Hello,
...For the past 2 weeks or so, I've been playing with my GKI Euro-XX blade (Setup # 2, in my signature), and, atleast for now, it seems to be working for me ... It's was an old factory-made racquet ... A friend of my friend, had given it to him, with very old Mark V, and Friendship 837 rubbers... My friend, does not play with LPs, and so, he gave it to me ... I didn't quite like the rubbers, so I replaced them with the 388D-1, and Vega Europe... It played really well with the 388D-1, but then, I started losing pips, and so, I glued-on a 388D.
The blade seems to be on the stiffer/harder side, and is medium-slow. On the LP side (with 388D), it allows me to push and chop aggressively... Plus, I feel, I can now, place the ball, pretty much where I want, with greater accuracy and consistency than before... It's also pretty awesome with blocking, with both, the LP and inverted side... On the LP side, some strokes (such as the
mud-flap which were inconsistent with other setups, are more consistent now... There is also a good amount of reversal, and funky effect, for the opponent... Due to 388D being non-grippy, hitting with LP is not good... On the inverted-side (especially, with my backhand), my top-spins, and flat hits, seem to land on the table. I do however, feel, I have to put-in a bit of extra muscle...
Unfortunately (and hence this post), this is a rather old blade, which is now discontinued by GKI.... They make a new version (supposedly, for the new balls) of the GKI Euro-XX, which is nothing like the one I have. I can't seem to find my blade anywhere, so, I'm looking for something close to it...
The blade seems to be 5-ply all-wood .... Here's my perception of how the various parameters of blade rate (On a scale of 1-10)
- Speed = 6-7
- Stiff = 5-6
- Hard = 6-7
- Weight = 86gms (Based on my own blade)
Also, the trajectory of the ball, with this setup is more on the linear side... It's not very springy...
A fellow club-m8, who's seen and played with my blade, says that the Friendship C5, is the closest it gets, to the blade I have..
Has anyone played (a good amount) with the C-5, and if so, based on what I've described above, how would it compare to the GKI Euro-XX, I have...