What makes more difference - rubbers or blades

[SorryForTheEdge]

For any style, both are important. The point though is that for modern table tennis, spin is more important than control/feeling though everyone wants the best of both.

Spin is important until you face someone with short pips
I think the most important criteria is feeling so you get feedback in your hand whenever your shot was too strong or too weak, too left or too right. I hit so many edges when lobbing my friends keep telling me to go F myself.

 

[MORTtheORT]

You mean like when FZD was sponsored by Stiga and using a Viscaria with a Stiga handle with H3 on FH and a Butterfly rubber on BH? Or when Dima O was sponsored by Donic and using Butterfly rubbers and would always completely hide the handle and edges of his blade?

There are many more examples of TT players not using the rubbers from their sponsor....blades too....but more frequently, the rubbers.

Doesn't DHS force that they play with DHS on the forehand and Butterfly forces them to play with only Butterfly equipment...hence why Dima plays with the modern Butterfly setup?

 

[MORTtheORT]

This comment confirms that you don't have have the knowledge of pros and Olympians that you are pretending to. Thanks for removing any doubt.

Got to ask him this morning at a kids development day. Sponsor throw rubbers at them all the time so they are able to just adjust and play. Blade he said can be made out of anything as far as he cared but the balance of the blade is very important (top heavy etc). Intermediate players to advance players need the feel but pros hit with intent so the gear becomes less important until you are in the 1% game where any part of the setup can make a difference as the margins are so fine. Ultimately it is the player not the gear.

 

[NextLevel]

Got to ask him this morning at a kids development day. Sponsor throw rubbers at them all the time so they are able to just adjust and play. Blade he said can be made out of anything as far as he cared but the balance of the blade is very important (top heavy etc). Intermediate players to advance players need the feel but pros hit with intent so the gear becomes less important until you are in the 1% game where any part of the setup can make a difference as the margins are so fine. Ultimately it is the player not the gear.

How long have you been playing for? What is your rating level?

 

[IB66]

One way to look at this subject is to -

1) Try and play with a sheet of rubber - no blade!!
2) Try and play with a blade - no rubber!!

Without a blade the rubber (be it LP/MP/SP/inverted) is basically useless, where as, a blade on its own can be played with.
So from a practical point of view a blade is more important !!!!

I bought a shirt recently, and the company put in a BTY catalog, there were 39 different rubbers, Z03 wasn’t included so that makes 40.
There are 51 blades.

Sponge thicknesses available really increase the ‘choice‘ of rubbers - generally a minimum of 2 different sponge thicknesses are available so that makes the variations of rubbers up to at least 80 probably more like 100, and that’s just 1 manufacturer!!

From a manufacturer’s point of view it seems that rubbers are more important, maybe as far as sales are concerned!!

 

[RefereeNumber2]

It's not a false dilemma at all. Say you have a very old racket and only have enough money to replace two rubbers or a blade, which one do you pick?

Say you're buying a racket for the first time working with a limited budget, do you prioritize the quality of the rubbers or the blade?

This point is really the crux of this thread, and it applies much more broadly than just these scenarios.

None of us have an infinite budget to spend on table tennis. Knowing you can reallocate some of your scarce resources from blades to rubbers can allow you to either 1) save money by using cheaper blades and/or replacing/EJing blades less frequently, without sacrificing the performance of your equipment, or 2) use those savings to buy better rubbers or replace your rubbers more frequently, and get better performance from your equipment for the same cost. Or you could even use those savings on some extra coaching lessons.

 

[PhoenixTT]

I bought a shirt recently, and the company put in a BTY catalog, there were 39 different rubbers, Z03 wasn’t included so

Yeah. More important than even training is the outfit. Hard to play naked. You won't be allowed in the court even if you have "ITTF" tattooed somewhere.

 

[NextLevel]

One way to look at this subject is to -

1) Try and play with a sheet of rubber - no blade!!
2) Try and play with a blade - no rubber!!

Without a blade the rubber (be it LP/MP/SP/inverted) is basically useless, where as, a blade on its own can be played with.
So from a practical point of view a blade is more important !!!!

I bought a shirt recently, and the company put in a BTY catalog, there were 39 different rubbers, Z03 wasn’t included so that makes 40.
There are 51 blades.

Sponge thicknesses available really increase the ‘choice‘ of rubbers - generally a minimum of 2 different sponge thicknesses are available so that makes the variations of rubbers up to at least 80 probably more like 100, and that’s just 1 manufacturer!!

From a manufacturer’s point of view it seems that rubbers are more important, maybe as far as sales are concerned!!

