Thanks for the inputs. The test blade B is replaced with one coming with zjk St Handle. The blade is same to the viscaria but with the 7 pieces special treated kiri core. Hoping it can bring more feel and less stiff.
hleett wrote:
Here's my 2 cents worth:The Robin w. Vis ZJK ST test blade came in weighing @85g, 1g less than original but no big deal. The head dimension is 5.7x157.5x150.5, 1/2 a mm difference. The handle dimension is 101x29x24. It is not the same as the one shown in mytt forum. It's a JZK handle rather than a Vis handle. Blade frequency tested at 1464Hz, very close compared to BTY Viscaria of 1500Hz. A crispy sound when naked. The koto topsheet is a very good looking fish scale pattern. But one thing that is bothering me is from edge view the kiri core seemed like it may be 7 pieces of wood butted together. I notice the immediate color differences in a few places which make me wonder about this. But I could be wrong. Later on, Robin told me that the old BTY Viscarias were constructed this way. It is $10 less if order the blade with a single kiri core. I tested the blade with two different sets of rubber. The first being Vega Pro and Vega Europ, both 1.8mm. The second set was H3N 2.2 and Palio CJ8000 2.2, which I found it to be too hard for this blade. I am much happier with the 1st set-up. The Vega rubbers give this blade a much more controllable feel than the 2nd. This was very evident in a short/over table play. Casual looping/hitting comes as easy as I lift my arm, the ball catapults a bit too fast and the contact sound is a little hollower than my liking. However, BH block/punch block has a higher throw angle than my DS90. I like a linear angle for my punch blocks. It gets better as I increase stroke speed and apply more power while getting farther away from the table. The hollowness sound becomes crispier as the ball/blade contact gets harder with faster strokes. Conclusion: I like it but don't love it. I don't hate the hollow sound bit prefer a crispy one. I don't mind the 7 section kiri core but I'd prefer a single sheet core. I do think $99 is a fair price given the fact it does come with a special treated kiri core and free international shipping. Beautiful fish scale koto view:
Edge view: |