More vibration or less vibration?

Yes, you have the wrong idea.

Different types of vibration is associated with different types of feedback. But unlike other sports, table tennis hasn't progressed to the point of being objectively quantifiable.

Rather than "vibrations", try to focus on the "feel": Hardness, sharpness, density, sensation of bending/twisting/"neck flex", hold vs kick etc.

lasta said:

Yes, you have the wrong idea.

Different types of vibration is associated with different types of feedback. But unlike other sports, table tennis hasn't progressed to the point of being objectively quantifiable.

Rather than "vibrations", try to focus on the "feel": Hardness, sharpness, density, sensation of bending/twisting/"neck flex", hold vs kick etc.

Click to expand...

WOW great explanation Lasta! I can tell that comes from a player with experience. I was with the OP on vibration and perhaps stiffness and flex. And I thought I knew what to focus on when it came to feedback, but you just took me to the next level with your explanation! Thanks for this...

A complicated question.

Put very simply, vibration is the dissipation of residual energy, energy that is left behind from the ball-blade-rubber interaction, or impact. This vibration can be viewed as a footprint of the impact, a reflection of the nature of the shot, what many call "feedback".

In turn, this feedback is a rough aggregate indicator of bounce, dwell time, and directional stability, which affect the amount of speed, spin and precision a player puts into the shot. In other words, how easily you can manipulate the ball to your desire, essentially what many call "control".

Now, bounce, dwell time and directional stability tend to be mutually exclusive. Blades that vibrate more tend to have less bounce and longer dwell time and so are easier for loops. Blades that vibrate less tend to have higher directional stability and thus fare better for smashes.

At the end of the day, there's no right and wrong. The ultimate goal is to find the best combination that fits your style, strokes, body type, capabilities etc.

I would say Zeio's answer is very complete.

Lasta's answer is quite functional so pretty useful.

I will just add one detail. There are vibrations from blades that feel good to your hand and help you feel the ball more. And there are blades that give you vibrations that feel bad. Now each person is different. So something that feels good too one person may not feel as good to another person. In the end, the importance is in whether the blade helps you feel how the ball is contacted more accurately. Is that really what you are actually feeling?....how the ball is contacted? No. But the feeling still helps you understand something that helps you improve how you touch the ball on contact.

What should you use? Really, we are all so unique and everyone feels things differently. So something that helps me feel the ball better, I have heard that described as "vibrations like an earthquake" by someone else who was used to blades that, to me felt like they had no feeling; different people. If you have enough feedback to feel how you touch the ball and you like the feeling of the blade, go with that. If you don't feel the ball on the blade face on contact, maybe you need more feedback and ability to feel from your blade. If you feel ball contact too much, then a blade with a little less.

I would say the Acoustic is one of the best all wood blades out there. If you had one and it felt good to you, nothing would really be any better. But the Azalea is a blade it seems some on the forum really like. I have not tried it. So I cannot say anything. But I don't think you can get better than the Acoustic from a standpoint of high quality all wood blades that help you feel the ball and hold it on the blade face for more spin. So, the question might be, is your Acoustic a good one, or not? If it is a good one, I would use it and stop looking at other blades.

BTW: the top two plies of the Acoustic are Limba and Limba. This combination is good for helping hold the ball on the blade surface and get more spin.

The top two plies of the Azalea are Limba and under it, Spruce. I love how Spruce feels as a middle ply. It has a very nice feeling. But Spruce projects the ball off the blade face sooner and with a sort of bounce effect, like it adds catapult to the blade. So, you usually need to have better control, touch and feel to generate as much spin with a blade that has Spruce as a middle ply in comparison to a blade that is Limba-Limba......

Said differently, the Acoustic should help you improve faster than the Azalea.