Be honest guys: you don't need carbon blades

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

be honest and open minded.
when you can, take the opportunity to try new stuff for free from friends / coaches / shops.
it doesn't take more than a few minutes to see if the stuff is good or not for you.

Once you find a good setup, not worth wasting time trying to find something "better". Just train. the more time you keep the same setup, the better you get at playing.

Personally i played more than 12 years with Korbel which is all-wood. I never wanted to go to Carbon because i felt it was too fast and uncontrollable for me until i tried the Nittaku Acoustic Inner which is just perfect. It felt to me quite similar to the Korbel but with more control, precision and feeling.

I've had in my hands other carbon blades or rubbers. I just like my setup, and outer carbon blades still feel uncontrollable to me. its like the ball is already out of the racket before I "feel" it. On the other hand, whenever i have the Korbel in my hands, its way too slow and unplayable for me.

 

[deus]

My teammate is one of the best under 23. And she uses BUTTERFLY DIODE V and she is not defensive

 

[dajdosta]

I need carbon blade for stability in blocks, counters and flat hits.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

be honest and open minded.
when you can, take the opportunity to try new stuff for free from friends / coaches / shops.
it doesn't take more than a few minutes to see if the stuff is good or not for you.

Once you find a good setup, not worth wasting time trying to find something "better". Just train. the more time you keep the same setup, the better you get at playing.

Personally i played more than 12 years with Korbel which is all-wood. I never wanted to go to Carbon because i felt it was too fast and uncontrollable for me until i tried the Nittaku Acoustic Inner which is just perfect. It felt to me quite similar to the Korbel but with more control, precision and feeling.

I've had in my hands other carbon blades or rubbers. I just like my setup, and outer carbon blades still feel uncontrollable to me. its like the ball is already out of the racket before I "feel" it. On the other hand, whenever i have the Korbel in my hands, its way too slow and unplayable for me.

Good point from Takkyu here.

I've also experience many people using OFF++ carbon, end up surprised at how a OFF Carbon or OFF+ Wood blade is superior in all spectrum (based on they level).

 

[Magic_M]

I have the same feeling like dajdosta 👍

With my Harimoto Innerforce ALC I am feeling much safer in the passive game. Especially blocking against hard and fast topspin attacks is much easier compared with a thin and flexy 5-ply-all-wood blade. The feeling is not far away from all-wood-feeling and speed is definitely not more than Off-.

 

[mocker88]

I just purchased a v14 pro and a big dipper 39 for my forehand, any tips on using it?

You can play in multiple ways with the Big Dipper. It's a really nice allround rubber with the ability to attack and spin the ball like crazy. Brushing is the ultimate way to get the most out of it, and the control is great.

 

[OldUser]

Out of curiosity, what all-wood blade and rubbers does TTD's Tom "The Frog" Maynard:use? Thanks.

Stiga Hybrid Wood, quite fast that is.

 

[OldUser]

be honest and open minded.
when you can, take the opportunity to try new stuff for free from friends / coaches / shops.
it doesn't take more than a few minutes to see if the stuff is good or not for you.

Once you find a good setup, not worth wasting time trying to find something "better". Just train. the more time you keep the same setup, the better you get at playing.

Personally i played more than 12 years with Korbel which is all-wood. I never wanted to go to Carbon because i felt it was too fast and uncontrollable for me until i tried the Nittaku Acoustic Inner which is just perfect. It felt to me quite similar to the Korbel but with more control, precision and feeling.

I've had in my hands other carbon blades or rubbers. I just like my setup, and outer carbon blades still feel uncontrollable to me. its like the ball is already out of the racket before I "feel" it. On the other hand, whenever i have the Korbel in my hands, its way too slow and unplayable for me.

Problem is you're comparing a 5 ply all wood to a 7 ply composite carbon, and never tried any 7 ply all wood apparently: the more plies you add, the most stability you get, and of course stiffness, but all in all a 7 ply all wood will always get better flex and as equal stability as any 7 ply inner carbon.

