Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Equipment => Bats => Topic started by: jjelricksmith on December 02, 2018, 03:20:38 PM
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Not been on here since the end of the season but thought id share an update. Just had my match bat refurbed by Ayrtek, amazing job by the way. But Tom highlighted my bat wasnt the described size it was sold to me as a SH but is a SSH/ very close to a harrow. When it arrived it came with a net bat that was noticeably longer but i never thought to check and turns out that is a normal sh and the match bat is a good few cm shorter. I really like the bat so not going to complain to Paul or try for a refund over it but just when paying for a SH bat at SH prices youd expect a SH bat. Kind of irritating i basically overpaid £100 for a harrow, has anyone had anything similar? This was in the middle of last season and have used it since so cant return it even if i wanted to.
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Not been on here since the end of the season but thought id share an update. Just had my match bat refurbed by Ayrtek, amazing job by the way. But Tom highlighted my bat wasnt the described size it was sold to me as a SH but is a SSH/ very close to a harrow. When it arrived it came with a net bat that was noticeably longer but i never thought to check and turns out that is a normal sh and the match bat is a good few cm shorter. I really like the bat so not going to complain to Paul or try for a refund over it but just when paying for a SH bat at SH prices youd expect a SH bat. Kind of irritating i basically overpaid £100 for a harrow, has anyone had anything similar? This was in the middle of last season and have used it since so cant return it even if i wanted to.
Not had a similar problem, it doesn’t matter if it used. If they are decent people it was probably just a mistake, if you get in touch and explain they will probably reimburse you. There’s only one way to find out if they will. Good luck anyways
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Erm, you used the bat and liked it enough to have it refurbed?
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Is it also Harrow width?
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Erm, you used the bat and liked it enough to have it refurbed?
Yeah its actually a gun. I didnt even notice it was a harrow until Tom told me it wasnt the right length. Not fussed just thought it was amusing.
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Happy to help with the kit and refurb and sorry to have pointed it out and ruined your perception of it 🤦♂️
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Fairly embarrassing mistake to make for someone who spends half his life on YouTube having a go at Asian batmakers for poor quality output
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I bet there's a sh*tstorm kicking off on Aldred's facebook page :)
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It perhaps goes to show how perception can influence your opinion on a bat. If you don't know it is a junior sized bat then it isn't in your head. I have never got along with short blade, long handle bats, but then picked one up at a factory at the end of the season without knowing it was a short blade and it felt great.
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I bet there's a sh*tstorm kicking off on Aldred's facebook page :)
If ur allowed on it, he blocked me after I returned a bat for a very similar reason to the above!
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Oh trust me - I’m definitely not allowed on!
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Oh trust me - I’m definitely not allowed on!
What did you do Bruce??
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I bet there's a sh*tstorm kicking off on Aldred's facebook page :)
More likely there are the same 5 people posting 'gun, gun, gun' and 'pingtastic Aldo'
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I think what he trying to say is that he paid more for a harrow bat instead getting SH
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Shame as I got bored on his facebook page group and left myself.
I'm not agreeable with his self righteous opinions. Each to their own. If you want bats off him then good luck, I couldn't bring myself to buy one.
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Shame as I got bored on his facebook page group and left myself.
I'm not agreeable with his self righteous opinions. Each to their own. If you want bats off him then good luck, I couldn't bring myself to buy one.
Same here.
He may be a great guy and his bats must be out of this but my experience hasnt been a great one. May it was a one off incident but I would think twice before doing any direct dealing with him.
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Got a butterfly and must say it is what he said it is. But my (R)obinson (S)ports G1 is cheaper by almost 150 GBP, does ping and look better than the butterfly. So it's unfair to be pointing out Asian batmakers & their bats as substandard.
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Almost all my bats are Indian made and none of them is bad price wise and performance. I broke handle on one due to ball directly hitting handle.
Most of brands world wide use third party for handles anyway I think.
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I bought 3 bats off him over a period of a year. The first one was a pre made and was nice. The last two had issues with not being what i ordered and was basically told by him that, "nothing wrong with it, get used to it..."
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Got a butterfly and must say it is what he said it is. But my (R)obinson (S)ports G1 is cheaper by almost 150 GBP, does ping and look better than the butterfly. So it's unfair to be pointing out Asian batmakers & their bats as substandard.
