My friend is a classic chinese penhold player (no RPB) - good technique, decent footwork, nice consistent FH. Defensive BH - blocks, punch blocks, drives.

She has 2 problems:

1) most importantly: She uses a very open bat angle for her FH - I loop at around 35-45 degrees but she holds the bat at around 75 degrees. For her technique this is good because it gives her very very good consistency and control...she keeps the ball on the table and can get good speed and placement... but her shots as a result lack spin - they are essentially drives / loop drives - not pure loops. 

However this style suits her very well and she does not want to change it. 

In order to get some more spin when looping with an open bat angle - what types of rubbers are recommended?

I had her change from Aurus Sound to Calibra LT Spin - this helped her gain more speed, and since the throw angle of this rubber is not high - the ball lands very consistently... but she only get speed and very little spin... and vs good players speed and placement is not enough

What type of rubbers generally go better with open bat angle FH style - loop driving attacking style. Price is not a concern really...  would tacky rubbers be better than ESN or Jap rubbers? Might be an excuse to try the Big Dipper out?! I was also considering Rakza 7 as the sheet does produce spin and is good for driving at the same time... but I'd like to here all type of recommendations... from slow tacky stuff to fast stuff but which will help her spin more at the same time. 

2) My friend also lacks spin on her serve - this is due to not having the right technique and not being able to flick her wrist with speed upon impact - something she is working on, but if the rubber also facilitates this, it would be good.

3) as she plays classic chinese penhold - the rubber would also have to be good for BH use.

Thanks all

If you want something non tacky and price isn't an option, T64 will help with adding some mechanical spin even with a very open angle.

For a lighter and cheaper alternative and a rubber largely unknown to most people - TSP Agrit Speed.  Almost as much spin as T64, same speed, but not as catapult-y or bouncy.  Plays very well with an open racket angle (I love it on my RPB) for both looping and flat hitting/blocking, and is not very sensitive to spin.

This is my view as well.  She just has to take a short pips hitter's attitude and develop tricks that make players give her attackable balls.  Speed and placement is more than enough and always depends on level.  In fact, lacking spin will help her against some players as spin is a manipulable form of energy that makes returning some kinds of balls easier once the opponent knows how to use it.

TSP Agrit speed sounds better than T64 for her, as she does not often back away from the table much and being catapulty would not help her BH much as it might become harder to block and drive well if the rubber is too bouncy.

GeneralSpecific - of course speed and placement is very important and yes, spin is used to set up fast shots - but it is the variation between fast and spinny which allows a player to play at higher levels... if a player always hits flat-ish fast drives, it does not trouble a good player who can counter loop - and add spin to the mix. Spin is important because it forces weaker returns, gives more variety and gives more safety when attacking harder balls... However the idea of a fast short pip rubber is interesting! Would Rakza P.O. be insensitive to incoming spin? is it very bouncy or is it just fast? Calibra is fast but not super bouncy.

But what you are describing is not going to be solved by equipment changes.  She has to make a technical change to allow her strokes to produce balls of different quality.  I can think of a few, but you probably know them all already.

It's not so much variation that allows a player to play at higher levels, but the ability to control the ball and pose problems for the opponent with returns.  Variation is just one element of it.  I hate sounding so basic but I think that variation is ultimately about technical change.  Whatever rubber you give her will be fairly consistent in the spin it produces if she uses the same stroke.

H3 NEO will have enough power on most OFF blades.  If you need extra power, use a fast and soft blade, or glue with rubber cement, or boost.

And you are correct about T64 vs Agrit Speed - AS will have much more control at the table than T64, especially for hitting.

Also, once we're at it I will get her a new blade which can complement the H3 Neo but also be suitable for the Agrit... at the moment she plays with a XuShaoFa blade - I tried it - and it works ok on every shot - but I didn't like the feel much. She has only played with this blade (7 yrs!) so might be worth at least trying something new. I play with Virtuoso myself and liked it more than the YEO - but maybe penhold YEO is a classic for a reason? Is it a good choice?

As for opening loop vs backspin - do you think Neo is better than the Agrit? And serve?

thx

As for blades, YEO was a better blade for very aggressive serve-and-rip style of playing in my opinion.  A softer blade will offer more spin and control without necessarily sacrificing speed.  

To pair with H3, my favorites for each speed class when it comes to more open-angle shots were:

OFF+ : Clipper CC

OFF : Clipper

OFF- : Ma Lin Carbon (although marketed as OFF, feels very much like OFF- in speed)

ALL+ : Stiga Energy Wood

Don't sweat it - he's an old friend and we are coincidentally doing an old dance, though not to the same song nor for the same reason we did in the past.

His friend sounds like someone who needs to work on her technique.  I would personally go with short pips since she seems to prefer hitting to anything else.

Thanks for the help Schen - I am inclined to go for the Clipper (cannot go wrong with that) and the H3 Neo (what about simple H3 Provincial boosted?)

My only concern is that in doing so, yes spin will increase and give her the variation she needs in her game, but unfortunately going from Calibra to H3 Neo is probably going to reduce the speed she gets by quite a lot... 

Obviously she is not very powerful physically, she plays fast close to the table style - but fast when the rubber and blade help... she doesn't have a lot of physical strength to hit really hard, but she does have an active stroke - no lazy loops - she hits. She has good technique, good waist rotation and a forward stroke. 

Do you think that with H3 Neo - even a player who is not very powerful physically can play fast enough? 

Something for example like the Sanwei T-88i when new would be fast enough for her to retain speed, it would give spin, it would reduce bounciness and solve some traditional chinese BH problems.... but that rubber only remains good whilst the factory tuning lasts...around 2 weeks... after that it becomes harder less dynamic, less dwell time (too little dwell) - although it's very cheap changing it every 2 weeks seems not very wise... and not sure it responds well to re-tuning. This is also my reservation on Big Dipper... the reviews sound nice, but if when the tuning dies - the rubber dies with it... then better to get a normal H3 provincial and tune it up personally and redo the same when needed. I think mixing tuning methods doesn't always have good effects.

I'd have her go 802-40