When I had the chance to get to the RC/ your USATT 1700 level, I went down and gave up on speed glue: of course I was winning easy matches over guys ranked 1500, 1600, but the RC 2000 was also something I wanted to achieve, and I had not enough control to handle the speed and spin those guys put in the rallies.

7 ply with non-carbon composite to get stability for the blade reaction overall is probably the best nowadays to get to that really high level.

I mean, we all started with 5 ply all wood, the logic is then to go to 7 ply, then add a fabric or a composite, and only there you'll really know how much you can handle to add carbon.

It's like people thinking they just have to play faster with their fingers to replicate John Coltrane's sax solos. If it was that simple, we would all be jazz legends... All the pros in music will tell ya the same "start everything at 60 BPM first, slow practice brings accuracy". There are no shortcuts guys, at all. Adding carbon to a fast setup at only 1500 to 2000 RC ranking is a shortcut.

It has to do with muscle memory, and most of you guys around that 1500-2000 RC level don't have enough, you think you have it, but you don't. Feeling of a blade's reaction and vibration has to do with muscle memory. People like Michael Zhuang complaining they're not beating 2000 ranked guys yet are definitely in a denial state that always happens at that stage. I've been there. Then I remembered I was also a musician;

Control brings accuracy and muscle memory, we have to find the space between each part of our strokes and moves to better build that muscle memory, the recovery process is by far more important than the stroke execution itself.

(By the way, the guy is one the solists of Snarky Puppy, Grammy award multiple winner...)

 

[NDH]

OK, so a question back to you @OldUser.....

What are you hoping to achieve here?

What started off as a point that has been repeated many (many) times, about players using Carbon blades when a slower, All Wood blade would be better...... Has turned into some sort of weird "Gatekeeping" on what people should and shouldn't use.

Forgive me if I've missed your videos, but I also have no idea how good you are personally?

Whilst being a good player (someone capable of using a Carbon blade to its potential), does not make a difference to your ability to state an opinion, if you *aren't* a good player, it's a little bit like the blind leading the blind.

I fully agree with your overall theme, and many forum regulars have posted the same opinion across the years......

But this thread is turning into some sort of "I know best" thread, and at the end of the day, this sport is here for people to enjoy, and many Chinese and Korean coaches who have had huge success..... Will disagree with you.

The types of players who sign up to an online forum about table tennis, where 90% of the discussions are equipment based..... Are going to have a tendency to buy and use different equipment.

If someone wants genuine advice to better their game, I'm sure "use slower equipment" is going to be high on the list....

But if they aren't specifically asking, I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve 😀

 

[Kuba Hajto]

Welp. NDH. The problem is that some people are carbon ej-ing and at the same time they want to improve really fast. It is very hard to improve while you are not only using rocket launchers and you are changing stuff faster than you can adapt to it.+, The advice would be use slower equipment and don't change it for at least 1000 hrs.

 

[hipnotic]

I don't get it. First you complain about the ALC blade I made for being too slow. Then you go and open a thread saying everyone else is wrong because carbon blades are too fast. If that's the case, then the blade should be working out great for you. Or maybe it really is way too slow. But wait, does that mean that the fact that the blade has ALC or carbon or whatever, doesn't mean it's necessarily fast, and your whole argument is invalid? I wonder...

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

 

[Michael Zhuang]

lol what? how am I in denial? I can't beat the 2000 guy because he is better than me, and I've only really been playing for 8 months or so. I'm just trying to understand the intricacies of what makes him better than me. Some aspects I can understand, some aspects I still don't understand.

In any case, I think there is a high chance I will never get to 2000 in my lifetime, because I don't have a coach, I don't train with serious guys, and its just a fun little hobby for me. My partner and I still train with 1 star Newgy celluloid balls even, because we're too lazy and indifferent to even get quality balls.

