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[Buzz]

Pete - will your Ping-o-meter^(TM) machine be measured by way of the number of lightbulbs you break?

0 = club bat, to be used by most mortals
1 = test match bat 
2 = Petehosk standard 
3 = Norbs quality ping, aka Extreme Trampoline^(TM)? 

[norbs]

Hey - I beg to differ!
My Ping-o-meter machine (patent pending) measures the trampoline like qualities of a bat. 

Many a word is said in jest, you can do this

[Beachcricket]

Can you press a bat by mallet only? What I mean is that you use no pressing machine at all and just go up and down the face with the mallet until you reach that 'perfect ping', it would probably take a while though.

[Ayrtek Cricket]

i think this would be difficult as the press compresses the wood evenly from what iv seen as its like a heavy roller....i thought it said about by approx 5mm in the DF video that Pete posted a link too the other week?

[petehosk]

Many a word is said in jest, you can do this

I know the word doesn't exist but in all seriousness, the way I see "Ping" is:
- The echo and noise it makes when you tap the willow listening closely to it
- The responsiveness of the blade when bouncing a ball or a mallet of the blade
- How a throw down or bowled ball flies/rebounds off a forward defensive shot

Obviously this isn't a science! It's more of making use of your senses...touch, feel, sound and others when carrying out these tests. And when you find a good 'en, what is the point?? Well.......in my opinion the point is the feeling that sort of 'ping' or responsiveness gives you - confidence, well being. The birds chirping in the tress, and the church bells ringing in the distance as you stroke that ball effortlessly to the boundary!  The gentle clapping as your team mates exclaim, "Shot!"

Or maybe I'm talking bs!! 

[Beachcricket]

i think this would be difficult as the press compresses the wood evenly from what iv seen as its like a heavy roller....i thought it said about by approx 5mm in the DF video that Pete posted a link too the other week?

Difficult but not impossible? I ask because James Laver has that Reserve bat, "The face of this bat is flat and prepared mostly by hand mallet for the pressing."

[Talisman]

I know that the best can tell by simply striking the bat with a mallet or finger flicking if it is anywhere between out of this world and firewood.

[jdask]

How does the finger flick work? what are you listening for? 

A few pros iv played with say they can tell a good bat just from flicking it, how is it possible?!

[Talisman]

You are after a frequency response, similar to the sound from the mallet but on a smaller scale, always thought it was bo****ks until Malik and AS Sports visited me last year, they went through a pile of bats finger flicking with no reaction, then they found one of my laminates and the look on their faces showed they had stumbled across something very special, you couldn't tell by looking, Leo will back this up!!!

[Howzat]

You are after a frequency response, similar to the sound from the mallet but on a smaller scale, always thought it was bo****ks until Malik and AS Sports visited me last year, they went through a pile of bats finger flicking with no reaction, then they found one of my laminates and the look on their faces showed they had stumbled across something very special, you couldn't tell by looking, Leo will back this up!!!

Nice bat... couldn't find the join until Mike showed me!

[Uzi Sports]

How does the finger flick work? what are you listening for? 

A few pros iv played with say they can tell a good bat just from flicking it, how is it possible?!

It is difficult to describe, i always pick my bats by finger flicking it. It is the sound which tells me How good the bat is

[jdask]

I too thought it was a load of bull.  But by the sounds of it there is something behind it after all.  I should probably apologise to a few people who iv taken the piss out of for flicking bats in the changing room ha ha.

[petehosk]

Norbs (SAF) does if too!
He can tell by holding the bat almost to his ear and tapping with his finger.
I have tried the same with my bats, and there is certainly differences in sound and vibration!!!