As my game was called off today I thought I'd take to opportunity to review another one of my sticks.
This has already been seen of the forum at least once but it has had a facelift since it's last appearance.
LooksThe first thing I should mention is the stickers. When I got the bat it had black and green ones which I wasn't a huge fan of. I got in touch with Tai who kindly sorted some replacements for me in blue and yellow which I much prefer.
Now being sold as a net bat by the manufacturer you'd be forgiven for assuming the bat would be a total munter.
With 6 straight even grains and a strip of heartwood on the right handers inside edge it's far from it!
There are a couple of blemishes in the heartwood (one which I suspect is the edge of a butterfly stain) but it has a mostly clean face.
Both edges have the odd pinkness, while there is a larger make on the back of the right handers outside edge. There is also a small amount of graping on the back of the bat. These imperfections don't impact performance whatsoever, but do explain why it wasn't sold as a grade 1!
Weight & specsThe dead weight of the bat in it's current state is 2lb10.75
That is with half a snake grip on the bottom half of the handle and a chevron over the top. I have also applied a UK helicopter scuff sheet and fibreglass edge tape.
Edge peak: 38mm
Edges at shoulder: 14mm
Edges at toe: 17mm
Toe at thickest point: 25mm
Peak spine height: 60mm
Handle: Semi oval, not overly thick but not a toothpick either. Just right without having to make any adjustments
Concaving: Next to none! This is a nice full profile
I bought this bat being told it was in the Michael Clarke profile.
Whatever or whoever's shape it is there is a mid middle with the spine running into the toe. It has a nice elongated look to the middle and a pronounced swell and spine when looking down the back of the bat in your stance. Although it's not a monster like some of the bats that ore posted on here, it looks big and imposing.
PickupWith a dead weight of 2b10.75 I'd say this bat fell into the medium weight range.
The bat is well balanced, but you know it's not a twig. I'd say it was probably neutral pickup, it isn't bottom heavy but it's not one of these magical sticks that picks up 6oz lighter than it's dead weight that everyone on here seems to be acquiring at the moment.
PerformanceI bought this bat as lightly used (proved by the presence of a couple of seam marks). It wasn't "ready to play" when I received it though.
I removed the factory fitted toe guard, stickers and scuff sheet and gave the whole bat an oil. I then spent a bit of time knocking the bat in before the replacement stickers arrived. Once the new stickers arrived I applied those and a new scuff sheet. Once it was fully dressed I spent a bit more time knocking the bat in so it's ready to go.
As for the response from the mallet, the bat starts to respond 50mm from the toe, and the mallet stops rebounding around 310mm from the toe.
The "good response" or "sweet spot" starts around 116mm from the toe, ending 293mm from the toe. I make that around a 177mm sweet spot, which isn't the longest in the world but the bat can only get better with more mallet loving and playing in. The best response or "middle" of the bat is some 210mm from the toe.
And a ping test video (this bat actually passes the infamous ceiling test at around the 49 second mark
)
https://youtu.be/NOAG4b0vARk
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Topic: Review of my BB net bat (Read 2911 times)