Ended up buying a brand new B3 Bespoke from one of the cricket team members last week for £150 (by accident as I was in the right place at the right time). Was in touch with Gary at Redback for a new bat but Gary is more elusive than ever and I needed to get a new bat as a back up to my Newbery Blitz which I bought for £250 last year. I also have a Slazenger v1200 grade 3 which I bought for £30 from Sportsdirect for nets.
Played my first innings with the B3 bat last weekend and scored 58 runs of 50/51 balls. At circa 2lb8oz this is one of the lightest cricket bats I have used since 2001 (normally use 3lb bats). I am a wristy and bottom handed player but due to the lighter weight I was playing more cross-bat shots than normal. The middle is nice however needs a bit more knocking in I think. Felt a lot of vibration when blocked couple of short balls using the top half of the bat and also one yorker sent electricity through my left arm. Overall I would score 7/10 after the first time I used the bat. Will update the score at the end of the season as I get to know the bat better.
This is my first post on Custombats, I have been reading the forums for years and it helped me a lot with various cricket gears which I have bought over the years. Thank you for a wonderful platform filled with information based on actual experiences.