OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Do most people replace their SPs regularly like inverted rubbers?

I use SPs on my forehand. I play about 10 hours a week and been playing with my current pips for about 8 months. I feel like they aren't as fast as they used to be but no major damage otherwise. Someone told me pips players will usually play their rubber for years.

Any thoughts pips players?

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Custom Defense::: Friendship 802 : Dr. Neubauer Super Block

depends what you are looking for...they will lose friction with time, making loops harder, but hits easier. dirsruptive effect might become stronger, but control less.

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Blade: Barna Original Triumph Forehand Yasaka Razka Po Backhand Der-Materialspezialist Störkraft 0.8
http://www.instagram.com/dragontattooguy

The MPs and SPs I've used don't wear out as fast as inverted rubbers. I clean all my pips every playing day and don't look to months of accumulated crud to make the pips somehow more dangerous to opponents. Clean pips are consistent pips, and getting the ball back consistently is what wins matches. I clean my SPs by spraying cleaner on a lint-free cloth and then rubbing it on the pips. Spraying cleaner on the rubber itself is a bad idea since you can't wipe up the excess that covers the areas between the pips (maybe this is why some SP players never clean their pips?)

There was this Chinese ex-2nd tier national player who was doing a PhD where I went to school, this was in the late 80s I think (still quite rare back then). He used pips out, and it looked quite old (and I think it was green! Might've been black..). He said once they found a sheet of SPONGE they liked, they kept it, and only changed the topsheet now and then. He had some rubber for sale, separate sponge and topsheets, I wish I'd gotten a sheet or two. He was better than anyone I'd ever met, but there was a Chinese woman there who was even better! She only came to the club two or three times, though.

In one of the books I read (can't remember which one) it was supposedly the SPONGE that would go first. Maybe the difference was Chinese vs. Japanese sponge (no - or not much - Euro sponge back when the book was written, 1970s IIRC).

I've heard of people using toothbrushes to clean pips.

Iskandar

I change my pips regularly though not so often compare to inverted. I used to read somewhere that inverted should be changed every 60-100 hours, short pips- 150 hours. Of course it's individual and depends of one's level of play but I agree with proportion fro inverted\short pips.

IMO sponge deteriorates earlier than topsheet of SP due to high amount of hitting. After some time of usage I feel loss in speed and inconsistency in shots (mainly looping when you need to engage sponge to get a good amount of spin). Maybe it's acceptable for passive game (more deception) but for active game it's no good (you lose control). If it gets perceptible- it's time for me to change rubbers despite it may have no visual defects.

Probably it's time for you to get a new rubber also.

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Setup 1: custom 7ply blade FH: 729 Legend 105 BH: 729 563
Setup 2: custom 7ply blade FH: 729 Dr Evil BH: 729 Dr Evil

Thanks! I've never heard of that hours-played rule of thumb but it makes sense. I think I'll do what it suggested and just see if my shots are inconsistent. I have an extra identical paddle so I might slap on a new rubber on that and see if there's a difference.

Problem now is finding a reasonably priced Haifu Dolphin that isn't fake.

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Custom Defense::: Friendship 802 : Dr. Neubauer Super Block

This, I doubt is fake:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 80458.html

"Reasonable" may be another matter (about $25 including shipping). Tuned is another buck or so:

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product ... 48011.html

I am surprised to hear they counterfeit Haifu rubber. DHS, Butterfly, indubitably so.

Iskandar

I'll check out those sites. Thanks!

Okay so here's the deal, all the markings look the same but package, sponge color, pip thickness is different and so is performance. I bought it from a Taiwanese company online but usually get it from Japsko. I read on another thread that Haifu uses different manufacturers. Don't know if that's accurate. I bought tuned and untuned from Taiwan and tuned one feels even worse in terms of being different from what I'm used to from Japsko.

Gold package with picture of female player, with purple sponge and fat pips is what Japsko used to carry.

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Custom Defense::: Friendship 802 : Dr. Neubauer Super Block

hmmm yeah that tuned one on GH Sports looks like what I'm used to. But the tuned one I ordered look like the untuned blue packaged one. $26 is good. I'll give this a shot.

Thanks again

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Custom Defense::: Friendship 802 : Dr. Neubauer Super Block