Viscaria vs. TBS (Mystery Solved)

Nice analysis. Very helpful.

From my experience, both are awesome blades-one of the best ones available and still fairly OK price among Butterfly blades.
When it comes to how they play, there are tons of reviews and some players say they are the same some say otherwise. I will tend to say that it is a personal taste, meaning you try both of them and pick the one you like better. I also found Viscaria to be slightly better away from table, where as TBS is better closer. Both are Topspin/Loop Machines as offer great control despite how quick they are. I wouldn't get any faster blade unless you are a hitter or pips player. Also if you notice what pros use, or best players at your club or local tournament you will usually find: (Viscaria, TBS, ALC, Korbel etc) or similar blades by other manufacturers.

Also another thing to mention about the two blades is that TBS has one of the best ST handles ever made, and Viscaria has one of the best FL handles ever made.


Hope this helps :-)

I agree with Baal. Viscaria will better suit larger hand where as TBS smaller when it comes to FL handle style. I just purchased a new Viscaria and it already features new Butterfly LOGO on the back of the handel where only two Ovals/circles are found & word "Butterfly" was removed from underneath.
Both these blades will play different if their weight is different...
For example a 90gram TBS will probably be faster than 83gram Viscaria despite what butterly says, so the point is the heavier the blade is the faster it is,,,of course if you can swing it :-)

BTY TBS ST's have a great feel, especially if you like thick grips like myself. The FL version feels good but seems a bit small. Viscaria FL feels slightly bigger than TBS FL.

I recently switched to my very old Yasaka Sweden Classic ST. That grip is huge. I love it!!

You can't look at the differences between one sample of TBS and one sample of Viscaria, and make conclusions about all the blades.

Comparing only my viscaria and TBS, my TBS has thinner outer than my viscaria. Its the opposite of the blades the OP is comparing. 

serveintoattack wrote: don't want to burst anyone's bubble here but not all Viscaria are the same and not all TBS are the same so manufacturing has a slight variation so sometimes when you buy a TBS it can play like a Viscaria and vice-versa. just my 2 cent

Good point.  It was mentioned in five previous comments on this thread, but it is nevertheless true.

szyszuniaije wrote: Also another thing to mention about the two blades is that TBS has one of the best ST handles ever made, and Viscaria has one of the best FL handles ever made.

I'm curious to hear why you think the handles are 'best'?

I've always felt that handle shape & size is purely personal preference, some people prefer certain style of handles, other prefer different type of handles... I don't think there is a 'best' out there.

I have suspected, for a long time, that the koto outer for viscaria was selected softer than the Koto for TBS. Just like greenshank and redshank (same blade composition but limba outer is softer on greenshack). 

Actually the handle on a TB-ALC is very slightly but consistently longer than TBS, which I suspect was done to provide better weight balance for use with heavier rubbers introduced in 2008.  Another difference is that with TB-ALC and pretty much all ALC blades introduced after TBS and Viscaria (includ ZJK and ZJK-ALC), they do something to the top ply to make it a bit shinier, maybe it is UV light or something.  It has some effect on how these things play.

But I think this comment is true about blade variability that comes from making something out of wood, manufacturing tolerances, and also changes they made going from one series to another.  In addition, wood swells and shrinks.

Baal wrote: Actually the handle on a TB-ALC is very slightly but consistently longer than TBS, which I suspect was done to provide better weight balance for use with heavier rubbers introduced in 2008.

Like everyone else on this forum I've owned 2-3 TBS and ALCs FL and 3-4 ST. They are the same blade except for different style lenses and handle visual designs. The shape is the same. If you think they look different maybe its an optical illusion because of the "T" in the ALC handle or something. But its the same handle shape.

LOOPMEISTER wrote: Like everyone else on this forum I've owned 2-3 TBS and ALCs FL and 3-4 ST. They are the same blade except for different style lenses and handle visual designs. The shape is the same. If you think they look different maybe its an optical illusion because of the "T" in the ALC handle or something. But its the same handle shape.

LOOPMEISTER wrote: M.Maze J. Mizutani TBS  TB-ALC and if you don't count the big differences in blade thickness which definitely can influence handle feeling: TB-T5000 TB ZLF TB ZLC TB W5 TB W7 .....All have the same handle designs (shapes) in FL and ST. Now obviously there are differences between samples. I currently have 4 TB W7 blades and they all have very slightly but noticeably different handle shapes. (Wings touch hand on some more than others, handle is slightly shorter feeling on one compared to the others, etc.) But obviously the manufacturer didn't intend for them to be different. Now, by comparison to the above blades, the Viscaria has a different looking FL handle (the handle curves in at the top where the handle meets the blade like other older blades such as P.Korbel, etc.), it has different FL handle specs, and it generally feels different. Thus I would say it has a different handle shape.