Suspicious Timo Boll Spirit?

Hi tt community,

Edited by ttping85 - 01/14/2013 at 5:36pm

well you can imagine that I did that already. I also had quite a few Boll Spirit blades in my hands but I have my reasons to have some doubts about this blade and I thought some people more expert than me on this forum could help to see if there is anything wrong or not. So your opinion about this would be much more helpful.

ttping85 wrote: Hi tt community, I am about to buy a blade but before deciding I wanted to have your opinion on the blade. Is there anything that looks suspicious to you? Butterfly tag? Layers? Design? JTTA inscription? Headsize?  Thanks for your help!

It's the real thing, but given that it must be really cheap, why are you asking?

High_Arc wrote: ttping85 wrote: Hi tt community, I am about to buy a blade but before deciding I wanted to have your opinion on the blade. Is there anything that looks suspicious to you? Butterfly tag? Layers? Design? JTTA inscription? Headsize?  Thanks for your help! It's the real thing, but given that it must be really cheap, why are you asking?

Edited by ttping85 - 01/14/2013 at 6:39pm

It's a genuine TBS and I had 3, just like that one. One of them was also damaged in the same way as that one too.

The reason it's cheap is because of the missing bits of top ply around the edges, on the backhand; make it illegal, for use in ITTF competitions.

If you're not planning on using it in official USATT or ITTF competitions; then I wouldn't worry about the damage, as most local league players are unlikely to inspect your bat and if they do; in all likelihood, it is to see what rubbers you are using on the blade.

Thanks everybody! I hope to get the blade soon and let you know. 

Vihito wrote: The blade is fake, please don't buy it.

The reason I think it's a genuine blade is as follows:

1) The blade face looks exactly the same as my old my 94 gram straight handle TBS; which had faded writing and no serial number. In my case, the previous owner was a former international player and the faded writing was attributed to repeated speed gluing of rubbers.

2) The lack of a serial number on the blade face shows it's an early series TBS.

3) My old 94 gram TBS also had damage to the top ply and you could see some of the blue arylate, black carbon weave of the composite layer. The weave on both blades is the same.

4) The TBS is a mass produced blade and it can be obtained in a range of weights. In the case of my 4 TBS's; I noticed that the core of my 96 gram TBS; was slightly thicker than my two 91 gram TBS's.

5) If you enlarge the photo to full size and look more closely; you can see it actually reads "WORLD-LEADING QUALITY BLADES".
   
What does look odd is the handle looking cleaner than it should be for a heavily used blade and the badge being attached incorrectly.

I had to think this one through and the answer I think is :

1) To make the blade more saleable, the owner has lightly sanded the handle to remove the dulled colour caused by sweat; which makes it looker cleaner.

The signs are :

a) If you enlarge the picture and look closely at the lens on the forehand side; you'll notice that there are striation marks on the top of the lens; which is consistent with sanding around the handle.

b) The top of the handle on the backhand side is a darker, duller colour than the rest of the handle and that is the colour I would expect to see on the handle of a heavily used TBS handle.

c) The reason for the badge being incorrectly lined up is because the owner has removed it, so that that he/she could sand the end of the handle too and the clue is in the bottom right hand side, where he/she missed a bit and that is darker than the rest.

d) Like any badge that is nailed on, sometimes you cannot put a pin back into the original hole because it has become enlarged enough for the pin not to grip and that means creating a fresh hole, to secure the badge.

On second look, you are right about the sign, sorry about that. But I would never buy nor recommend someone to buy a "Butterfly" blade with quality issues.

So far I have not seen any fake ST handle Butterfly yet as ST is not popular in China.

Edited by TurboZ - 01/16/2013 at 8:38pm

It looks good to me.  I only look at the Arylate-Carbon layer and not anything else.  Still, I think it's a genuine TBS.

I got the blade and it looks and plays wonderfully like a genuine Spirit Old tag.