OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi everyone.

I have something that might be of interest to the forum and have kindly been allowed by Mr Rendler to speak about this now.

A few weeks ago, my Father who has a number or Tachi blades, asked Mr Rendler what blade he’d recommend for close blocking to the table. Mr Rendler kindly came back and said that he has a new blade that was perfect.

The blade is called the Tachi 4008!

We have ordered one of these blades and I will post pictures and a review when I receive it (hopefully not too long now). All I can tell you at the moment is that this special version of the Tachi has a red glaze applied to the backhand which makes it harder to slow it down and give it more control.

I did search on a number of German sites and there are a few players who have this blade already. I’ve tried to translate these reviews the best I can, but it appears from what they’re saying that this blade is even better than the original Tachi with control being vastly improved!

I am also lead to believe that there are two more special versions of the Tachi called the 4005 (I think) and 4010. These are tuned slightly differently and I believe the 4010 is aimed at the attacking player. However don’t quote me on this because like I say, the translations aren’t great.

Anyway, I’ll post pictures and a review once I’ve received it. Mr Rendler also suggested using Andro Hexer Plus on the forehand, which is what I intend to use

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Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

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Hi you can see pictures of Ice59's "red tachi 4010" blade on the french T2T forum
http://www.tennis-de-table.com/forums/s ... 55-11.html

Red color due to a special treatment made by Rendler (vernish like them put on musician instruments)

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Thanks for posting!

That's the first 4010 blade that I've seen and I didn't realise it was treated in that colour. Very different

I wonder if the 4008 looks anything like that.....hopefully it'll turn up soon so that I can post a picture of it

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Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

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It's supposed to be faster than the original Tachi (and the Titan) with great control. Also quite a bit heavier (by Rendler standards). Similar in weight to the Hallmark Aurora. Good for applying pressure.

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What's faster than the original Tachi - The 4010 or the 4008....or both?

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Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

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From what I read both are faster than the original Tachi on both sides, with the 4010 > 4008.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Well it's turned up and it's very red

A couple of photos below. A review will follow shortly

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

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Red indeed! At least you won't have any trouble with a translucent red sheet...

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Yep it's certainly red I love it! Looks very different and I can imagine it being a talking point at games

Anyway with Christmas coming up and all of the sports centers operating reduced opening times I probably won't get to play with it until next week. However I have carried out the obligatory bounce test and it feels very nice indeed. There is good feel through the handle and nice control when adjusting the height of the bounce. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays!

I also bounced the ball and chopped is against the wall with both the 4008 and the original Tachi using the same pip on both blades. It is hard to tell but I'd say that the 4008 has a more crisp feel to it. I know it's all personal preference but I do prefer a more crisp feeling blade.

Also in our delivery from Mr Rendler was a couple of Mephisto blades. I have to say that again just bouncing the ball on it that it felt VERY nice! It's quite a bit slower than the Tachi but has a really nice feel to it with a lot of feedback going back through the handle.

Mr Rendler certainly knows how to make a blade!

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
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Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
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Received and glued (by Patrick Wingeier, Re-impact Schweiz)

"The 4005 has the same construction as the regular Tachi, just the plies are treated especially to get a higher stiffness, while keeping the original control.
The 4008 and 4010 have a different outer ply on the forehand and also treated plies as material.
The 4005 has a higher speed but (at least) the same control as the regular Tachi. As all of the "tuned" editions, it is stiffer, some might find this point positive, others negative. It's made for the same kind of players that chose the regular Tachi, if the differences add extra value to their game.
The 4008 is, on both sides, a bit faster than the regular and 4005. Not that much on the backhand, more on the forehand, due to the different ply. The 4008 provides a playing style with focus on straight balls with
less rotation on the forehand.
The 4010 is comparable to the 4008, but the forehand is optimized for a topspin-orientated kind of play."

Ciao

Thank you very much Apiolae!

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Thanks Apiolae

Out of interest, what are your thoughts around blocking with the 4008? The 4008 blade is the one that Mr Rendler recommends for blocking, so any comments around this aspect of the blade would be appreciated!

Many thanks

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
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Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
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Hi Chris

Is the handle of this blade of a hardwood or balsa construction?

Bulldog.

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It appears to be a more balsa type handle. However the red glaze on it has made it a bit harder than the normal Tachi handle.

Hopefully I'll get to practice with it today and then I'll post up my thoughts. I think the forehand might be slightly quick with Hexer+ on it, so I'll be trying it with both this rubber and Duro.

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
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Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Right, time for a short review on the Tachi 4008 I managed to have around 2.5 hours of practice with the 4008 the other day, so I here are my thoughts.

