Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Reviews => Topic started by: PM7 on August 30, 2011, 09:34:24 PM
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Hi Chaps,
Due to the offer from Johnny Firefly with the possibility of having a CF Premier Cru made in my desired shape for £160 I thought this was a right steal. I emailed Johnny my specs of a Sachin profile with a clean face, over 12 grains, min 35mm edges with a min 20mm toe,a slim oval handle and a light pickup weighing in at 2.8( no laughing or pisstaking please :D). Ive never seen a CF apart from on the forum and they all looked lovely so what are the chances id receive a dud one?
I received the bat yesterday and thought WOW, this is a lovely piece of willow. I has a waft and the pickup was excellent for a bat of this size. It measures 36mm at the biggest edge and bang on 20mm at the toe. There is minimal concaving so the profile is pretty thick throughout. The 14 grains were quite beautiful and I have added a coat of linseed and they have some proper definition now. The finishing is excellent and Charlie obviously makes the effort as he remade my bat as he was unhappy with the first effort.
The handle is a quality oval handle but the bottom hand is slightly too thick for my liking which is annoying as I had asked for a slim oval handle. It came with a thick black snake grip so i will have a play around with some others and see what happens. Ive tapped it up and started to knock it in and it feels extremely responsive but its early days yet although it passes the mallet test bigtime.
In a nutshell this is a seriously good bat with a huge profile, light pickup and although initially I was unsure how close the profile was to a Sachin profile, I thought damm this is will suit my batting style perfectly. Maybe my expectations were different but Ive never seen a Sachin profile in the flesh anyway :D Big thanks to Johnny who answered all my questions and kept me updated all the way. Id be more than happy to recommend anyone to try a CF especially at this price ;) I will add some more info and pics when ive had a net/thrash this weekend.
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/IMG_4293Large.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/IMG_4297Large.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/IMG_4296Large.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/IMG_4294Large.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/IMG_4293Large.jpg)
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Sounds nice, but sachin uses a 2.10 I thought?
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sachin profile... shape of the bat mate
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It is nice to hear of batmakers going the extra mile to make exactly what you want. Just like it should be. Rather regretting not jumping in on the offer now.
Can't wait to see pics.
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I agree. You have asked for a lot to be done with this bat and sounds as though CF has done a great job.
It's things like that which will get CF a lot more business
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Yes, hopefully. He is rather off the radar or not very fashionable, but I've only ever seem impressive stuff from him.
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Off the back of me publicising the deal through my friend, he recommended me to CF and I'm now a sales rep for them too (not a full time job or anything) - I'm in the process of getting funds into paypal to pay for advertising on the forum, but means there should be plenty of CF deals knocking about.
The £160 offer isn't a limited offer, it's applicable anytime but requires an order of 5 bats - otherwise a Premier Cru is £180 (still a 25% saving on the CF website price)
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Looks wonderful. Indeed I'd go as far as to say that the grain structure is as close to my Sig as anything I've seen.
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Grains look amazing and it'ss a decent size for the weight, profile isn't really my cup of tea but I guess if thats what you were after then it's a top deal.
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I agree JP these CF bats look pretty damn good, i also regret not jumping in on this deal....
cant believe your still harping on about that SIG with the average grains ;)
not quite sure its a sachin shape tho, but as long as your happy
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Ow god daaaamn! A thing of beauty! Johnnys offer looks even better now....
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They are lovely grains, but I know the Premier Cru is supposed to be selected on performance as opposed to aesthetics, so to get one that looks this good as well is pretty much luck of the draw.
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Is there a process in place for being able to select a cleft? I've not seen many of these bats but I can think of two others that were truly top class on looks.
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Is there a process in place for being able to select a cleft? I've not seen many of these bats but I can think of two others that were truly top class on looks.
I think you asked this before Jon, and I enquired, but they weren't keen to do it at all. I know the likes of Laver and H4L are prepared to do this, but CF felt that if they offered it to one customer then they'd have to do it for all customers and they weren't happy about the extra work it would cause - although he has a back room staff to sort out administration the production side of things is a completely one man job - Charlie selects the clefts direct from Wrights, makes all the bats from scratch including stickering and he's even responsible for dispatch too.
Charlie also said that especially for a custom shape he would prefer to be the judge of which cleft will allow him to make the desired shape, as opposed to someone picking one out over the internet based on it having pretty grains, but it ultimately not being the right weight and density to get the shape right.
They do offer a Red-Letter day package where you can visit the factory and pick a cleft in person, and then watch whilst the bat is made - it's £350 though and is one of the few things I don't get offered a discount on.
Opener from the forum has also received one of these bats - I have pics I can post if he's happy for me to do so - his bat is colossal but seems to have a bit of specking on the face - not quite as clean a piece of wood as this.
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I did ask this as I didnt want any heartwood and a clean face and Johnny said that all the bats we had seen from CF were sapwood only which was good enough for me. In fairness from a picture you can only confirm the aesthetics and not the rebound qualities.
I actually asked Johnny if the bat was knocked in as when received the edges were rounded off and the rebound already seems like a knocked in bat. apparently it has not been knocked in.
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Apologies, in future I will be sure to read through my posts before i reply. I honestly couldn't remember getting an answer the first time around.
