To me the funny part of caring about appearance is that, when you play, there are rubbers on the blade face, so, no matter how nice the blade face looks, it is covered, and when you play, your hand is on the handle, so, regardless of how the handle looks, it is covered as well.
The shape of the handle, how the handle feels in your hand, the kind of wood used, how well it absorbs sweat while you are playing so your grip can be relaxed but firm....those things matter to me about the handle.
The ply construction, how thick the blade is, what kinds of wood are used, the size of the blade face, how much flex, how the wood feels on ball contact, speed, dwell time, ease of control, linearity....these things matter to me.
Things like:
A faster blade makes it so you get more of a speed/spin ratio, so you get less arc and more speed, and this makes it harder to land the ball closer to the net (easier to land the ball near the end line) which makes it harder to create bigger angles and so, makes your game rely more on speed and power between the side lines of the table.
A slower blade with more flex and dwell time makes it so you can have a higher spin/speed ration so you get more spin and more arc on your shots which makes it easier to land the ball closer to the net when you want and create bigger angles. This also makes it so you can place the ball better and move people around more.
I also find interesting how as a result of the construction of the plies, the kind of glue used, wood treatments, the thickness of the plies, you can make a blade faster/slower, more/less dwell time, more/less spin, more/less flex.
When you understand the kinds of feeling you get from different woods like Hinoki, Limba, Koto....etc, you start having actual things to choose from that will effect your play.
I am interested in that. I don't care what the pros use. I do know what I like. I know I like softer woods like Limba and Hinoki for my top ply. I know I can play with harder woods like Koto, Rosewood, Ebony, etc, but I know I don't enjoy it anywhere near as much. And I know I can do so much more with softer woods to bend the ball to my will.
To me, spin is the most important part of what I want from the equipment. I am strong enough to supply the power with a moderate speed blade. And with a blade that is a moderate speed, it allows me to add so much more spin and do so many more things with the ball that make it awkward for the opponent. Especially when we are talking about hooking a loop wide to the FH side and how that can make a player more uncomfortable.
But from an aesthetic standpoint, I like wood with wood stain, that could be how Ross Leidy uses colored wood stain to create different colors (as in the photos of his blades I posted earlier in this thread), or it could be simple shades of brown. But I don't like the kinds of colors most major TT brands use on the woods in their handles for the reason that, when you really use your equipment and play hard and sweat hard, those colors fade and then they start looking not good at all.
But, still, I am really unconcerned by the aesthetics of what my hand and my rubber are hiding when I hold my racket.
