Looking for a short pips rubber for forehand

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Looking for a short pips rubber to play on forehand, I play a modern Chinese penhold style and want to try a short pips rubber with a style similar to He Zhi Wen. Planning on putting it with a stiff and fast blade for extra power. I have been looking at DHS 652 or 729 802-40. Does not need to be light or soft.
 
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I like Spinfire, many Spinfire and other SP videos on the wrm tt channel. Spinfire is much faster than 802-40

 
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says 1-sided penhold is cool
says 1-sided penhold is cool
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Spinfire is amazing. 802-40 is a decent substitute for 1/4 the price. I couldn't tell much difference between them in terms of speed, but spinfire is much grippier (almost sticky, even) so you can create more spin with it.

802-40 is a great place to start to see if you like pips -- it's the rubber used by He Zhi Wen.

I would recommend starting with a 5-ply outer-hardwood blade like Ma Lin Extra Offensive or Goiabao or Rosewood. This helps with the control a bit. If you're used to inverted rubber, pips will seem difficult to control.

Stiga Clipper is the standard blade for people who are good with pips, but I tried my friend's Clipper and I think I need a lot more time to get used to pips before I can properly use something which is so stiff. I've been playing short pips penhold for about 3 months now.
 
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Spinfire is amazing. 802-40 is a decent substitute for 1/4 the price. I couldn't tell much difference between them in terms of speed, but spinfire is much grippier (almost sticky, even) so you can create more spin with it.

802-40 is a great place to start to see if you like pips -- it's the rubber used by He Zhi Wen.

I would recommend starting with a 5-ply outer-hardwood blade like Ma Lin Extra Offensive or Goiabao or Rosewood. This helps with the control a bit. If you're used to inverted rubber, pips will seem difficult to control.

Stiga Clipper is the standard blade for people who are good with pips, but I tried my friend's Clipper and I think I need a lot more time to get used to pips before I can properly use something which is so stiff. I've been playing short pips penhold for about 3 months now.
Hi, how do you feel the Spinfire to block top spin in the backhand (if you do it. I think that you are RPB) ?...is it not too bouncy?, does it has sink effect?
 
says 1-sided penhold is cool
says 1-sided penhold is cool
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Hi, how do you feel the Spinfire to block top spin in the backhand (if you do it. I think that you are RPB) ?...is it not too bouncy?, does it has sink effect?
I typically do not use pips for RPB. I play with pips mostly on forehand, and I also play TPB with pips. Spinfire is unfortunately sensitive to heavy topspin, but it's much easier to block topspin than with inverted rubber. If you make a "countertopspin" stroke, it will be a very fast punch. You have to be active with blocking -- if you are passive then the ball will be chaotic.

Even when I twiddle to put inverted rubber on forehand, I usually do not hit RPB with pips. I will usually prefer to play TBP with inverted. Pips RPB is my worst stroke, so I try to avoid it. Maybe I'll practice RPB with pips and let you know how it goes.
 
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When I experimented with short pips on my backhand, I tried both Spinfire and 802-40. Spinfire is indeed much faster than 802-40. Plus Spinfire comes in various interesting colors (I still have one sheet of purple and one sheet of pink Spinfire on two of my spare blades)!

Spinfire plays very much like inverted. It is a good short pips if you want to generate some spins yourself and not be passively blocking all the time. It is a very good rubber. The spin was good for my backhand serve and I could loop with it to deceive my opponents (well because I could generate some top spin but not that much top spin since it is short pips after all). Yes the trade off is, it is more spin sensitive so you cannot be lazy in your blocking and use the same angle all the time. When the opponent's top spin is very heavy, you do have to close your racket angle quite a bit.

Friendship 802-40 is slower. But still very good. Yes for 1/4 of the price, you might want to try 802-40 first and see if you like it. Then later on, maybe upgrade to Spinfire for the speed. Don't forget: He Zhi Wen started playing in the 38mm celluloid ball era so 802-40 might not have as much speed necessary in the 40+mm plastic ball era we are in right now.

Both 802-40 and Spinfire do not have much wobbling effect which is what I like about them. I have heard from another player at the club that Moristo has more wobbling effect if that's what you are looking for.

