"Must have" blades.

JimT wrote:   Andrzej Grubba is a great ALL+ blade but it doesn't have a hollow section in the handle. Unless someone went and put a WRB-style handle on AG blade.

Mine has a pretty big hole in the end...just for a rubber insect insert!  lol   I have Aces 2.2 regular on both sides, and it still feels pretty head heavy.  This is why I thought it might be a small version of a wrb. 

Actually $200 for Acoustic L-sized is normal. Butterfly Custom made blade cost 21.000-31.500 Yen. I have my Violin handle thickened  by Borko it cost $40 and Acoustic handle which is changed completely cost $75. The result is not as good as the factory made. So for me it's worth it.

I don't believe that I should have to pay extra just for a larger handle. As I've said, companies like Stiga offer their customers thicker or slimmer handles without an extra charge, and that's how I believe it should be done. An additional $30-$40 for a few more centimeters of wood is insane. And I don't feel like I should have to take it to a custom blade maker to fix or replace the handle completely, because that's way too much trouble.

Edit - But if you've got money like that, by all means you can spend whatever you wish to get your handle customized. I just feel like the extra charge simply for a larger handle is ridiculous because Nittaku blades are already relatively expensive, and to me it just seems like they're trying to squeeze more money out of you.

JimT wrote: qynthnghm wrote: I don't believe that I should have to pay extra just for a larger handle. As I've said, companies like Stiga offer their customers wider or slimmer handles without an extra charge, and that's how I believe it should be done. An additional $30-$40 for a few more centimeters of wood is insane. And I don't feel like I should have to take it to a custom blade maker to fix or replace the handle completely, because that's way too much trouble. Originally, Nittaku made slimmer handles simply because on average palms/hands of Japanese players were indeed smaller. Why they keep on doing that now when Nittaku is an international brand, and Japanese are much closer to the world average in height and size - I have no idea.

Jim, I believe you're right about Nittaku originally making the handles thinner for the average Japanese player, I have considered this as well. As for why they continue to do so might have something to do with Nittaku remaining loyal to their Japanese customer base. Meaning that they have no qualms about charging foreigners more for thicker handles rather than making all their handles thicker and risk losing some of their current customer base in Japan and other parts of Asia. Of course, this is just me speculating.