Vioncello... too slow?

I'd use it with fast Euro rubber or Chinese rubber(hard sponge).

liulin04 wrote: vioncello is more of a defensive blade used by choppers.  If you desire a slower blade in the Nittaku instrument line, I'd suggest Violin.  I started out with a Violin and moved onto Acoustic for a bit more speed.  I'd say Violin is a great starter's blade.

For someone with expensive taste, yes it is...

why does nittaku claim that the violen is faster than the acoustic?

ejm_85 wrote: arg0 wrote: I agree Violin is a very good blade, and not too fast. I can recommend it, if money is not an issue. But there are blades which are nearly as good for a fraction of the price. i was thinking about some cheaper options... it really depends if i have to pay for it myself or if i can get it as a birthday present...   if i got to spend my own money, then i was thinking : butterfly Grubba Pro, nittaku haneyoshi or tiluna   has anyone hit any of those 3

The quality of Grubba Pro is the worst I've ever seen...  Bought two last year, one of them delaminated after a few hours.  Gave the other away. 

Tiluna and Haneyoshi are beautifully made blades.  Worth the money.  Haneyoshi is significantly faster with a huge sweet spot.  Flared handle on Haneyoshi is very skinny(designed for women), but straight handle is very nice.  Tiluna's flared handle is better, but a bit shorter than Haneyoshi's.  Right now I am using Donic Defplay Senso (not Classic Senso) and I am very happy with it.

I do have a Grubba Pro and didn't have problems with the quality on mine but never liked the feel of the blade.. I used to use Grubba Variant and the Variant felt a lot better than the Pro..


I couldn't find any Variant version... I knew you played so well with it, so I was looking for it but could only find the Pro version in the U.S...

The 2 Grubba Pro I got were like K-Mart like quality of unknown country of origin.  There's was no "Made in XXX" print anywhere on the blade or the box.  Maybe I got fake ones, but I bought them from a reputable source and paid full retail...


Edited by roundrobin - 04/23/2011 at 1:12am

@imago,
I've seen images of a Vioncello blade with "Violoncello" printed on them, not sure if Nittaku corrected the error or if it was a fake

@ejm_85,
Nittaku rates speed of Violin=10.5, Acoustic=10.7. BTW, Vioncello is rated 10.5 as well, it's just that the blade face is bigger than Violin.

I’ve tried several defensive blades during my conversion to a classical defender and I end-up with Vioncello. I played each of them at least 2-3 month before I decided to change. Shortly, reasons to change ware for:

- Joo Se Hyuk blade: too less control, too much vibration and too fast,

- Grubba Pro blade: too slow,

- Matsush*ta (Pro and Special) blades: too heavy and too much vibration,

- Violin too small (but I’m still using as reserve blade)

To generate enough power forehand, I needed a fast rubber there, however with soft version I didn’t lost good control.

Thus, yes, Vioncello is slow. Faster then Grubba Pro, slower then Joo Se Huyk and similar to Matsush*ta. Violin is faster but slower then Joo Se Huyk. But with good speed rubber you can compensate this.

roundrobin wrote: I do have a Grubba Pro and didn't have problems with the quality on mine but never liked the feel of the blade.. I used to use Grubba Variant and the Variant felt a lot better than the Pro.. I couldn't find any Variant version... I knew you played so well with it, so I was looking for it but could only find the Pro version in the U.S...The 2 Grubba Pro I got were like K-Mart like quality of unknown country of origin.  There's was no "Made in XXX" print anywhere on the blade or the box.  Maybe I got fake ones, but I bought them from a reputable source and paid full retail...

butterfly discontinued the Variant a while ago. Great blade,especially with long pips. The Grubba Pro plays nothing like it.. The feel of the blade was something that I couldn't get used to.. I still have it, but I doubt that I'll ever us it again.

You'll find people saying Acoustic is faster than Violin and vice versa. I therefore suppose the speed must be about the same. I also don't trust Nittaku values very much: according to them Violin is faster than Ludeack, which I cannot confirm. Here is an attempt at an objective comparison of the characteristics of the Nittaku "Strings" series blades:
http://web.me.com/igsstern/tabletennis/Blade_DB/Entries/2010/10/9_Nittaku_Violin_series.html
AFAIK the handle size is the same in Vioncello and Violin, but TheCoach can tell you for sure, since he has both.

im convinced that this is the blade for me... now i just need to choose my rubbers

I´ve own a feather-weight  Acoustic ST 79gr and i´ve been playing with it for more than a year, and also a Violin of 83.5 St that played during 2 years, so these were my main setups since the glue ban and all i can say im completely SURE that VIOLIN is SLOWER but feeling is far away better.

Edited by jonyer1980 - 05/22/2011 at 9:25am

Dont worry about your playstyle for now. If you are a beginner, your style will change a lot anyway. Just focus on the basics and vaguely aim for the standard edition attacker, you can deviate or make finer adjustments later on.

The Acoustic really isnt THAT fast. Its only a 5-ply all-wood blade after all. Just get one, put some durable, mediumsoft, non-superfast rubbers on it like Sriver, MarkV or something. You will be fine.

We have some professional korean coaches here. Ive seen their students start with all sorts of butterfly carbon blades with tensor rubbers. Absolutely no problem, they develop very nicely, no doubt urged on to perfect timing by the hypnotic rhythm of the coach. I think the coach doesnt even care what they get as long as its inverted and it grips.

Many people start playing with one blade and use it for the rest of their lives. With these expensive blades you really dont want to be buying too many of them. Spend the rest of your money on coaching, good indoor shoes, and a big bag (at least 100) of decent balls. 1 good blade is enough. Get to truly know your blade, for starters, assuming no wierd spin, you need to know the moment you hit the ball whether its going to go in or not, and if not what you could have done to make it land. Each blade is different and blade characteristics change over time, just keep using it and you will get extremely attuned to yours and fall in love with it .

Violin is harder, better for hitting I think. The lines are PINK. Violincello seems to be some sort of chopping blade? If so, best not to get it unless you want to be a chopper. If its just a normal blade, then buy away!

Be sure to get the right handle. The nittaku FL handles are a bit thin. ST ones are fatter. My FL handle is probably too thin for me. Every time I test someone else's blade I curse at my own handle, consider changing it, but I love it too much to ever change...

Actually even if I were to use another blade, it would make essentially no difference to my level anyway, but I like the feel of it.





Edited by Vassily - 05/22/2011 at 8:38am