When I changed my backhand from inverted to short pips, my goal was to become more active in my backhand play (meaning more hitting, more looping, more active blocking, etc.) so having something wobbly was never in my book. So I tried Spinfire and 802-40 and that was it. I did not try any other wobbly short pips. Since that short period of experimentation, I am now back to double inverted. It was fun to play with short pips and I would still take it out to annoy some of my clubmates once in a while. lol :)

My personal opinion is, if you are looking for wobbly effects, then might as well go the long pips route. I have tried short pips, medium pips and long pips. I found medium pips to be the worst of them all because it is like a half-a** rubber: good at nothing and excel at nothing. So either go for short pips for the speed and placement (and if placement is important for you, then you do NOT want the wobbly effect) or go for long pips for the wobbly effect. Skip medium pips for all intents and purposes. Heck I would even recommend anti if you want something stable, over medium pips.
 
says 1-sided penhold is cool
says 1-sided penhold is cool
Member
May 2023
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370
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Read 14 reviews
When I experimented with short pips on my backhand, I tried both Spinfire and 802-40. Spinfire is indeed much faster than 802-40. Plus Spinfire comes in various interesting colors (I still have one sheet of purple and one sheet of pink Spinfire on two of my spare blades)!
Do you notice any difference between the colors of Spinfire? Especially compared to the black one? I went to great lengths to find a sheet of black Spinfire because they were always sold out but maybe it's not worth it.

The black Spinfire I have feels pretty sticky and it doesn't feel that much faster than my red sheet of 802-40. But my 802-40 also has 42 degree sponge so maybe that is making it faster.
 
says Making a beautiful shot is most important; winning is...
says Making a beautiful shot is most important; winning is...
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Looking for a short pips rubber to play on forehand, I play a modern Chinese penhold style and want to try a short pips rubber with a style similar to He Zhi Wen. Planning on putting it with a stiff and fast blade for extra power. I have been looking at DHS 652 or 729 802-40. Does not need to be light or soft.
if you come from inverted rubber and is thinking to switch to short-pips but not quite ready yet, Goriki Kaishoku can be a great in-between the transition period! It is an inverted that has SP properties.
 
Do you notice any difference between the colors of Spinfire? Especially compared to the black one? I went to great lengths to find a sheet of black Spinfire because they were always sold out but maybe it's not worth it.

The black Spinfire I have feels pretty sticky and it doesn't feel that much faster than my red sheet of 802-40. But my 802-40 also has 42 degree sponge so maybe that is making it faster.
A clubmate of mine said that pink is the spinniest and purple was the fastest? Personally, the difference is probably too subtle for me to tell. And I did not EJ the other colors since I made the decision to go back to inverted.

I have noticed TT11 has stopped carrying Spinfire which is a shame. It is a very good rubber.

I believe I got my 802-40 from TT11. I am not sure what sponge hardness it is. But with that sheet, Spinfire by comparision is much faster.
 
says former JPEN, now CPEN
says former JPEN, now CPEN
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When I experimented with short pips on my backhand, I tried both Spinfire and 802-40. Spinfire is indeed much faster than 802-40. Plus Spinfire comes in various interesting colors (I still have one sheet of purple and one sheet of pink Spinfire on two of my spare blades)!

Spinfire plays very much like inverted. It is a good short pips if you want to generate some spins yourself and not be passively blocking all the time. It is a very good rubber. The spin was good for my backhand serve and I could loop with it to deceive my opponents (well because I could generate some top spin but not that much top spin since it is short pips after all). Yes the trade off is, it is more spin sensitive so you cannot be lazy in your blocking and use the same angle all the time. When the opponent's top spin is very heavy, you do have to close your racket angle quite a bit.

Friendship 802-40 is slower. But still very good. Yes for 1/4 of the price, you might want to try 802-40 first and see if you like it. Then later on, maybe upgrade to Spinfire for the speed. Don't forget: He Zhi Wen started playing in the 38mm celluloid ball era so 802-40 might not have as much speed necessary in the 40+mm plastic ball era we are in right now.

Both 802-40 and Spinfire do not have much wobbling effect which is what I like about them. I have heard from another player at the club that Moristo has more wobbling effect if that's what you are looking for.

When I changed my backhand from inverted to short pips, my goal was to become more active in my backhand play (meaning more hitting, more looping, more active blocking, etc.) so having something wobbly was never in my book. So I tried Spinfire and 802-40 and that was it. I did not try any other wobbly short pips. Since that short period of experimentation, I am now back to double inverted. It was fun to play with short pips and I would still take it out to annoy some of my clubmates once in a while. lol :)

My personal opinion is, if you are looking for wobbly effects, then might as well go the long pips route. I have tried short pips, medium pips and long pips. I found medium pips to be the worst of them all because it is like a half-a** rubber: good at nothing and excel at nothing. So either go for short pips for the speed and placement (and if placement is important for you, then you do NOT want the wobbly effect) or go for long pips for the wobbly effect. Skip medium pips for all intents and purposes. Heck I would even recommend anti if you want something stable, over medium pips.

man if medium pips are arse then i am cooked

cuz i still have no idea how to play against them :ROFLMAO:
 
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