OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hello, all.
I am new to the forum and this is my first question. I have been playing penhold with a Yasaka Expert and Yasaka Mark V premade paddles (good jpen premades not available in my area) for a number of years now. I use RPB quite successfully, especially to loops and loose serves. My penhold grip is more Jpen because I keep my fingers straight, as it helps hit backhand top-spin and chop (at a small expense of wrist movement on forehand).

My playing style is ALL+, mainly chopping and underspinning from mid-distance (at most 10 feet) on both wings but top-spinning frequently too. No looping and little driving.

Now I'm shifting to a custom paddle. I have Butterfly Tackiness Chop II or Donic Slice 40 CD in mind as the rubbers, maybe with long pimples on the BH.

Please suggest a good soft reasonably affordable JPen blade with maximum control and significant spin, even if the speed is 5/10.

I have looked at Nittaku Streak R-H, Butterfly Hadraw Revolver R, Yasaka Musashi (seems out of stock), Yasaka Yagyu III (a bit too stiff maybe).

Can you please suggest what would be the best blade-rubber combination? Also, please suggest a durable rubber, as I cannot afford to change rubbers every month. I play 10 hours a week.

Thank you very much!

Regards.

OK, let me get this right. You want a Japanese Penhold bat? The one with the big squared-off handle? Probably a "rotor" type blade because you want to use RPB? You say you use Mark V (I assume both on the front and the rear) and you want to switch to Tackiness Chop and long pips..

Can't say much other than you'll find your RPB looping VERY difficult with either long pips OR Tackiness Chop... If you decide to give up RPB looping and just chop and hit it'll probably be OK, after a long adjustment period. Rotor blades are actually meant for twiddling, could be a very useful thing to learn as well. My suggestion would be to check out Armstrong blades - they've got a HUGE range (bigger than anyone else) of Japanese penhold blades. Actually getting your hands on some is another story, best bet would be a Japanese mail order firm. I've seen Armstrong blades on European vendor websites but they only have a very few of them.

Iskandar

Sorry, I was a bit ambiguous in my original post. Let me clarify. I use RPB for topspinning against loops and loose serves of the opponent. I also chop with RPB and want to improve my chops and play more of a defensive game in general. I don't loop at all on either side.

I want a reasonably affordable Japanese penhold blade that is soft and flexible with maximum control, and am willing to trade speed.

I am considering Donic Slice 40 CD or Butterfly Tackiness Chop II as the rubbers.

Could you please suggest such a blade and which of the rubbers would be more suitable and durable?

Thanks a lot!

I play with an Armstrong 332 blade. Basically a Jpen like blade that you can twiddle. I have also shaved down one side of the handle.

My blade:
http://armstrong.tokyo.jp/product/racke ... o_332.html

The handle now looks similar to the Nittaku MF handle (only in cork)
http://www.nittaku.com/upload/product/r ... 14009.jpeg

I really like the Armstrong 332 blade since it is very light. I have Yasaka Mark V 2.0 FH and Nittaku Magic Carbon 1.8 BH.

The blade is an all-round blade listed as Mid for hardness, though that is a very relative term.

Like you I also play RPH, I have been playing here and there about once a year for ages, but only recently started lessons and learning to play properly. After using the Armstrong 332 for about 6 months I switched to a traditional Jpen. I tried to use RPH with the traditional Jpen blade and found it to be more difficult because of how I angle the blade. I seemed to have less flexibility in my wrist. I have gone back to my trusted 332 blade and I am very happy with it. Once I get better I may purchase the Nittaku Sou MF.

So for the blade I would look at the Armstong offerings in middle hardness (again this term is very relative). I find the 332 gives me plenty of control. Here is a list blades that have a similar grip and they may be easier to get where you are. Also since they are cork you can shave down one side like I did if you prefer to.

Examples in order from cheapest:

- Nittaku Sanalion
- Armstrong 38 or 39
- Nittaku NEGIA R-H
- Armstrong 332
- TSP WSF Rotor
- Nittaku Streak R-H
- Yasaka Double Face TO

( These blades are also available in traditional Jpen handle I think)

I would also pay attention to blade weight. With the traditional Jpen I tried I had to limit myself to light rubbers. Returning to the Armstrong 332 at 65 grams allows my a wider choice of rubbers.

I don't have any experience with pimple out rubbers, but if you want long lasting all-round rubbers go with Yasaka Mark V on the FH and Yasaka Mark V 30 on the BH (since it is softer). This was the advice given to me by a shop in Japan.

Of course take my advice with a grain of salt. To me the most important part of the racket is the handle/grip. I just like the penhold grip and found that I like the hook part offered on the Jpen blades. But I didn't like the traditional Jpen handle. I found that the best grip for me is what Nittaku calls multi-function. So I modified my existing blade to copy that.

Regards,
Joseph

Thanks a lot, Joseph! Your advice helped me a lot. I have settled for Yasaka Double Face, but just confused about the difference between the TO and JP versions of it.

Some photos on the web show that TO has cork on both sides, which I thought might be uncomfortable for the fingers on the backhand side. But the description for only TO says that rubber can be applied on both sides.

What do you think is more suitable for a two-sided Jpen player, Yasaka Double Face TO or Yasaka Double Face JP?

Many thanks again!