NEXY Reviews: the COLOR blade (FL)

Rokphish

Both APW46 and I, have received the blade as well.

I also received the Oscar and posted a review on that blade, yesterday.

The initial review for the Color, is likely to be posted in the next three days.

No offense guys...but all your Nexy Review posts are filled with back and forth blah blah blah stuff ......you should repost an actual review(s) that one can read easily after you take the time to use the product and can make it more clear and visible to those looking to read an actual review. 

Or are you going to do that after some time when you can get all the reviewers on the same page?

For OFFICIAL & PROFESSIONAL pictures of NEXY COLOR blade please look here:
http://www.tak9.com/mall.php?cat=006001000&query=view&no=3312

Below is my amateur attempt of blade�s pictures.



The blade comes in a dark blue box and the rubber also comes in a dark blue box-like packaging.



The blade was tagged at 91gr but when I weighed it, the scale shows 88.65gr for the blade. And it certainly felt on the heavier side.

Front


Back


Nifty design


Closer look at the top ply (back of blade)


5 ply: Hinoki � Spruce � Ayous � Spruce - Hinoki


Mr. Moon in the package noted that the blade top is Hinoki while the second-fourth ply is Spruce. I�m going to assume it�s not Kiso Hinoki because with other blades with Kiso Hinoki top, they proudly say (usually on the blade itself) that it is Kiso Hinoki being used. He didn't say about the core but I'd say it's Ayous. I had email him to ask for more detail on the blade construction and still waiting for his answer. (UPDATE: Mr. Moon replied and confirmed that the top is indeed Kiso Hinoki and the core is Ayous. He also noted that he used selected Spruce for the blade. In short he invested in using high grade wood for the blade.)

T-Section


Front Handle


Front Lens


Back Handle


Back Lens


Emblem


When I received the blade, looking at it and reading the note Mr. Moon put in the package my mind immediately thought about one blade in my collection which I could compare it with, XIOM Jazz.
Unfortunately the XIOM Jazz even though the top is the same Kiso Hinoki, the second-fourth ply is Koto, while the core is also the same Ayous. I looked through my collection but couldn't find any with the same construction Hinoki-Spruce-Ayous, so I thought I pulled out Jazz nevertheless. Then I found out that both blades thickness is about the same. Not only that the thickness of each plies are also about the same.

Color vs Jazz


So, even though the second-fourth ply is different, I'm going to compare them both nevertheless. I thought about my other blade with Hinoki top, Butterfly Jonyer Hinoki but thought that it�s too thin and too flexible to compare with. Beside, I still couldn�t find confirmation about the construction of Jonyer. Some say it�s a 5 ply all Hinoki, some said the second-fourth to be Spruce. Perhaps some of you REALLY know and could tell me, that would be good.

Here�s the look of the Jonyer:


Also, I plan to compare it with my primary HK, of course. HK construction is Koto-Spruce-Ayous-Spruce-Koto.

Color vs HK C07


Actually it would be more fitting for me to compare it with the new HK 655 because the thickness of one of my 655 is the same as Color & Jazz.

Color vs HK 655


But if I do that I�ll adding a new blade in the mix, one that I haven�t been playing with, so I think I�ll stay with my initial comparison setup for the time being: Color-Jazz-HK (older version). Mr. Moon told me that Dexter is similar to the Color but has more speed. So I�m going to assume that the Color is in the ALL+/OFF- range, which is about the same range as the Jazz, perhaps a little slower than the HK. But due to the weight of the Color it might turned out to be a faster than JAZZ and might trail close to the HK.

Here are some comparison pictures of Color with other blade with spruce second-fourth ply:

Color vs XIOM Aria


Color vs Aria


Offensive Classic vs Color vs HK 655


Another take: HK 655 vs Color vs OC



Okay, back to Color�
Bad news (kind of) for those who abhor sealing their blades. The paint job on the blade is quite thick and unfortunately it�s on the playing area part of the blade. Others who received the COLOR blade could confirm this by looking closer and rubbing of finger on on-off the paint job. I tried to show this on the picture below as best as I could.

Paint job


You could see faintly the raised paint job of the red paint on the left next to the second black botch. But you can see more clearly the raised surface on the overlap of the word Color over the red paint especially on the letter O and R.

Now, let me tell you this. I seal all my blades with 1-2-3 very thin layers and haven�t regretted any of them. I personally have sealed more than 60 blades already and so far I only see benefits and none of the shortcomings some of them say about sealing. Those whose blades I sealed haven�t complained either. So in this case I have no worry whatsoever about the raised surface of the paint job on the front of the blade. I personally think that it will not affect play whatsoever. Just thought I pointed it out for those who really hate sealing of the blades.

Smeared


The paint job (or whatever) on the head of the blade leaves some faint marks on the head of the blade like when you seal the blade and accidentally brush the head with your hand and smear the seal (look at the upper left part of the picture above), but it's a very minor and I'm nitpicking. Only noticeable visible when looking at the blade at an angle. I might get a bad copy of the blade. Again, not a big problem at all.

I have to say that I�m quite impressed; the blade finish is excellent through out. Certainly one of the best finishing blades there is.