 

[Michael Zhuang]

You can play in multiple ways with the Big Dipper. It's a really nice allround rubber with the ability to attack and spin the ball like crazy. Brushing is the ultimate way to get the most out of it, and the control is great.

One of my favorite all time rubbers. I always recommend it to people. Do you play with it boosted or original state?

 

[mocker88]

One of my favorite all time rubbers. I always recommend it to people. Do you play with it boosted or original state?

I use it boosted nowadays, but it works really fine unboosted too. I feel that with the booster it's too soft to be a really good FH rubber, but unboosted it used to work great for FH as well. My BH likes the 38deg in the boosted state

 

[matt243385]

This is just not true at all... I have a friend who used to be in Hebei provincial team, so not top national player in China. He now plays here in the states in NCTTA, and he's got a USATT rating around 2500, still not top national player. He uses a composite blade, and I really doubt you can say that he shouldn't be using one.

Also, it's wrong to say all wood blades have more control than composite blades, it really depends on the material and construction. There's no perfect blade or rubber that fits everyone, because we're all unique human beings. There's also no one blade or rubber that can do it all, it's always a compromise among all the characteristics.

Is the person you are talking about Jun xiao?

 

[DukeGaGa]

Is the person you are talking about Jun xiao?

Yep. 😉 You know him too?

 

[lodro]

I don't get it. First you complain about the ALC blade I made for being too slow. Then you go and open a thread saying everyone else is wrong because carbon blades are too fast. If that's the case, then the blade should be working out great for you. Or maybe it really is way too slow. But wait, does that mean that the fact that the blade has ALC or carbon or whatever, doesn't mean it's necessarily fast, and your whole argument is invalid? I wonder...

Sent from my MAR-LX1A using Tapatalk

YEP !
I agree wholeheartedly the whole thread is a waste of ink 😁

The bottom line will always have to be : If you like wood = play with wood.......if you like composites=play with composites.

 

[latej]

YEP !
I agree wholeheartedly the whole thread is a waste of ink 😁

The bottom line will always have to be : If you like wood = play with wood.......if you like composites=play with composites.

Absolutely agree with the 2nd part. I wanted to say that most important thing with regard to the blade, is whether you like it or not. But you preceded me. Or in another words: the most important thing with regard to the setup is footwork.

But the thread - I enjoyed it. After a while I'd say a good thread. And for that I thank the OP. Of course at the end the usual disagreements, but that just belongs to us...

Shit, we wasted 97'854B of ink now...

 

[PingBirdPong]

Welp. NDH. The problem is that some people are carbon ej-ing and at the same time they want to improve really fast. It is very hard to improve while you are not only using rocket launchers and you are changing stuff faster than you can adapt to it.+, The advice would be use slower equipment and don't change it for at least 1000 hrs.

And that is why I EJ wood blades🤪

 

[PingBirdPong]

lol what? how am I in denial? I can't beat the 2000 guy because he is better than me, and I've only really been playing for 8 months or so. I'm just trying to understand the intricacies of what makes him better than me. Some aspects I can understand, some aspects I still don't understand.

In any case, I think there is a high chance I will never get to 2000 in my lifetime, because I don't have a coach, I don't train with serious guys, and its just a fun little hobby for me. My partner and I still train with 1 star Newgy celluloid balls even, because we're too lazy and indifferent to even get quality balls.

Wow, if you started 8 months ago, you improve fast!
I know I’m just a kid and all that, but from what I know, what ever we do, there will be lots and lots of people that are better than us. But those people are inferior to us in other matters. My school team player destroy me on the table in PE, and I absolutely flatten them when it comes to English. Everyone has a list of things they have to do well, and a list of things they don’t have to. I think the second list should be longer. TT is just a hobby for most of us, and we can set goals, but in the end all the equipment we use and all the training we do is to have fun. You are not “in denial” if you actively ask forum members how to improve, because that’s something only one who accepts defeat can do.
You are doing great, whatever my words mean to you, good luck in your TT journey.