Stiga Rosewood V vs Maplewood VII

As part of my continuous blade testing activities I've bought both blades. I play the Rosewood since two month or so and have tested the Maplewood only today.

Both blades are fast and crisp. The Rosewood V has more dwell while the Maplewood VII is faster and more linear.

The Maplewood VII, although consisting of seven plies, looks and feels like a reinforced 5 ply:


Counterhitting:

Maplewood  VII wins as is more direct, faster and reliable. Very nice for 'borrowing' power.

Block:

Same as counter.

Loop:

Rosewood is spinnier and more controlled. Especially loop against underspin is much better.
fast loops against topspin better with Maplewood.

Push:

Rosewood better. Maplewood somewhat stiff such that the ball easily pops up. 

On the whole, Rosewood offers better control and more spin on slower balls. Maplewood is more powerfull and direct. Both 'eat' the ball pretty well without compromising crispness and power, and are amazing good blades compared to many others I've played before. Maybe Maplewood will suit topspin players with very precise strokes while Rosewood is better for technically weaker players who still want to have a powerful blade.

A pity I can't compare with Rosewood VII and Maplewood V.  Maybe next month

Around 6.5 I'd say.  There are two veneers outside of  the striped one. 

Sorry, what rubbers do U use on these blades?

harldhzx wrote: Had a few matches with Maplewood VII today and in the end I never thought of switching back to Rosewood V. Maplewood VII is more powerful, so I could score more direct points. Also, the blade is better away from the table, which is where I play my passive game. With Maplewood, I have to use very fast hand and arm speed through the ball, but then the ball seems to get a nice forward motion by itself. On the other hand, Maplewood VII all in all is not very forgiving of baldy timed shots.

Edited by ejmaster - 06/04/2011 at 8:08pm

bluebucket wrote: ejmaster how similar are these blades to a YEO, I've finally bought a YEO and am very impressed with it

Edited by ejmaster - 06/04/2011 at 10:36pm

So far I'm finding the Yeo to be in a word superb. A very fine balance between sharp, smooth, good dwell and flex :) the sweet spot on it is the equal to most carbon blades which is something I didn't expect. The whole feeling of the blade is that no part or quality of it is fighting against anything else, it's a very well tuned bit of ply. Although it's also a fairly high powered blade so may not be for everyone. I also bought mine for under 50 usd which is crazy cheap for a blade that good, if the rest of Yasaka's Swedish blades are similarly good, everyone should have one

harldhzx wrote: Tenergy 05 on forehand and Acuda S2 on backhand. As to comparison with TBS I can only say the Maplewood VII works well for my game. I beat an ok YEO player quite easily with is. Turned out his YEO did not returned the Maplewood service too well .

Maybe Ma Lin won't have that problem

harldhzx can you compare rosewood 5 and maplewood with Donic ovtcharof soft carbon?

speed vibration loop weight

One addition: Maplewood VII is not so good on blocking strong topspin. You get somewhat punished by 'long trajectory' 

I was just saying the YEO (Yasaka extra offensive), which is similarly made to these blades with the ayous-spruce-insert random hard outer ply is really good and doesn't cost much. It's an option if you want a blade of this type without spending so much

Edited by bluebucket - 06/08/2011 at 11:09pm

ejmaster wrote: bluebucket wrote: ejmaster how similar are these blades to a YEO, I've finally bought a YEO and am very impressed with it   yeo has everything ma lin needed to be olympic champion.   in my opinion better blade than ebenholzs, or rws or intensitys or mws.   yeo is powerful, good balance, right thickness, good handle, good quality.   do not have to get used to strange things, weird balance, coatings, thin handles, softish low quality wood, splintering, rough finish, long throws.....   yeo is very good blade. a dynamic and sharp blade.   at the end when i was trying intensity my conclusion was that the extraSC (not the malinSC) was better without complicating life.   yeo better. not so fashioned but better for most players.   my view is that if one is thinking about a composite(intensity) better take a yasaka extraSC or ymlc.   if one wants eb v or rw v or nct off type better get a yeo.   if one wants the allround type better get an extra3D.   and if one wants a clipper type maybe the new yasaka extra special is better.   yasaka 5 - stiga 0 (the best company?)

BUT... yasaka doesn't have sexy handles

Anyone else tried Mapplewood V or VII, SH or CS?

Apart from myself, a friend plays with maplewood VII. He and is very happy with this blade, as it it very powerful, linear  and comparatively easy to control.

He has one complaint: it's difficult to handle Spin - especially looping underspin is tough.

I moved away from the blade once people found out that I have a hard time returning certain fast or spinny serves with it - this was really a showstopper for matches as I was getting too passive on the backhand


Edited by harldhzx - 11/17/2011 at 6:25am