Here are Color & Jazz back to back


The Color's handle is longer, wider at the bottom (flare part), more rounded overall, thinner at the body/neck area, but thicker compare to Jazz. Jazz' handle is more square(-ish), but wider throughout the handle length albeit a bit thinner.





Bottom of the handle bears the NEXY silver emblem much like Butterfly�s. XIOM�s bears some sort of serial numbers.

Emblem



Here�s the table for blades dimensions according to my sample. Please go to the official website for more accurate/detail info on the COLOR blade.

                                    COLOR        JAZZ                HK

handle length              10.15cm     10cm            10.15cm
handle thickness          2.6cm         2.45cm          2.5cm
bottom width (flare)     3.55cm       3.45cm          3.5cm
head length                 15.7cm       15.2cm          15.8cm
head width                  15cm          14.85cm        15.1cm
head thickness         6.1-6.2mm     6.1-6.2mm     5.5mm
Weight                         88.65g       82.90g           89.70g



Mr. Moon noted that his tag of 91gr is accurate. My digital scale is only a home-grade use for my Dad�s Chinese medicine stuff and not factory grade scale like Mr. Moon�s scale. So please adjust the above noted weights by 2-3gr.


I�m having a small tournament this Sunday so I decided not to play with the blade and rubber even though my hands are already itching to give them a try. Sigh�
I will start playing with blade on Monday and will be playing with it and comparing for the following week or so. I�m going to write on the play/performance part starting next week so stay tuned.


Cheers...

I fixed some little cosmetic stuff in your review, rokphish - hope you don't mind. Also updated my link to your post! It's all good, buddy. Thanks!

rokphish wrote: Take it easy... I admit i'm an ej.. Most have known this by now. Look at recent hurricane king 655 thread for example. All I did here was reviewing the blade's appearance. Certainly won't take anyone a month time to have impression of the blade's appearance. I said nothing about its play performance. I stated one line assumption on its speed range. I don't think it's that too far fetch at all. Even with the best regard feel blade of acoustic and violin many find their fl blades are too small to hold. I think me giving out some sort of comparison with other blades would help a little. What would you say if you find a great blade but the handle is too small or too big for you? Too wide? Too square? Even great blade but with handle that doesn't fit nicely to our preference i'm sure we wouldn't like it. I know you can find the blade's pictures and dimensions on the official website and i did give the link to that. If you browse through my older postings you'll find many pictures of blades by me. Also older reviews. Just my style. No surprises there. I'll get to reviewing how the blade plays in due time... :)

i do like how you will compare the Color to different blades so others can relate better.  the HK655 seems more fitting to compare than the old one but not many of the 655 yet.

well... I'm not worry because I seal all my blades... learn by experience long ago...

you should take photos of the splintered areas if you would... i'm sure it's not at the painted area is it?

JimT : What kind of glue do you use ?

@rokphish: Those pics are awesome. You are a pro!  What an introduction!!! I can't wait to read more about it.

jcdi wrote: JimT : What kind of glue do you use ?

Galaxy Aqua Glue (bought from Cole's).

It's a very nice glue but it is a bit stronger than old style rubber cement. That's why I always seal my blades. But with this one I just got confused...

thanks for the review rokphish

rokphish wrote: thanks for the compliment fatt... jim, splinter on the painted area is it because the pull from the unpainted part or actually the painted area itself splintered? i'm not sure why you got confused bud. waterbase glue + unsealed blade = disaster...

Not sure why exactly it splintered. I think it's just because the outer layer is too thin (and soft).

When I said I got confused I meant that the glossy and very smooth surface led me to believe the blade was already sealed. I was wrong, I guess...

Jim T

From experience with water glues, I've found it is easier to get splintering if :

1) you get too thick a coat of glue on the blade and rubber, which forms a stronger bond.

The key is to get a very thin even coat of glue, on both the blade and rubber.

I achieve that by putting some glue on the blade or rubber and then spreading it thinly and evenly, using a bit of sponge.

Also make sure the glue is dried to clear, before putting the rubber on the blade, as once it becomes clear it acts like a contact glue.

2) If you glue wet, instead of allowing the glue to dry to clear, the glue doesn't have the tackiness to act like a contact glue and dries between the rubber and blade, forming a harder layer of glue, which is a pain to get off the rubber and harder to take off the blade too, which in turn increases the likelihood of splintering.

Unfortunately I've learnt the lessons of getting too thick a layer of glue and not letting it dry to clear, the hard way.

Regarding the Color and Oscar, both have a thin coat of varnish and I've not had any problems with splintering on either blade and I've tested two sets of rubbers, on both of them.

It's been a long time since i have been out. I was down sick with a little bit of cough and cold. I just got up today.
Updates on the blade. I received a Color FL 94 gms on Thursday of last week.
I did try it for a small session on Thursday itself.
I will give it a go once again tonight and post my review on it.

First impression was ::::: WOW!!!!!

super! jcdi

I'm really sorry If offend you, but surely we are looking for a review, not an autopsy, showing close up pictures of the blade means nothing at all. you are showing nothing of importance Rokphish, please post a review, not pictures of your fingers. I cannot for the life of me see how there is a benefit of posting a serial of pictures of the blade, we know what it looks like by now, post a bloody review for gods sake.