You got Robinson's to sell you a G1 for £30?! Please share how!
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Almost all my bats are Indian made and none of them is bad price wise and performance. I broke handle on one due to ball directly hitting handle.
Most of brands world wide use third party for handles anyway I think.
Although correct Jayraith don't Rob Pack and Hawk still make there own handles
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Although correct Jayraith don't Rob Pack and Hawk still make there own handles
As does Charlie French
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Is it also Harrow width?
@jjelricksmith
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As does Charlie French
And Warsop?
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Paul's relationship with Newbery smacks of hypocrisy a little bit. And I don't think I like the way he generalises when talking about Asian bats.
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Alot of his theories on bats contradict each other aswell
It's a shame he is a difficult person to deal with as all the Aldred bats I've seen have been very nice indeed
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So far as the handle in Asian bats goes, I think there is a little bit of an overkill when some people try to put them in bad light.
Recently I saw an L&W ULTRA on eBay with its handle totally broken and separated - it looked like a headless or perhaps neckless Chicken.
Not saying that anything wrong with L&W but I’ve hardly ever seen this happening to an Asian bat.
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Paul's relationship with Newbery smacks of hypocrisy a little bit. And I don't think I like the way he generalises when talking about Asian bats.
That was the point where I stopped watching his videos. For a bloke that spent years slating 'sticker' companies and banging on about morales I found it pretty funny when he suddenly jumped at the chance to work for Newbery - everyone has their price...
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Bats are prices of wood that will inevitend up in pieces at some point if used extensively.
I’ve seen bats from various brands with snapped handles, it’s made of wood and each piece of different so natural variation will occur from time to time.
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Nevertheless, I do think you a consumer has the right to know how and where a product was made.
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And Warsop?
Ahh Warsop :) , another fantastic brand that is on my fabled bucket list (although not keen on some of the new livery), that may never get fulfilled! Will have to wait... if I do ever get another bat it will be a TK as I want to see what all the hype is all about :)
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Warsop branding has always been terrible.
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Warsop branding has always been terrible.
Some of the older Venom / Platinum branding was pretty good. The new ranges they have, the Inspire 152 and the Scimitar admittedly look terrible.
Still go like steam trains and you're guaranteed to see at least 10 at nearly every league match in Essex!
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The only reason I started getting standard shaped or pre-built bats is simply because no custom bat maker could actually meet 100% of the specs. It just doesn't happen! Sometime weight is off, sometimes handle is wrong, something they tell you that bat has a "medium" bow but it is flat as an arrow and "performance free". So, the custom bat game is not perfect. It gets worse when you don't live in the same country and shipping the bat back costs an arm and a leg!
So, no I don't support this criticism of Aldred. He is no different than majority of the custom bat makers out there.
You want a close to "perfect" bat? Get a standard, off the shelf shape or have someone pick a bat for you.
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The only reason I started getting standard shaped or pre-built bats is simply because no custom bat maker could actually meet 100% of the specs. It just doesn't happen! Sometime weight is off, sometimes handle is wrong, something they tell you that bat has a "medium" bow but it is flat as an arrow and "performance free". So, the custom bat game is not perfect. It gets worse when you don't live in the same country and shipping the bat back costs an arm and a leg!
So, no I don't support this criticism of Aldred. He is no different than majority of the custom bat makers out there.
You want a close to "perfect" bat? Get a standard, off the shelf shape or have someone pick a bat for you.
I’ve had a custom made bat from B3, all done on email/telephone, was exactly what I asked for. I’ve just had a custom made bat at GN, was better than I expected. So it can be done, and there are many other companies on here, b3, neon, red ink and elsewhere that can make you a bat
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Not been on here since the end of the season but thought id share an update. Just had my match bat refurbed by Ayrtek, amazing job by the way. But Tom highlighted my bat wasnt the described size it was sold to me as a SH but is a SSH/ very close to a harrow. When it arrived it came with a net bat that was noticeably longer but i never thought to check and turns out that is a normal sh and the match bat is a good few cm shorter. I really like the bat so not going to complain to Paul or try for a refund over it but just when paying for a SH bat at SH prices youd expect a SH bat. Kind of irritating i basically overpaid £100 for a harrow, has anyone had anything similar? This was in the middle of last season and have used it since so cant return it even if i wanted to.
