"Feel of ball", affected by thickness of plies/quality management or am Im Crazy?

[TTFrenzy]

Lemme add to that confusion..
"Diffrent people with diffrent neurological receptor orientation pattern in our fingers, genetically and or work related". That is why we all have diffrent ball feel.

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Thanks for the clarification! Gotta love science

 

[SilentRain]

If you selected 10 Viscarias that all weighed 90 grams, they all would feel a little different because would is a natural substance that is grown. Each tree of the same kind has a slightly different density of wood. Wood from the lower part of the trunk will even feel a bit different from wood higher on the same tree.

All 10 90 gram Viscarias will have slightly different feeling and playing characteristics. But they will also feel similar in many respects.

[Edit: bobpuls already said this. I am just adding more info to it. What he said should have been enough though.]


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

I think i get it now. But won't that mean it would be difficult to properly compare blades of similar characteristics without trying it in person. Therefore reviews online would be kinda skewered unless the purchased blade is magically 100% same in every way (density, glue technique....)

 

[TTFrenzy]

I think i get it now. But won't that mean it would be difficult to properly compare blades of similar characteristics without trying it in person. Therefore reviews online would be kinda skewered unless the purchased blade is magically 100% same in every way (density, glue technique....)

Exactly internet reviews, are in fact not reviews but perspectives from different kinds of players. The best way to judge a blade if it suits you or not is obviously trying it out

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Well, a written review of a blade is a complicated thing to assess. Even those video reviews Dan and Tom make, they are great, but they are not simple. Dan and Tom are good enough players that they can make most rackets and rubbers look like they preform pretty well.

A player whose technique is low level will feel different things than a higher level player will with the same equipment. Someone who tends to hit flat will feel things that are different than someone who loops with deep impact and someone who loops with deep impact will feel different things from someone who loops with thin contact.

So, this is only a small piece of why there are so many differing opinions on different equipment in TT. The equipment is never really actually the same. And the players who review are never the same.

I have a friend who has this blade. It is a 5 ply hinoki blade. He loves this blade. Before I could loop, when I used to flat hit, I thought the blade felt dull and slow. I remember he had his blade and another blade and he had me try them. I did not like his. I did like the other. Then this 2350 level player tried both and she said, "I like this one (his) it is decently fast and has good control, this one (the other blade) I do not like. It is too slow and it does not have good enough control to rationalize how slow it is." Now the other blade felt faster and felt like it had better control to me. But I was flat hitting. And she was looping.

Now when I feel that same 5 ply hinoki blade, it feels pretty amazing. Feel, spin, grab, dwell time. It is a great blade. But I could not feel that at all when I was not able to loop.

So I think there is a lot of stuff like that going on with these of reviews.

And you can use those reviews to get some idea of things. But it will never be the full story and should not replace testing things for yourself. And of course, the best way to try to do that is to get as many people to let you try their equipment as possible.

There is another detail. Often something that feels great in practice isn't something that we will play well with in matches. And often something that is best for developing your technique and improving is not something we would even consider using.

 

[Shuki]

A friend of mine (pretty bad right now, working hard to improve, new to the game) has been developing his style to become a looper from both wings. I had told him my blade (nittaku violin) is really easy to loop with and get good power if you can graze the ball well. He however, does not graze the ball but loops with more contact. He despised the blade because the same shots he normally made had no power.

I'm not a power player, but more control and spin to keep the ball on the table. Really depends on the way you hit that will make you decide if a blade is good for looping. Don't always listen to others reviews.

 

[SilentRain]

Well, a written review of a blade is a complicated thing to assess. Even those video reviews Dan and Tom make, they are great, but they are not simple. Dan and Tom are good enough players that they can make most rackets and rubbers look like they preform pretty well.

A player whose technique is low level will feel different things than a higher level player will with the same equipment. Someone who tends to hit flat will feel things that are different than someone who loops with deep impact and someone who loops with deep impact will feel different things from someone who loops with thin contact.

