mjamja becomes ejejej

For the 9.5 years I have been playing I have not done much ejing. Early on I settled on Dawei Matrix blade and Dawei IQUL at a cost of about $45 dollars for the whole setup. When I hurt my wrist I switched to 802-40 short pips Bh and started using Big Dipper on Fh at about the same cost.

Then I switched to Yinhe PD437 (Clipper Clone) and Spectol Red short pips. Huge increase of cost to about $100 for the setup.

So after leaving Seattle, I just had to stop and visit the Paddle Palace shop in Portland. What a mistake! Some $150 dollars later I am the owner of a Stiga Clipper (master handle) with Yasaka Shining Dragron on the Fh, a new paddle case, and miscellaneous other TT accessories. I still need to get a sheet of Spectol Red for the Bh. New setup cost is about $$170. At that price I can no longer afford a spare racket.

But at least I will not be the "old guy with all the cheap chinese stuff" anymore. Now I can be the "cheap old guy who lives in a little trailer because he spent too much on TT stuff". I am expecting a letter from Yinhe thanking me for no longer using their equipment. If I am really lucky I might get a payment from TSP if I agree to switch back to 802-40. If that comes through I can afford to buy Propane for the trailer heater.

Mark - Ejing out in the cold

Matt Pimple wrote: Any particular reason you moved from the YinHe clone to the real thing?

A combination of drops onto the floor, hits into the table, and bad technique in glueing/removing rubber had taken a pretty heavy toll on the PD437. It had a couple of big chips out of top ply and delamination near the edge from a table hit. So it was time for a relplacement. Picking up a paddle and rubber in person is a big plus since it is sometimes a while before my mail catches up with me as I travel. Paddle Palace did not carry the cheaper Yinhe blade and rubber so I bought the real Clipper and the closest rubber to the Big Dipper that they carried.

It could have been worse. I looked longingly at a couple of their Pro Specials on display. One was a Samsonov Force Pro with 2 sheets MXP and another was a Stradivarious with Omega V Pro. I would still have had to get a sheet of Spectol Red but I would have had a spare Fh rubber sheet. I did the math and figured out if I ate dog food for 3 months I could afford one of them, but then decided against it.

Mark - Who already eats poorly enough without having to switch to dog food.

Edited by mjamja - 09/19/2018 at 5:05pm

vanjr wrote: Mjamja is the only player who calls changing equipment once every 10 years ejing. I on the other hand do not consider myself an ej, despite what some may say.

I changed twice in 10yrs. Of course for someone who has been known to change equipment during the middle of a point that does not seem like much.

Mark

Off topic, but how do you handle the spectol red. That stuff was so fast I had to peel it off after about 20 minutes. I would gladly mail you mine, except it's in Florida and I'm in DC for a few more weeks.

Do you really like Spectol Red better than Spectol Blue? Back when I was playing short pimples on forehand, Spectol Blue was my go to rubber. I just didn't like the feel of the red, just too soft for my taste. 

Spectol Blue is harder sponge. I found it easier to hit through spin with Blue and much easier to control in general. Also, short game around the net is much better with blue. I found the red sponge a bit bouncy. Red has more speed at low impact, but if you use any of the thinner red sponges it bottoms out pretty easily. Blue sponge doesn't bottom out, even in the 1.4 to 1.7 sponge. I'm currently playing 1.7 to 1.9 sponge (SpinPips) because I wanted a little bit more speed. I actually preferred the feel of 1.4 to 1.7, I'm undecided If I will keep the current sponge thickness or move back down in 6 months when I get a new one. Also, the speed of blue is much more linear. It's still fast, but you'll need to hit harder to generate more speed. I also feel that because it doesn't bottom out, the top end speed on hard impacts is higher than red. 

Edited by ericd937 - 09/19/2018 at 11:34pm

I play a similar style, so how did Spectol blue work when you twiddled to your FH side? I like what I am hearing about it.