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[edge]

*part-mades
He still has to do the rest of it!


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Oops yep. This is all true and I wouldn't want to knock anyone making bats in any form, but for me one of the big benefits of a small custom maker like many of the sponsors on here is the expertise of the guy producing your bat for you, and pressing/handling is one of the most important parts of that!

[Biggie Smalls]

Oh b.t.w... jpgavan does handle repairs and also does some of the handles on his featherblade x's and featherblades . So its not like he can't or wont do it. He is also the bat repairer at kingsgrove sports , so if youve bought a bat from there recently it was prepared and knocked in by him .
His suppliers seem pretty good re the partmades he gets from india . He told me that he has a new supplier for his oversize clefts ( maybe its for all his clefts now , not sure ). He said he is now getting his oversize clefts from England from a company that has a c.n.c machine . When i smiled as if i knew who it was he read my mind and said "no , it's not B3" ! In any case , looking at his instagram photos of some of his new clefts ,whoever it is , they look the goods . I might just have to get another featherblade soon .
Personally , i think he should make this type of thing better known ( ie him handling clefts , new english supplier etc ) as it might get him more respect/brownie points from the doubters out there .

[Alvaro]

I'm sorry, but feather blade sounds at best like a competitor for durex, at worst a brand of female sanitary products.

[Biggie Smalls]

Yeah , fair enough .  . But it's meant to refer to his low density clefts/bats , so knowing that then the name isn't so bad . Not much choice of other names to point towards a light weight cleft that i can think of ..... other than stating the obvious like 'light weight bat' etc

[dougydee]

As much as I want to support local Oz made brands I just can't get past the price for someone who's been making bats since 2014. Might as well get Stuart at GN to make something to spec.

[sanredrose]

@Biggie Smalls - If i were JP, i would look at economies of scale. I would assume he is making somewhere between 50-200 bats a year. I have chatted with him a few times and my understanding is that he gets these done at his home - backyard/garage. Considering the fact that its a small scale operation i would say he is doing a pretty good job.

Most of the cricket playing public don't know much about pressing or cleft processing. They look for willow grade, ping and weight prior to purchase. CB forumites are a different story but i would assume we are just 1% of the cricketing folks. Remaining 99% is still a market for JP to attack !

[sanredrose]

@dougydee - Agree .. JP's pricing is a little high. But i have tried one of his bats. It's pretty good and i would say very comparable to SS limited edition.

[Biggie Smalls]

@sanredrose ..... yeah your right , things will improve for jp with better economies of scale . Also , most people dont really care about pressing /cleft processing or if they do they have misinformation re what a good press is etc . So what youve summarised is a good description.
@dougydee ... i know what your saying . That was my first thought too . Its  still very valid . His grade 1 6-9 grain bats for 400 bucks is good  value in my mind . His grade 1+ 10+grain bats for 600 bucks is either average or slightly worse /better than average - debatable that one . His featherblades /low density players bats at 750 bucks and his featherblade x /low density oversize cleft players bats at 1000 bucks are both quite to very poor value . At least he's honest though and said to me that the featherblades are too expensive and he's working on ways to get the price down . If he did I'd think about buying quite a few more as opposed to maybe one more in the future . But as you said re may as well get stuart at g.n to make to spec etc ...thats why my next bat will be an xp80 - so my actions also back up your point there .  But , i no longer care about his experience or lack thereof as ive seen the quality of workmanship,  so my reasoning is purely financial.

[tom line]

I think he is now using the press at kings grove to start pressing some of his own bats as well, as for the supplier of the oversized clefts who have a CNC I'm guessing he is talking about kippax

[sarg]

I have knocked two JP Gavan bats. A featherblade prototype which was one of the first from the UK supplier and another which was from the Indian supplier. The featherblade performed excellently and was a firmer press and its knock time within normal parameters.

The other bat took me twice as long to knock and even then I had to tell the owner to take it easy on the play in. I then played a few games of LMS with that bloke and the bat went like a train scoring heavy each innings. both bats were 2.13 +. I passed on my feedback to Josh and he has since had the Indian sticks get an addition press after handling.

I have no problem with Josh's bats and know his customers are happy.

You can look up the photo albums of eachJP Gavan bat on my page.

https://www.facebook.com/MarcsCricketBatPrepInformation/photos/?tab=albums

I cant afford to purchase all these amazing bats myself so knocking other people's bats is a pleasure.