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Apologies, in future I will be sure to read through my posts before i reply. I honestly couldn't remember getting an answer the first time around.
To be fair I think I said you'd asked the question before...
...don't think I said I'd answered it before ;)
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Lovely looking bat - the willow looks fanatstic, hopefully it plays as well as it looks! Does it have that very flat face still?
However, this is not a sachin profile, not even close..... he has a much lower middle and a different profile all together.....but as long as you are happy, who really cares what the little dude uses!
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Definatley one of the best looking bats around on this forum lately. Think you've got yourself a bargain there!
Let us know how you get on with using it :)
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Thats spot on SS, I didnt think it resembled a Sachin profile and I had the option to return it but its not easy giving back such a great piece of willow which already taps up better than any bat ive owned. The profile has grown on me within the first 2 hours and is surprisingly thick near the toe so the middle is extended much lower.
What profile do you chaps think this bat resembles?
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Made me think of a SAF Erus on first look.
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reminds a little of the m&h original with the slightly higher middle.
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Here's a summary of the spec submitted:
Weight 2lb 8oz
Cleft of Charlie's choice
'Tendulkar' Profile
Low Middle
Edges 35mm at largest point, 20mm at the toe
Spine running all the way down to the toe
Thin Oval handle
Minimal Concaving
On top of this spec there were some photos provided of a Talisman bat and a H4L Hattori, as well as some further e-mail correspondence and some phone conversations.
The 'Tendulkar' profile is not one that Charlie is familiar with making, so without knowing the right shape he will have produced this based on the descriptions provided.
I agree, the end result doesn't immediately shout out 'Sachin' at me.
I have to say I had a similar experience with Laver a few years ago - forked out top dollar for the bat of my dreams, and when I received it, was slightly disappointed that it wasn't exactly how I imagined. I've really grown into the bat since though.
Ultimately though, I think if you order a Custom Bat and you're not happy with the end result, you should definitely return it.
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I will definately be keeping the bat as im hoping it will play as well as it looks.
I did say to Johnny that if I returned the bat there is no guarantee that the next one would look as good and who would say that CF would get the profile right so this one remains a keeper.
The search for a Sachin profile goes on :D
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i have a sachin profile tk lam :D... but you probably dont want a lam, or wanna pay that much! :(
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Cant pay that much for a bat sadly .......... but I will buy a ticket for the raffle ;)
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good man, will be raffling it when people start buying kit again, when we all satrt looking towards next season (i know some have already!) but obviously i ownt raffle on here as not allowed!!
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Opener from the forum has also received one of these bats - I have pics I can post if he's happy for me to do so - his bat is colossal but seems to have a bit of specking on the face - not quite as clean a piece of wood as this.
Go for it Johnny. I have been very busy with work over the last month or so. I only just saw your post.
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Looking forward to it Opener as we both had very similar requests on profiles.
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Here are pics of Opener's bat:
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/01.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/02.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/03.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/04.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/05.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/06.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/07.jpg)
(http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/johnnywinter147/08.jpg)
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Thanks a lot Johnny! Might I add it was a great experience specially with the communication with Johnny all throughout the process.
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Lovely bats - never seen CF before but they look quality. Might have to look at one of these!
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Both profiles do look different although we did ask for the same specs. Opener yours does look like it had a lower middle and more Sachinesque.
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It could be one of 2 things which might have lead to a different profile.
1. Your bat is a couple of ounces lighter than mine and at 2lb 10 even mine is a few ounces lighter than what Sachin uses.
2. I gather you also sent him picture of a bat to copy. Maybe the one you sent was different to mine.
As long as you get on with the bat it really does not matter. If I get a bat which is not radically different from what I order I am Okay. I always try to leave some room for the batmaker to improvise.
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I think the problem Charlie will have faced is that the Sachin profile isn't anything special as such, but he does use a big heavy bat compared to most of us. To me the Sachin profile is just a big version of most asian made bat shapes, so it will be difficult to make exactly the same, but 4 oz lighter.
As long as you chaps are happy though. :)
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Bang on Jon it's near impossible to get a 2lb12 profile in a 2lb8/9 but some want it my bulldog has the sachin profile which is just an ultra low middle with bow and as little concaving as possible nothing special but weight will determine size
But the bats look nice none the less
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I agree with what John said although the Sachin profile is different to a regular Asian profile because there is so much more wood to play around with. I think the key is to balance such a heavy bat with a low middle.
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Agreed there Opener as I have a few Asian bats and the profiles are individually different although they all have big edges. Charlie must have used a lightweight cleft as I didnt expect to receive 2.8 with 36mm edges but I did :) The compromise is that the middle is higher than yours as he had to remove the weight from somewhere to make it balance well and pick up evenly. I am happy as I have received a super bat for £160 and I will bloody well get used to the profile ! :D
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What sort of pitches do you play on in Spain? With the good weather do you not get hard bouncy tracks?
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Not really as bouncy as one would imagine Johnny. We only play on artificial wickets with a grass outfield.
If anything from Oct to May the pitch keeps low and then gets baked in the summer. We dont play in mid July/August as its too damm hot (38 C)!