Beginner JPen blades - what's the YSE of JPens?

[Scifer]

Hi,
Fairly new to playing consistently. Started with a premade Butterfly JPen (Nitchugo). It was 1 sided but then picked up a CPen to learn RPB.

Currently have a Yasaka Sweden Extra CPen, but I just realized that it feels much more comfortable, maneuverable and powerful with the old JPen. I have some longterm wrist-issues from a motorcycle accident - so some grip positions hurt for me.

So... What's the YSE equivalent of a 2-sided JPen? Everything out there seems like 1-ply and very fast.

 

[greenbeanmachine]

Former jpen player here, and I've been on this search before. Yinhe makes some multi-ply jpen blades and you can put rubber on the back of them. Yinhe 981, 983, and 985 are various multi-ply jpen blades with the traditional rectangular shape. Yinhe 987 is a multi-ply blade with a jpen handle with a round cpen-style shape. However, these are all much faster than YSE.... unfortunately jpen is a style that is built around quick drive attacks, so jpen blades tend to be very fast. Also, adding rubber to the backside will make the balance feel very weird, since jpen blades are designed for 1-sided play. I would not recommend 2-sided jpen based on my personal experience.

I assume the reason you like your jpen blade is because of the control you get with your index finger. If that is the case, I think there are better options for you:

(1) Sanwei Su (aka Sanwei Pincer). There are lots of models of these, including 5-ply wood. You can also get a carbon fiber model if you want. Sanwei Su Echo is the 5-ply wood model.

(2) Zhang fen bao, a piece you can glue to a cpen racket to give you more control with the index finger. It's hard to find in the US -- you can only really find them in China. I have a few of them and I'll mail one to you if you'd like. Pics attached.

Both of these helped me to learn RPB while still providing a lot of stability with the index finger for TPB.

 

[Scifer]

This is incredibly helpful, thank you so much!

I was thinking of modifying one of my CPen blades with a 3d printed nub glued on... if that does not work out I will take you up on your offer. What kind of glue did you use? My main concern is messing up a blade permanently...
Those Sanwei blades look like they'd do the trick too.

 

[Topspinslinger]

Really cool post with great answer, I'll try also modifying my cpen blade

 

[kase]

For a rounded jpen shape: Try the NITTAKU MIYABI R. Double sided jpen, 9mm. Won't be as head heavy as a completely square shaped blade. It's around 85g, shouldn't be too fast.

Alternatively you can try an Armstrong val attack blade with the jpen handle. It comes in square, round, semi-round. It's 7.5mm 7ply all hinoki.

 

[greenbeanmachine]

What kind of glue did you use? My main concern is messing up a blade permanently...

I use hot glue. If you want to remove it, just heat it up a bit with the tip of a glue gun or a hairdryer.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

+1 on the Yinhe Jpen blades
affordable and decent quality
and very importantly - easy to get

 

[xavi]

(2) Zhang fen bao, a piece you can glue to a cpen racket to give you more control with the index finger. It's hard to find in the US -- you can only really find them in China. I have a few of them and I'll mail one to you if you'd like. Pics attached.

Any website with "Zhang fen bao" available?

 

[Scifer]

Any thoughts on the Butterfly Garaydia Revolver-R? I know it has Carbon, and expensive but it is rated ALL.
These are the other JPens rated ALL:

• Nittaku Streak R-H
• Victas Birmingham 77 - Japanese Penhold
• Victas Sleek - Japanese Penhold
• Yasaka Double Face II - Japanese Penhold
  

 

[Bald_band1t]

Any thoughts on the Butterfly Garaydia Revolver-R? I know it has Carbon, and expensive but it is rated ALL.
These are the other JPens rated ALL:

• Nittaku Streak R-H
• Victas Birmingham 77 - Japanese Penhold
• Victas Sleek - Japanese Penhold
• Yasaka Double Face II - Japanese Penhold

I have a Garaydia Revolver-R, despite its light weight its surprisingly fast and feels just as fast as some of my single ply Hinoki blades - I'd say its OFF to OFF+ at least!

Weirdly enough I am pretty much the same position as OP - wrist injury from multiple motorcycle/ MTB accidents also playing RPB Jpen. I found playing a light blade significantly easier/ more comfortable for my wrist, also switching to a slower setup has increased my consistency and control.

My recommendation is the Victas Spin Ace Carbon - despite the inner carbon construction it uses a very thin layer of fleece carbon, making it similar to the Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon (if not slower), I'd give it a speed rating of ALL+ of OFF- with plenty of control and generally it weighs around 60-65g (mine is 59g after shaving it). (for context I am a huge EJ and have: Viscaria and various Viscaria clones, HL5, Fang Bo B2, Garaydia Revolver R, various Hinoki 1 plys, Acoustic inner and outer carbon, YEO, Ma Lin SC etc. for comparison).

Victas also has the WFS Rotor which is a 7 ply all wood, 68g, RPB Jpen with an All+ rating and Butterfly with the Hardraw Revolver-R which looks like a YEO but RPB Jpen - 65g, 5 ply all wood, with a hard wood outer ply.

