Sorry if anyone feels I teased them, has taken me a while to getting round to putting anything up about my trip to Redback and resulting purchase.
I had been weighing up my options of a new bat for a while and once I discovered that Redback's workshop was only 2 minutes away from a place that I visit regularly for work that option shot to the top of my list. I emailed Gary with the sort of bat I was interested in, Paradox shape, Premier willow, weight around 2.10, not fussed about grains just need to perform and he said he would make sure he had something for me to look at when I went.
Found the place without too much trouble and thankfully didn't encounter any tractors whilst driving up the single track lane to the workshop! As a side note don't use the address that you find on Google as it is not the one for the workshop!After a quick cup of coffee Gary produced an array of willow in all the shapes he regularly produces, whipping grips on to the handles at an impressive rate as I worked my way through them. As expected the Paradox shape was what felt best and I kept coming back to one particular stick. It was not the best looking but had a fantastic profile for the weight and picked up beautifully. Gary said it would have definitely been an LE if not for the aesthetics and I can well believe him. When he went on to say the bat was made for someone up at Glamorgan my heart sank but thankfully he said he would let me have it and make another one
After a choice of stickers and a free scuff sheet fitted there and then the bat weighs a tad over 2.10 which is lighter than my current bat despite having a far bigger profile. Gary was more than happy to show me round his workshop and answer any and all questions. I checked out most of the softs and ended up getting a cracking deal on a pair of the "modern" design batting pads whilst I was there. The batting gloves also felt excellent quality but I resisted on this occasion having already spent over £200!
Sadly I have just injured myself and think my season is over so won't get chance to use it for a while. On the plus side I will have plenty of time to knock it in properly and not get tempted to use it too soon.
Service was excellent from Gary and I would definitely recommend that side of things, as for performance that will have to wait.
Author
Topic: New Redback purchase (Read 31092 times)