Where do I even begin,
I started a thread over in the general equipment section and it covered multiple things that I had questions on. However this post is regarding Long pips and figured I'd submit another thread for posterity.
Japsican commented on my previous post and peaked my interest of Giant Dragon Meteorite.
Japsican wrote:
I think a great starting LP, cheap and good from 1000 usatt to 2100 usatt is Giant Dragon Meteorite in 0.5mm. Just enough grip to keep the opponent honest when chopping, good in the short game, hits, and you can pushblock and chop block well with it.
Excited by this comment, I soon sent out on a search to find GD Meteorite in .05 sponge, not having much luck. I then found two sheets available for sale on eBay for $11 USD, said what the heck it's 11 dollars; if they're knock offs, oh well.
I ordered both available sheets and received them 5 days later on my league night. Out of the packaging the sheets have a date stamp on the sponge of 06/05/2012. I put one sheet on my backhand of a Tibhar Stratus Defense Wood, with Victas 15>extra, and beat everyone at my league (Lowest rated player is 1200, highest rated player is 1920)! And on the very first night playing with it which is unreal to me.
As advertised on the OOAK threads and Japsican's description of the rubber, this rubber seriously does it all.
- I'm able to backhand flick and attack a variety of different balls which has been non-existent for me any my Long Pips experience so far (October 1st, 2017 is when I made the switch from a dual wing looper to modern defense).
- I've never had this much control using pips. Chopping mid distance from the table to far off the table (15-20 feet) is relatively easy and had a very quick adjustment period.
- Chop block, bumps, and flicks are all consistent and very easy to control
I could go on and on about this rubber, but where this rubber has been around for so long I'm preaching to the choir already.
I'm sure after I've had more time with the rubber I'll have some negative things to say, but after 5 hours of play time it's beaten everything I've tried up until this point:
- Butterfly Feint Long 3 .05mm and 1.1mm
- Butterfly Feint Long 2 .05mm
- Dr. Neubauer Gangster OX
- Giant Dragon Giant Long 1.0mm
Since I bought the only two available sheets off from eBay, I then searched online for the rubber once again to see if I could find it in .05mm sponge, only to find it in OX everywhere I went. I then started pricing out 0.5mm sponge with the thought of gluing the OX rubber to the sponge. I had almost pulled the trigger on some sponge when I thought I'd message the gentlemen that sold me the rubber on eBay to see if he had any more in stock that I could buy. To which he replied that he had a few in storage and asked how many I'd be willing to purchase. I said if it's only a few, I'd take them all; but would limit myself to 10 sheets. He sent me an invoice for 10 sheets of these and they should be on their way as I'm writing this up.
With the above mentioned:
Where these long pips have been stored for some time (over 5 years), would it help/hurt to put the sheets in my cigar closet that has a humidor in it? Or does it not matter at this point since they've been in the package since 2012?
At some point I do need to realize that I will eventually run out of these sheets of rubber and I will need to find rubber that is similar to Meteorite. So far I've been informed that these rubbers are similar.
- Dawei 388D-1
- Galaxy Neptune
- Sauer & Troger Easy P
First, out of this list which is the most similar to GD Meteorite, if any?
Second, are there any rubbers to your knowledge that plays just like or close to GD Meteorite?
And Third, if I decide to say to heck with buying similar rubber and buy up as many OX rubber as I can get my hands on, how hard is it to glue the sheet of OX to .05mm sponge?
I've got to say, I haven't had this much excitement for the sport since I first learned how to loop the ball many moons ago. I cannot stop thinking about different play strategies while I'm at work, driving, or sleeping even. (Yes, I've dreamnt of playing matches in my sleep with this rubber..and Yes, I'm writing this up while on back to back conference calls
) I appreciate your time, and if you have any advice, guidance, or encouragement to offer, it is greatly appreciated.
Have a great rest of your day!
-Riot
When you have the chance, and if you think to, could you please ask her where she gets her GDM from? If it's the same recommended website as mentioned above; awesome, but if she has another website that she uses, I would really appreciate knowing it. Thank you kindly for dropping by and leaving a comment. I appreciate it.