The Butterfly Inner/ALC blades that have this construction: Limba-Limba-ALC-Kiri (or Ayous)-ALC-Limba-Limba
Play very similar to the Primorac Off- : Limba-Limba-Ayous-Limba-Limba
And the Petr Korbel: Limba-Limba-Ayous-Limba-Limba
The thing with the Inner/ALC blades is, on softer touch shots and control shots, they play pretty much just like the two all wood blades above. You only start having the impact of the ALC layer when you make deeper contact and put more bang-impact into the ball on bigger shots.
So, it would kind of be like using one of those blades above but having extra gears for when you need to take bigger shots. And, again, if it has that quality where you really feel the ball being grabbed, that is a blade worth using.
But I want to make sure you understand, just because your friend's Harimoto ALC has that, does not mean that if you get one, it will play just the same way your friend's does. Try a few of them and see if you feel that in all of them. It is worth testing. But if you find one that feels that way that you can buy, you may as well get it.
Hey Carl,
If I could pick your brains for a second...(I really appreciate everything you share here. I used to read your posts before I joined this forum...Also these questions are coming from only having played ~2 years and not experimented with lots of equipment)
I played more with all my blades + a friends DHS Long 5 and I had questions/thoughts for you:
1) It seems Expert II has this middle gear that is easily accessible that allows very easy and safe looping from any distance. But this middle gear irritates me as control and predictability suffers a bit. Is it because of the middle Spruce layer? It looks very much like the Stiga Offensive Classic middle layer (stripped).
2) I am starting to wonder about limba vs ayous vs spruce in the middle layers cause it seems that L-A-A-A-A-L like Stiga ARClassic and AREvolution feel like CVT transmissions. That is, there are no gears. Just smooth linear range throughout. Long 5 also feels similar to Stiga AREvo until I hit really hard and access the Carbon layer, a CVT transmission with an Overdrive button.
The OSP V- is also very linear but it does have the middle gear but not as annoyingly jumpy as Expert II. I wonder if the Limba middle gear vs Ayous (of AREvo) makes it so? Seems this article confirm my hand-feeling [
https://www.sdcttblades.com/nerdy-stuff/limba-vs-ayous-in-the-second-layer]
I know they are all different blades but I feel like the middle layer is very easy to feel and V- vs Expert vs AREvo are distinctly so because of the different middle layers?
I also dont want to move to carbon yet cause I still have the problem of hitting wrongly in the 5mm lower center area of the blade cause I am rushing. When I do hit Center to Tip, there is so much more power/directness/speed and safety. With Carbon, I cannot really feel where I hit the ball much.
Some might consider the AREvo soft and a bit dull but I love the dwell and loading up feeling. Video is from yesterday with Stiga ArEvo and H3 forehand. I know there is a lot of work still required on my technique but the safety with H3 and Stiga AREvo is crazy good. Also for some reason mine measures 5.6mm rather than 5.4 as stated in other sites. Perhap thats why its a little more stable than Expert but less so than V- on loop-drives : [
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