OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Hi Folks,

I've been playing seriously for less than 12m's, and I've used 4 blades in that time:

* Stiga Opty Sync- very crisp but almost zero ball feedback.
* Bty Joyner-H - 5 ply hinoki with heaps of feeling, but stalls back from the table.
* Dr N. High Tech Plus- fast and wonderful control, but quite bouncy for the short game.
* Nikkatu Septear- Like it lots, but maybe too fast for chopping/blocking with a medium fast long pip?

The forums seem to be full of comments about soft rubbers working well with hard blades and hard rubbers playing well on softer blades- Does only using a thin sponge (ie Tango 1.5mm) change this? I've only ever used medium and hard blades.

I presume the thinner the sponge, the less it matters if it's a soft sponge on a soft blade??? Or not? I'm asking this before I buy a Matsushita Pro and discover it's like hitting with a pillow straped to a mattress.

_________________
Custom Re-Impact OFF
Hexer HD 1.9
Hexer Pips 1.9

Member of Anastasia's Fan Club

It is true that soft rubbers work well on Hard blades, this is due to the extra control it gives back to the user. If you were to have hard rubbers on a hard blade it would be quite stiff and hard to produce spin. This type of setup is favored towards the professionals.

Soft rubbers increase the dwell time and at the same time have good spin when paired with hard blades.

If you were to pair a 1.5mm Tango to a Matsushita Pro (I've owned 2 ). It would be quite playable. I found the matsushita pro to have a medium feeling instead of soft as Butterfly claims.

Thanks LawORG. So I should keep this option (the M/Pro blade) on the table then.

I noticed in an old BTY catalogue that they advertised the Matsushita Pro as being ideal to pair with long pips or thin sponged soft rubbers like Tackiness C/D. This post is because I was wondering if that was just advertising mush, or if the blade is hard enough to play the modern defence game when paired with my beloved Tango.

BTW, Tango with only 1.5mm sponge is still faster than Mark V 2.0, Sriver EL 2.0, and Magna 2.0 (all without glue). Yet it's also way better for chopping- the underspin is really nasty. I expected that, but was totally shocked that the hitting/looping speed was still strong.

_________________
Custom Re-Impact OFF
Hexer HD 1.9
Hexer Pips 1.9

Member of Anastasia's Fan Club

No worries

You are correct about Butterfly marketing. Its all a load of @^U%#@$, the Matsushita is great for defence, but for modern defence you must have a faster FH rubber. The blade is hard enough for you to play with 1.5 tango but keep in mind you'll have to exert force since the racket wont do much for you in terms of power. Ive found that the Matsushita Pro pairs really well with softer long pips.

I tried mine awhile back with the Curl p1R and the sponge was super hard. Needless to say it was a yucky combination as the pips were quite fast and the softness of the blade wasnt utilized.

hmm. I would imagine any of those mentioned 2.0mm rubbers to be quite fast. The fact that the 1.5 tango is soft and a tensor does help it out alot. Probably allows the ball to sink in to the blade for maximum spin.

Ive only ever played with the 2.1 and Max and its great, but it gets too soft after a few gluings.