Control / Feel
Up until now, I’ve been using a Nittaku Vioncello blade, which I must say is very good. The Vioncello has quite a hard feel to it compared to the 4008 and historically I’ve always preferred a harder feeling blade when I play. I think it’s something to do with feeling the “clunk” from the ball as it hits the blade which gives more vibration through the handle.

The 4008 in comparison has a softer feel to it than my Vioncello but still manages to feel harder than the original Tachi blade. The red glaze applied to the blade appears to have given it a firmer feel which gives it a more positive “clunk” when you hit the ball. The control itself is superb! It is a quicker blade than the original Tachi, but not by a huge margin, in fact you’re probably looking at a 5% increase in speed…if that! I’ve read other reviews that say it’s faster but doesn’t lose any of its control and to be fair, that is a very accurate representation of how it plays.

When it comes to touching the ball short or pushing it long, the control is stunning. I don’t appear to get as much “feel” when the ball impacts the bat as I do with the harder wood of the Nittaku blade as there is less vibration. However, what I can do with the 4008 that I can’t do with the Nittaku is place the ball where I want it. Just pushing the ball around, I could drop it short, mid-table or long with very little effort. The ball placement that you can pull off with this blade is one of the best I’ve ever played with.

Blocking
When ordering this blade, we were told that it was “made for blocking” and it does exactly that! Blocking with this blade is an absolute dream. Again, balls can be placed short, or long whenever you decide to do so. I initially thought the Vioncello had a more natural blocking feel to it, almost a softer more hollow feel when taking the venom out of a hard shot. However, what I quickly realised is that when blocking with the Vioncello, it was harder to place the ball where you wanted it and the block became more of a “stick the bat in the way and hope it gets back on the table” sort of shot.

With the 4008, blocking is a breeze and deciding where you want to block the ball back, long, short, left, or right, it allows you to do so. Again it has a firmer feel to it compared to the original Tachi and if anything, the blocking is more controlled. With the original Tachi, I found that I would put too many balls off of the end of the table when blocking a hard smash. This wasn’t the case with the 4008!

Attacking
It became apparent early on that the Tachi blades are quite sensitive to the rubbers you use with them. As with all of these highly tuned woods, to get the best out of it you need to use rubbers that compliment it well. Mr Rendler had kindly given us some advice on which rubbers he thought worked best which were Andro Hexer + 1.9mm and Andro Duro 2.1mm. As an “Andro fan”, I decided to stick with a brand that I knew, so tried both of these!

On the Vioncello I’d been using Andro Hexer Powersponge which is a fantastic rubber for my style of game. The control is very good and looping the ball with it is superb. With the harder wood in the Nittaku and the softer sponge on the Hexer Powersponge, you would get a really good “bite” on the ball when you looped it with fantastic dwell time. However, as the 4008 is a softer blade, softer sponges are not recommended, hence the reason for the Hexer + and Duro being recommended. For me, the slightly slower Duro won out of the two. The Hexer + is superb on the original Tachi, but on the 4008 it was, for me personally, a touch too fast. The biggest problem came when I really wanted to hit the ball hard. I never felt that I could really smash the ball hard with the Hexer + in fear of the ball missing the end of the table. With the Duro it was easier to make the smashes hit the table.

So with the right rubber selected, attacking with the 4008 is again a real joy. My game is based around blocking and then looping, so I need both control to block but also enough speed to attack with. In the past, it’s been a trade-off between having either a slower blade and compromising the forehand, or a faster blade and compromising the blocking. With the 4008 you can do both as the improved control allows an effective blocking game but the combination of the firmer glaze on the wood and the slightly harder sponge of the Duro allows for an effective attacking game. I was able to loop very well with the 4008, just as well as I could with the Vioncello, with the added advantage that I had more control.

Overall
The original Tachi certainly does feel softer than the 4008, but for me, the 4008 has better control. As I’ve said above, typically I prefer a harder feeling blade because I’m used to feeling the impact and vibrations through the wood as the ball hits the blade. For me, there is still more feeling with the Vioncello, but it doesn’t have the control that the 4008 has.

The 4008 also has more gears than the Vioncello, especially when blocking. The Vioncello blocks very well indeed, but it’s very one dimensional and doesn’t appear to allow you to adjust the placement of the ball as easily as the 4008. The 4008 for me is the best of the two, although it’s going to take me a little bit more time to really perfect playing with it. The reason for this is that it appears to do a lot more than my previous blade, which is both good and bad. It’s bad in that it’s going to require a bit more gameplay to really feel 100% comfortable with it, but it’s good in that when I do perfect it, it’s going to be a real weapon to play with

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!