OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I just made the hard decision to switch to short pips and I'd love to ask you guys some advice on equipment. For context I've been playing for 1.5yrs and am about 1300 USATT rating skill level. Below are my options for blades and rubbers that I currently own. Please let me know the best setup that I have on hand, or if other recommendations would be better.

Blades
*Butterfly Zhang Jike Super ZLC
*Butterfly Viscaria
*Butterfly Viscaria Golden
*Butterfly Innerforce Layer ZLC
*Nittaku Barwell Fleet
*Nittaku Accoustic

Short Pips Rubber
*Butterfly Challenger Attack
*Nittaku Moristro SP

Thanks a million for any and all advice!

You seem to have a love for composite blades. It's all subjective, but may I suggest you pick up an affordable Stiga Clipper?

7-ply all wood will feel much more dense/solid yet crisp on flat hitting. Your composites will all feel dull, lack feedback and as if you are not hitting hard enough. ALC is very dull/dampened, ZLC is much worse. The 5-ply Acoustic might be too soft and hollow.

Your pips are fine, on the soft side, but more than adequate.

The original Barwell was excellent for pips, maybe the fleet is not so bad. Try that one first.

What is your forehand style with inverted? If you like to spin the ball, I recommend the Der Materialspezialist Firestorm Soft. It's been a good rubber for my transition from inverted on the forehand.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Nuise, are you going to have pips on both sides or only one?

I think your carbon blades are way too fast. I second lasta's suggestion to use a 7-ply all wood blade.

Forehand is my strong side and I still want to maintain using inverted on the forehand (T05). I loop anything long on the forehand. Short pips are only for my backhand.

What's considered to be the best 7 play wood blade? I still want my racket to be great for looping on the forehand as this is my preferred stroke. I read some people use short pips on the Viscaria. I have them on mine currently and it feels good, but then again I don't have a good sample size to compare to. I have the Moristro on a Viscaria and the Challenger on a IF ZLC. Both feel good to me!

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In my dark opinion LPs are more dangerous supplement to your relatively strong FH at your rating level.
Short pips as they are normally more aggressive then inverted hardly cover weaker wing as normally defensive LPs can.

Thanks for the reply Omut, but I don't want to use LP because I still want to have a lot of attacking options with my backhand. I also never chop and I'm not looking to cause a lot of confusion/distortion with my strokes.

If you're looking to hit/counter hit/block, Dr Neubauer Explosion is very good for the backhand.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Welcome to the dark side...

maybe you start with a relative cheap but good short pips rubber like RITC 802-40 with 1.5 mm sponge.
Enough spin, not so far from inverted.

Play with for some time and then decide in which direction you will go from there.
(More speed, more disruption, more sink effect, more control ...)

Greetings Claus

I think it is to early to start with short pimple if you have been only playing for 1,5 years.

I play anti and normal rev. But I've good experience with lps and do have couple of sps. I can also play hardbat old style. My dad use to play like this. Very good too. Try 802.40 2mm or 802 2mm, these classic rubbers are fairly cheaper to purchase, and I think are pretty good too. Hmmm short pips do require a different style as most shots will be flatter. So don't try imposing spin like a normal rev rubber. This does require some skill and learning curve. As the sp isn't so affected by spin, can make returns of service easier. I also believe sp is easier closer to table, the key is to punch or flat hit. I'm more defensive so lps or anti is better as I can get more variation and control the flow of the game easier. Good luck friend