So, this is only a small piece of why there are so many differing opinions on different equipment in TT. The equipment is never really actually the same. And the players who review are never the same.

I have a friend who has this blade. It is a 5 ply hinoki blade. He loves this blade. Before I could loop, when I used to flat hit, I thought the blade felt dull and slow. I remember he had his blade and another blade and he had me try them. I did not like his. I did like the other. Then this 2350 level player tried both and she said, "I like this one (his) it is decently fast and has good control, this one (the other blade) I do not like. It is too slow and it does not have good enough control to rationalize how slow it is." Now the other blade felt faster and felt like it had better control to me. But I was flat hitting. And she was looping.

Now when I feel that same 5 ply hinoki blade, it feels pretty amazing. Feel, spin, grab, dwell time. It is a great blade. But I could not feel that at all when I was not able to loop.

So I think there is a lot of stuff like that going on with these of reviews.

And you can use those reviews to get some idea of things. But it will never be the full story and should not replace testing things for yourself. And of course, the best way to try to do that is to get as many people to let you try their equipment as possible.

There is another detail. Often something that feels great in practice isn't something that we will play well with in matches. And often something that is best for developing your technique and improving is not something we would even consider using.

That I know. What I'm trying to say is that because of the different variances in blade manufacturing (wood density, gluing process etc), If i use 5 different types of the same blade, i will get different drastic results. Therefore assuming I'm 100% the same in terms of skill and preference of an online reviewer, I might disaggree with his review as the blade i purchased is not the exact same blade as the reviewers which might alter my view of the product.

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Well, not exactly. 10 of any blade, all the same weight will all feel a little different from each other but they will feel more the same than different. And they will feel like they are the same kind of blade. But if you took 500 Viscarias at 90 grams and 500 Clippers at 90 grams. All the Clippers would feel like Clippers. And none of them would feel like any of the Viscarias, even if all 500 Clippers had very slight differences in feeling from each other. There will still be something that makes a Clipper feel like a Clipper and a Viscaria feel like a Viscaria.

If you took 10 Viscarias that were all of different weights and compared them to each other, they would all still feel more alike than different. But the ones that were closer to 90 grams would all feel more similar to those other 500 90 gram Viscarias than they would feel to the ones that were closer to 80 grams.

If you are looking at reviews, they do provide you some information. You just can't weigh that information to heavily. And there is no substitute for trying several versions of the blade you want.

I know this guy who, when he buys a new blade, he buys about 15 of them. Then he tries them all and chooses one or two and sells the rest. Now, this guy can afford to do that. I wouldn't do it even if I could afford to. But he always selects what he feels are the best one.

I always chose the ones that are heavy enough because the denser the wood, they better it feels. But I look for blades between 90-95 grams because that is a weight range where the blade is going to feel good and not be too heavy for me.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

 

[NextLevel]

A friend of mine (pretty bad right now, working hard to improve, new to the game) has been developing his style to become a looper from both wings. I had told him my blade (nittaku violin) is really easy to loop with and get good power if you can graze the ball well. He however, does not graze the ball but loops with more contact. He despised the blade because the same shots he normally made had no power.

I'm not a power player, but more control and spin to keep the ball on the table. Really depends on the way you hit that will make you decide if a blade is good for looping. Don't always listen to others reviews.

My personal advice to you is to learn to loop in a variety of ways. Hitting through the ball is especially helpful when countering topspin from near to mid distance. As you get better too, you need to learn to hit through the ball sometimes to counter the levels of spin being put on the ball.

 

[Shuki]

My personal advice to you is to learn to loop in a variety of ways. Hitting through the ball is especially helpful when countering topspin from near to mid distance. As you get better too, you need to learn to hit through the ball sometimes to counter the levels of spin being put on the ball.

Definitely agree, my coach has wanted me to keep up aggression rather than moving to a blocking game after my initial attack. She uses the term quick loop, and describes it as half loop half shot. Working on making more contact already at this point