Paul is an opinionated guy, but you don't have to agree with everything he says to appreciate how good a batmaker he is. Your story strikes me as a bit odd, and honestly I think it is a bit unfair to share it in here before having a chat with Paul. You say you ordered 2 bats the same - one match bat and one net bat - so it seems unlikely that he would make you up two bats of completely different length. All I can imagine is that possibly the wrong match bat got shipped to you somehow. I really don't think you've overpaid £100 for a Harrow, I think you might just have got someone else's bat by mistake. Just my two-penn'orth.
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So, no I don't support this criticism of Aldred. He is no different than majority of the custom bat makers out there.
You want a close to "perfect" bat? Get a standard, off the shelf shape or have someone pick a bat for you.
I think most people are critical of what comes out of Paul's mouth rather than his bat making skills. I don't remember another maker/supplier who had the bad attitude to anyone or anything slightly different that Paul emits. Mr Lekka was a character granted
I agree somewhat with the second part above. Most of the gun bats I've had have been hand picked by someone else and the last 2 customs I've had made haven't suited me at all
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@jjelricksmith just a follow up.
I had a look at Paul's FB page. Here's a photo, these may be the bats you bought last summer, together with your original Aldred bat. The blades seem to all be full size, though the middle one is maybe around 1cm shorter. We could debate if 1cm difference in length is within acceptable tolerances. But, we can't see the handles in this photo, so I guess that one of them might be shorter than the other - SSH rather than SH as you say. Maybe you could post up another photo to illustrate your point.
(https://i.postimg.cc/GtLD1fm8/aldred-bats.jpg)
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Warsop branding has always been terrible.
Well some of the bats yes in the past and some of the new models.its all subjective what people like of course but I have a black and silver stickered platinum and I don't think you can beat the design ! :)
Whatever they did or are doing now they got it right with the platinum.
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Whatever they did or are doing now they got it right with the platinum.
I'll give you that one.
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I’ve had a custom made bat from B3, all done on email/telephone, was exactly what I asked for. I’ve just had a custom made bat at GN, was better than I expected. So it can be done, and there are many other companies on here, b3, neon, red ink and elsewhere that can make you a bat
I am sure there are plenty of stories like yours: "everything was great!" And then, two months later the same bat is for sale.
B3 was a disappointment! Never got my bats right.
MG2 was pretty good.
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I've said it before, but, in my opinion, the only real way to find your perfect bat is to feel it in your hands.
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You got Robinson's to sell you a G1 for £30?! Please share how!
Should have been more explicit. I was talking about total landing cost. In addition to the cost of the bat, 55GBP shipping cost and remaining had to spend on customs / people / processes, just to get the thing out.
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Should have been more explicit. I was talking about total landing cost. In addition to the cost of the bat, 55GBP shipping cost and remaining had to spend on customs / people / processes, just to get the thing out.
But still, £90 for a Robinsons G1 is a great deal. Would likely cost £250 over here. Is it from their English willow range, or Kashmir?
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Should have been more explicit. I was talking about total landing cost. In addition to the cost of the bat, 55GBP shipping cost and remaining had to spend on customs / people / processes, just to get the thing out.
What was the point of mentioning the price then? Can hardly blame an English batmaker for being based in England.
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I'd agree, you can throw a heap of accusations at Paul, but he makes a bloody good bat, and his prices are very reasonable.
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@jjelricksmith
Sorry i did reply to this but for some reason it didn't appear. Its a normal SH width
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@jjelricksmith just a follow up.
I had a look at Paul's FB page. Here's a photo, these may be the bats you bought last summer, together with your original Aldred bat. The blades seem to all be full size, though the middle one is maybe around 1cm shorter. We could debate if 1cm difference in length is within acceptable tolerances. But, we can't see the handles in this photo, so I guess that one of them might be shorter than the other - SSH rather than SH as you say. Maybe you could post up another photo to illustrate your point.
(https://i.postimg.cc/GtLD1fm8/aldred-bats.jpg)
Yeah these are mine. The 2 on the left are shorter. The one on the right is normal length.
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None of them look harrow size to me or even shorter. Hand made product gonna be different each time even following same procedure. That size difference in photo seems ignorable to me.
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Out of interest how are you judging that? You cant even see the full bat in the photo.