The Nittaku Sanalion R-H looks exactly like a YSE, ALL speed, 5 ply all wood and weighs only 62g! as does the Streak R-H (slightly faster than the Sanalion), Also 5 ply all wood, ALL+, 65g.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

Like others have said before, the Yinhe Jpens are extremely good. If you want, you can get Yinhe 989, one specifically made for 2 sides (twiddle). I used to be on the search before I decided to become Cpen with RPB

(I just changed like yesterday so I'm still trying to learn RPB)

 

[greenbeanmachine]

Any thoughts on the Butterfly Garaydia Revolver-R? I know it has Carbon, and expensive but it is rated ALL.

I have a Garaydia Revolver, it's alright. I'll sell it to you for pretty cheap if you want, actually. It's slower than 1-ply but definitely still an OFF blade. You can put sticky Chinese rubbers on it to slow it down a bit.

Garaydia Revolver will work well for you if you curl your fingers on the blade. If you put your fingers straight (like I do) then you will bump your palm on the cork on the back side of the blade.

I'd still recommend Sanwei SU over Garaydia Revolver, though.

 

[Caravenav]

Any website with "Zhang fen bao" available?

I'm looking for the same device and after several hours...I found it, now I should search a way where to buy it....take a look for 直板涨分宝 in Google

 

[Scifer]

Designed and 3d printed a little JPen nub.

It feels good, but the position is off, and it needs to be moved backwards by quite a bit. New design being printed/baked right now...

de

 

[Azku]

Any thoughts on the Butterfly Garaydia Revolver-R? I know it has Carbon, and expensive but it is rated ALL.
These are the other JPens rated ALL:

• Nittaku Streak R-H
• Victas Birmingham 77 - Japanese Penhold
• Victas Sleek - Japanese Penhold
• Yasaka Double Face II - Japanese Penhold

Butterfly Garaydia Revolver is quite controllable. It's slower than 1 ply hinoki.

 

[Azku]

I recommend Sanwei SU type. They have different models with different composition. Mine is Sanwei SU Froster, which is the ALC carbon.
It's so comfortable to hold.

 

[Azku]

Any thoughts on the Butterfly Garaydia Revolver-R? I know it has Carbon, and expensive but it is rated ALL.
These are the other JPens rated ALL:

• Nittaku Streak R-H
• Victas Birmingham 77 - Japanese Penhold
• Victas Sleek - Japanese Penhold
• Yasaka Double Face II - Japanese Penhold

I have Butterfly Garaydia Revolver.

It's much slower than 1 ply.

My main now is Senkoh 5 which is a 5 ply allwood blade. It's faster than Garaydia, so I don't think Garaydia is that fast. Still one of my favourite blades.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

I have Butterfly Garaydia Revolver.

It's much slower than 1 ply.

My main now is Senkoh 5 which is a 5 ply allwood blade. It's faster than Garaydia, so I don't think Garaydia is that fast. Still one of my favourite blades.

I really thought Garaydia was fast! Because of the carbon, of course 🔥

I wanted to buy this at one point, how does it feel? Great feel or? And how is twiddling?

 

[Azku]

I really thought Garaydia was fast! Because of the carbon, of course 🔥

I wanted to buy this at one point, how does it feel? Great feel or? And how is twiddling?

It's one of my earliest blades.
I have a few 1 ply hinoki blades, and they are all faster than Garaydia.
I still go back to Garaydia from time to time. It's one of my favourite blades.

It's very easy to control. When I say it's slow, it's still fast enough for amateur players.

It provide quite a good feel, but of course not as good as an allwood blade.

The handle can feel a bit weird at first, especially if you like to keep the fingers at the back more straight as you will bump into the hook at the back. But over time, I find the hook at the back me keep the position of the fingers at the back more consistent.

Twiddling is easy for me. The hook at the back kinda make the twiddling easier for me.

I later bought Senkoh 5, the only 5 allwood blade I have. It's my main blade now. It's a bit faster than Garaydia. I think the throw angle is a bit higher in Garaydia compared to Senkoh 5.

Overall, I think it's a very controlled blade, with comfortable handle (with a bit of sanding), and easy to twiddle. Also, it's beautiful. It's rare to find a blade with similar shape to Garaydia.

 

[PenHoldSandro]

It's one of my earliest blades.
I have a few 1 ply hinoki blades, and they are all faster than Garaydia.
I still go back to Garaydia from time to time. It's one of my favourite blades.

It's very easy to control. When I say it's slow, it's still fast enough for amateur players.

It provide quite a good feel, but of course not as good as an allwood blade.

The handle can feel a bit weird at first, especially if you like to keep the fingers at the back more straight as you will bump into the hook at the back. But over time, I find the hook at the back me keep the position of the fingers at the back more consistent.

Twiddling is easy for me. The hook at the back kinda make the twiddling easier for me.

I later bought Senkoh 5, the only 5 allwood blade I have. It's my main blade now. It's a bit faster than Garaydia. I think the throw angle is a bit higher in Garaydia compared to Senkoh 5.

Overall, I think it's a very controlled blade, with comfortable handle (with a bit of sanding), and easy to twiddle. Also, it's beautiful. It's rare to find a blade with similar shape to Garaydia.

View attachment 37306

I see, thank you for the opinion of the revolver! I genuinely thought it would be like a rocket 😅 (carbon.)