OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi All:

My Nittaku supplier in the UK tells me that the Violin and Acoustic are both being discontinued.

I am amazed if this is the case given the popularity with the Chinese National team, but might refer to the European distribution of the blades. Its possible that they undersell in Europe.

Could someone confirm this please?

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Tibhar Grass D.techs OX | Donic BigSlam 2.0mm .
Re-Impact Medusa (balsa / 1-ply cherry wood)
Frictionless strokes | Attacking pip strokes | Greggy's advice | Bollsbrother | Sebastian Sauer . . . . . .

yes this could be true it's on sale at my local retailer and they only put (to be)) discontinued items on sale.

I am amazed. Thanks.

This supplier isn't in the UK?

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Tibhar Grass D.techs OX | Donic BigSlam 2.0mm .
Re-Impact Medusa (balsa / 1-ply cherry wood)
Frictionless strokes | Attacking pip strokes | Greggy's advice | Bollsbrother | Sebastian Sauer . . . . . .

WOW!

Of all the TT companies having zero clue how to market, (Besides BTY) I gave Nittaku a lot of credit for being a shrewd maker and marketer of TT products. This causes me to think a few things...

1) Maybe Nittaku really did lose its juice in Europe.

2) Maybe the marketing boss ate a salad heavily laced with Califormia grown mushrooms.

3) Maybe they have the next legend of a blade on the wings ready to unleash on the TT world after the Olympics.

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

O MY GOSH!!!

Peter is going to go nuts when he read this. He's going to buy all of the acoustics and violins available in indonesia....

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instagram: rokphishtt

Errhh... wait. We need more confirmation and this could simply be restricted to Europe.

Except for the Hammond series Nittaku has a poor representation in the UK and this might be true of Europe in general.

It is still surprising since these blades are widely considered to be legends but I seriously doubt its world wide. I think that the Violin sells strongly in China (for those that can afford it).

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Tibhar Grass D.techs OX | Donic BigSlam 2.0mm .
Re-Impact Medusa (balsa / 1-ply cherry wood)
Frictionless strokes | Attacking pip strokes | Greggy's advice | Bollsbrother | Sebastian Sauer . . . . . .

HAhaha... I was just kidding... He already has three acoustics and two violins... He's about to get a third violin though, this would put the fire under his behind... hahahaha....

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instagram: rokphishtt

In the 90s in Germany, Nittaku Magic Carbon was about as popular as Sriver was in the rest of the world AND their balls were wildly popular EVERYWHERE, so its not like Nittaku was some unknown wet behind the ears Marque who cannot sell anything. Who knows what is going on. I think Nittaku is nowhere near as clueless as other TT makers. There must be some logic behind this that we are not seeing right away.

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

Part of the reason might be that it looks like Nittaku has fallen out with its main European distributor Donic.

Donic no longer properly hosts the Nittaku website (www.nittaku.de and try and get a description of an individual blade) and in fact Nittaku's website use to fall within Donic's website.

Clearly things like Nittaku Prem are being sourced via other routes, its just Donic did appear to control a large range of Nittaku kit. Many Nittaku blades are out of bounds even with this agreemnt, e.g. the Violincello just can't be bought.

For whatever reason Nittaku blades just don't seem to sell in the UK and I suspect the marginal sales are being squeezed via their key distributor.
Absurd? yes.
Economical? looks like it - but we need more players to confirm whether its correct. As pointed out one way to get a Nittaku blade fan buying more blades is to say some of the blades are about to be discontinued.

_________________
Tibhar Grass D.techs OX | Donic BigSlam 2.0mm .
Re-Impact Medusa (balsa / 1-ply cherry wood)
Frictionless strokes | Attacking pip strokes | Greggy's advice | Bollsbrother | Sebastian Sauer . . . . . .

I got similiar info from the local Donic distributor. He says Donic will not carry Nittaku anymore. So I bought the last Acoustic ST he had , just in case.

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Innerforce ALC, Bluefire M3, 802-1

I don't say this to be patronizing or whatever, but I hope Nittaku stays in Europe and uses Matthias or someone like him to market their product line. A few reps who know their stuff making the rounds at tournies and such is effective at building markets, which looks like Nitaku might have to do all over again. Mathtias could do better than Donic did if marketing was his his profession or occupation.

Matthias for Regional Vice President !!!

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Goof-off chopping bat
Gambler All Rosewood
Aurus Soft / Gambler GXL .6 sponge

Status - Out of Business Janitor/Babysitter

So it does apply to euro only then and because of problem with the distributor and not from the HQ...

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instagram: rokphishtt

Thanks Der_Echte for the military psycology. Actually this sort of thing goes on alot its just its tough to spot.

Der_Echte wrote:

Mathtias could do better than Donic did if marketing was his his profession or occupation.


That might be true but I don't have any competing products to sell and I don't know anyone who'd rave about a Donic blade in the way Nittaku blade users do.
Except the CAYMAN!!!!

It might simply be that Nittaku could gain too big a foothold in the European market for Donic's liking and they just knocked out their premier products.

Any pip player who uses the Violin is immediately aware of how good it is. At some point I really must try and get hold of the Violincello. Its good also for inverted - attacking, but not on the same caliber as for pips.

_________________
Tibhar Grass D.techs OX | Donic BigSlam 2.0mm .
Re-Impact Medusa (balsa / 1-ply cherry wood)
Frictionless strokes | Attacking pip strokes | Greggy's advice | Bollsbrother | Sebastian Sauer . . . . . .

It looks like my supplier in the UK will not be able to supple a new Violin. Looks like Donic are simply not answering them. The problem is that they don't hold stock.

Could anyone here let me know where I can buy? Europe preferred but will go overseas where needed.

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Tibhar Grass D.techs OX | Donic BigSlam 2.0mm .
Re-Impact Medusa (balsa / 1-ply cherry wood)
Frictionless strokes | Attacking pip strokes | Greggy's advice | Bollsbrother | Sebastian Sauer . . . . . .

What!??? Is this true? Worldwide or only in Europe. I was just thinking of getting a spare Violin R-H since I have so heavily modified mine already. I need a backup or 2. On the positive side, maybe the price will be discounted. I better check the dealer in Japan.

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Galaxy K-4/ Xiom Vega Pro/ Xiom Vega Pro