Yeah, but the problem with this framing, as brilliantly laid out as it is, is that it is very different from the original question posed by OP and is unable to yield some of the insights posed by the original question if it is insightfully discussed. Moreover, one could start saying things like the glue is the most important part of the setup and other such logical arguments based on variations of this and that philosophical paradox when we are really trying to tell people that rubbers drive advanced play more than blades do and you get more out of learning to utilize a high level rubber than anything else, and that should be the focus of your training hours, ideally with a blade as fast as you can manage for your style, but slower than that is usually fine as well.

I am really okay with the fact that others may have different answers. But so far, the answers have been posed in ways that don't yield any insight into how choose equipment based on what occurs in the modern game. It was interesting hearing Kanak say he might have to go to a slower blade to use Z03 on backhand...

 

[UpSideDownCarl]

Doesn't DHS force that they play with DHS on the forehand and Butterfly forces them to play with only Butterfly equipment...hence why Dima plays with the modern Butterfly setup?

So when FZD was not sponsored by DHS or Butterfly and WAS sponsored by Stiga and Stiga said he was using Stiga rubbers and blade but he was using a Butterfly blade, a Butterfly rubber on BH and a DHS rubber on FH and NO EQUIPMENT made by Stiga?

And Dima, when he was sponsored by Donic was not using ANY Donic equipment and instead was using Butterfly rubbers and for a while a Stiga blade and then a Butterfly blade.....So Donic told him to use Butterfly?

It says you are using a Viscaria with D09c and Fastarc G1. I am going to suggest a test for you:

1) Try using that Viscaria and put Sriver rubbers on both sides
2) Try using a Stiga Offensive Classic with D09c and Fastarc G1

Test both. Do some training with each then play a few matches with each. Tell us which you would prefer to use during a match.

Sriver is one of the two rubber players in the 1980s were most commonly using. Stiga Offensive Classic was a very popular blade back then and is the same ply construction as what Waldner was using in the 1980s.

Tell us how that goes.

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

You mean like when FZD was sponsored by Stiga and using a Viscaria with a Stiga handle with H3 on FH and a Butterfly rubber on BH? Or when Dima O was sponsored by Donic and using Butterfly rubbers and would always completely hide the handle and edges of his blade?

There are many more examples of TT players not using the rubbers from their sponsor....blades too....but more frequently, the rubbers.

you know, ZJK said something like the best blade makers like Butterfly, DHS
and then he then said, "also Donic"
lol
he almost forgot to say Donic

 

[Tony's Table Tennis]

for developing players.

case closed

 

[IB66]

Yeah, but the problem with this framing, as brilliantly laid out as it is, is that it is very different from the original question posed by OP and is unable to yield some of the insights posed by the original question if it is insightfully discussed. Moreover, one could start saying things like the glue is the most important part of the setup and other such logical arguments based on variations of this and that philosophical paradox when we are really trying to tell people that rubbers drive advanced play more than blades do and you get more out of learning to utilize a high level rubber than anything else, and that should be the focus of your training hours, ideally with a blade as fast as you can manage for your style, but slower than that is usually fine as well.

I am really okay with the fact that others may have different answers. But so far, the answers have been posed in ways that don't yield any insight into how choose equipment based on what occurs in the modern game. It was interesting hearing Kanak say he might have to go to a slower blade to use Z03 on backhand...

I think the OP may have answered his own question in post 1 with the attached video !! Perhaps, more for us amateurs rather than Pro’s.

 

[GhostBackhand]

When you are trying to be the very best, every detail has some contribution. But when we keep the same rubber and change blades or keep the same blade and change rubbers, the results are not 50-50. Pros all use top rubbers or boost them to stay competitive. This usually requires the most modern rubbers or rubbers evolved to play the modern game with the right grippy/tacky topsheet with modern pimple configurations and stretched on decently thick aponge. For blades however, some players are still using blades based on ideas from the 1990s or even earlier. For anyone who has used a lot of equipment, this question is not political or subjective. You can still play high level TT with something like a Mazunov or to a lesser degree a Korbel with Dignics and Hurricane. If you don't heavily boost or speed glue a MarK V or Mercury, your game will be nonsense. And I know because even with my technical limitations I have tried these things. I played at a decent level with old blades for a long time like Korbels or Yasaka Extras. But I had to use a rubber made in 2008 or later and in some cases boosted.

I may not have the expertise to fully verify what you’re saying, but I want to share that my coach, who is favorite in my country, is sponsored by Xiom for his blades (he previously used Butterfly). When he play in high-level tournaments, he mentioned that he felt his performance dropped by a level, hahaha