason why you cannot make every stroke with it, and I did. In my country it is not easy to get penhold blades unless we order from abroad and at the time I had neither the knowledge nor the resources to do this. So my Butterfly premade as a flared handle that I played Cpen with. The Matsushita was slightly better because of the straight handle. These two setups lasted me about two years or more. Then I got in touch with Cole and that was when I got my first custom blade. It was a Yinhe blade with Dawei IQUL rubber on one side and Gambler Peacekeepr on the other.

It as finally after playing or about four or five years that I moved to one-ply Hinoki and now I just replace the rubbers as and when needed. The point for this long post was what others have already made. It was not the equipment that made my game, but patiently working on my technique. It is your technique, your hand-speed, your footwork, your timing and your ability to position yourself correctly for each shot which will bring improvements to your game.

With that said, it won't hurt your progress if you choose an ALL- to ALL+ all-wood 5-ply blade with relatively tamer rubbers such as Mark V or Sriver and then stick with that. That setup will last you a long time, even with the new plastic ball. I would choose a slightly stiffer blade as opposed to a very flexible blade since the former will help your short game and blocking. You can still make topsin loops with such a blade even if flexible blades will make it seem easier to do so in comparison.
 

JST

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JST

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I played for a fairly long time with a Butterfly premade racket that had Flextra rubbers on both sides. And then the next blade I got was a Matsushita Pro Special with Butterfly Sriver on it. This a pretty slow blade since it is basically made for defenders but there is no reason why you cannot make every stroke with it, and I did. In my country it is not easy to get penhold blades unless we order from abroad and at the time I had neither the knowledge nor the resources to do this. So my Butterfly premade as a flared handle that I played Cpen with. The Matsushita was slightly better because of the straight handle. These two setups lasted me about two years or more. Then I got in touch with Cole and that was when I got my first custom blade. It was a Yinhe blade with Dawei IQUL rubber on one side and Gambler Peacekeepr on the other.

It as finally after playing or about four or five years that I moved to one-ply Hinoki and now I just replace the rubbers as and when needed. The point for this long post was what others have already made. It was not the equipment that made my game, but patiently working on my technique. It is your technique, your hand-speed, your footwork, your timing and your ability to position yourself correctly for each shot which will bring improvements to your game.

With that said, it won't hurt your progress if you choose an ALL- to ALL+ all-wood 5-ply blade with relatively tamer rubbers such as Mark V or Sriver and then stick with that. That setup will last you a long time, even with the new plastic ball. I would choose a slightly stiffer blade as opposed to a very flexible blade since the former will help your short game and blocking. You can still make topsin loops with such a blade even if flexible blades will make it seem easier to do so in comparison.

I'd just like to say that many "pro" defensive blades like Butterfly JSH or Victas/TSP Koji Matsushita are definitely faster then usual 5-ply ALL blades meant for learning classic offensive close to the table game. Simply because they must have power to return balls from long distance. So I wouldn't go into these unless you specifically know what are you looking for.

Also any penhold blades won't be the best recommendation for shakehand beginner, especially not these 1-ply (Hinoki or other material). Yes, many entry level blades are made in both shakehand (FL or ST) and Cpen but I'm not sure if comparison of both styles is so easy (especially in learning phase). But that might be only lack of good penholders and coaches in Europe so it is little bit mystical for me;)
 
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I was not recommending penhold blades for him. I just added that bit because I am a penhold player and I did not manage to get one until fairly late. Merely to illustrate that this also did not really hamper my growth. I play one-ply now, and made it clear that I moved to them after several years, so it is obvious I am not recommending them to the OP who is at 6 months. So that too was not intended for the OP to adopt.
 
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This must be thread number 5,923 on the subject.

So any players and coaches can disagree exactly what class and specifically which blades/rubbers to use.

I am of the camp of middle of the road of speed and high on control for starting equipment. Even coaches disagree what this means... so it is damned difficult for a player new to equipment to figure it out on their own... so we get what we get and billions of these "What should I get for first bat?" threads.


I have seen a very wide range of equipment used successfully. I see some use OFF+ blade and control rubber and grow to Div 4 just fine and the ones using sower stuff.

Just about any ALL to OFF- class wood blade and modern control rubbers will do just fine for the center of mass to go for.

Every company makes a few of these, endless number possible.

We hear it all the time that if you use stuff too fast you never use a fuller stroke, blah blah ablh… it is true - I believe it as well. You get a better feel for the ball with time using the slower stuff and that counts.

Still, even if one gets the slow stuff, without many many hundreds or thousands of hours of structured supervised training a player will not learn footwork, not learn to read spin, not learn to know the impact zone, not learn to read opponent.... blah bah ballh I could go on... you get the point. APPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT is nice, but it is jack shyt NOTHING without these many hundreds and thousands of hours of structured supervised training.
 
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Like Der Echte said, pretty much every company makes an all+ blade with some rubbers that would suit your needs.

A most common mistake made by players who have been playing less than 1 year tends to be what they "think" their style is compared it is in reality when compared to a lot of the very experienced peeps on this wonderful site.

When I started out, I contacted one of the big UK suppliers, told them I like to be offensive, play with spin. They were VERY helpful and what I got was something way to quick, too sensitive to incoming spin for what I could handle and the league players picked me apart like the beginner I was.
What I soon came to realise was that the way I played was based on playing socially, league was SO different.

My team helped me out and within 1 year put me back on the right track. Some 5 years later I am now playing with the same equipment I purchased that I "thought" I needed originally.

However, don't let my story discourage you from buying a customised setup, just be wary of what you do buy.

I would also say, speak to your fellow club members and ask if they would be kind enough to let you try their setups, you may just find something you like and most importantly can actually use... This is invaluable if you can.

Also your budget could easily be £100 and you still get a very good setup for your level.
 
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