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Because SH and SSH have the same size blade, just different length handles (the clue is in the names). So as we can see the blades are pretty much the same length as your original bat, we can be sure they're not harrow bats. A harrow blade is 1.3cm shorter than full size. I agree that the middle blade is a little shorter - as I said in my earlier post - but not so much shorter as to be a harrow in my opinion. The widths of the blades also appear to be the same, a harrow blade is narrower by around 3mm.
So, why not line the 3 bats up again and take a photo including the full length of the handles. Our analysis can then continue.
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(https://i.postimg.cc/5NjW0bt7/D97-ED379-95-E8-4666-87-D0-02-E039-A2-E08-A.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/hfF5ZFTT)
Not lined up perfectly but this is what 1st brought it to my attention.
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(https://i.postimg.cc/5NjW0bt7/D97-ED379-95-E8-4666-87-D0-02-E039-A2-E08-A.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/hfF5ZFTT)
Not lined up perfectly but this is what 1st brought it to my attention.
Not easy to be exactly sure, but the Aldred handle looks pretty similar in length to the green Ayrtek handle. The blade is obviously a little shorter, but the difference in your photo is greater than in the photo of the 3 Aldred bats. There could be slight differences in sizing, from different makers? I just go off the L&W chart, as it's the only one I'm aware of. I don't know what guidelines Paul uses, or the Ayrtek batmaker. I also don't know what tolerances are acceptable. Thoughts?
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If the overall bat size is correct then there may be small tolerance between handle and blade sizes, however the point here I think is that the bat itself is overall shorter and therefore not a sh bat, it’s a ssh length bat or a Harrow length bat.
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I concur Dan, there's a fair bit of variation around though most are the same total length which is the most important part. Point worth making is that everyone does the shoulders differently so it's a bit pointless using that corner as a precise point to measure off - I have two bats I've made myself that are exactly the same length both in blade and handle, but because I've done the shoulders dead square on one and sloped on the other they appear very different.
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As people have said above overall length is key, handle and blade length can vary slightly but as long as they add up to a SH length. But I suppose when you deal with an old school pro that thinks they know best things can get more than tricky!
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I concur Dan, there's a fair bit of variation around though most are the same total length which is the most important part. Point worth making is that everyone does the shoulders differently so it's a bit pointless using that corner as a precise point to measure off - I have two bats I've made myself that are exactly the same length both in blade and handle, but because I've done the shoulders dead square on one and sloped on the other they appear very different.
Yes, but in this case that doesn't really matter. JJ has 3 bats from the same batmaker to directly compare, one of which may or may not be out of tolerance. I would be very interested to know the 3 measurements from shoulder to toe, and the respective measurements from shoulder to the top of the handle. That will give us plenty enough data to discuss, and further on to compare to 'standards', which for ease of access, could be the L&W size chart.
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@jjelricksmith
Maybe best in future to have your bats refurbed by Paul himself.
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@jjelricksmith
Maybe best in future to have your bats refurbed by Paul himself.
why? tom refurbing it has absolutely nothing to do with how the bat was made in the first place? tom does a great job cleaning bats up.
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I have 3 bats sat behind me on my office, all from different brands and all exactly the same blade length. I don't see that a tolerance of the margin here is acceptable on a hand made bat, least not from someone who constantly puts the boot into other companies for the quality of what they produce
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I have 3 bats sat behind me on my office, all from different brands and all exactly the same blade length. I don't see that a tolerance of the margin here is acceptable on a hand made bat, least not from someone who constantly puts the boot into other companies for the quality of what they produce
Couldn’t agree more.
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... least not from someone who constantly puts the boot into other companies for the quality of what they produce
This
Main issue for me , else I'd be more forgiving...
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If the overall bat size is correct then there may be small tolerance between handle and blade sizes, however the point here I think is that the bat itself is overall shorter and therefore not a sh bat, it’s a ssh length bat or a Harrow length bat.
I think I agree.
For me personally, the first sign of a harrow bat is its face width - if it’s 106 or 104 mm then I don’t care what’s the total length of the bat, it’s not for me.
If the face width is 108 mm then I am ok with a little bit of tolerance in the length.
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I havent seen may (if any) complain about the quality of his bats or the way they perform but rather about his sometimes over-zealous slating of other makers or the te hniques they choose to use. Lead with your chin and it will get hit occasionally.