Hey guys, as many of you know, I have a bat buying problem.
This does mean that if any great offers pop up on this forum, the chances are I will take it! So, after being very impressed by the middling bat John made for me, I decided to also take him up on his end of 2012 offer, as I was looking for a light bat (2.8-2.9). After chatting to him, I dropped him a deposit to guarantee that I was not going to pull out of the transaction, but I needed a little time to gather some cash (Due to people owing me £600+ in total
). During a period of around 3 weeks, I kept changing my mind, first from the Michael Clarke profile to John's Pyro profile, back to the MC profile and then back to the Pyro profile, just to end on the LE profile.
After I had finally settled on the profile, I paid the rest of the cash (None of which came from the people who owe me cash...) and told John that I didn't care what grade the bat was, how ugly it was, I just wanted the best performing light cleft he could offer me.
Here are some pictures of what I got...
As you can see, the bat is far from pretty, the grains are slightly curved to a side, there's an orange looking grain, the grains aren't evenly spaced, (I count 13 grains...) and I would probably grade this as a G4 on looks. I know I said I didn't care about looks, but I'll be honest and say I was pretty worried when I saw this bat haha! I guess it goes to show that it is one thing to say "I couldn't care much about looks, as long as it performs." but in your mind, you expect a bat with 5-7 grains which are relatively well spaced with a couple of blemishes with some or half heartwood as the worst you can get! Strange that... I asked John to oil the bat for me to give the bat time to soak in the linseed oil, but he actually used linseed wax, which was pretty nice. Quite a distinctive smell compared to oil, so I knew something was odd when I had a waft of the smell.
Now I'm not one normally to judge too much on looks, but like I said about, I was slightly worried, especially about the orange grain! However, I took a mallet to it (One with a screw on head) and it sounded really surprisingly nice. Most bats sound like planks when I use that mallet, but there was a noticeable deep tone with this bat, a lovely mellow one. After hearing this, I could not help myself and bounced a ball on it, and it really does feel superb. It has some seem marks, but it was worth it! (I'm like a child at Christmas when cricket bats turn up!)
It weighs in at 2lb 9.08oz with a scuff sheet and a thick spiral, which is in the weight range I wanted. I will be putting on a shoe goo toe guard on it, so it should end up around 2lb 9.5oz, which is pretty much exactly what I want. Going to put the guard on after the indoor cricket finishes though, don't want a grippy toeguard, especially when grounding the bat!
Specs:
Weight - 2lb 9.08oz with scuff sheet and thick spiral
Handle - Oval
Middle position - mid-low (Around 6.5-7 inches off the toe, that is around 16-18cm)
Pick up - really nice, picks up around 2.8, so well balanced.
Concaving - Minimal (VERY minimal)
Edge size - 31mm at the max, with them being offset around 2 inches
Ping/resonance/response (Whatever you want to call it!) - Taps up really nicely, so I have to give it a 8.5-9 in terms of that, but the sound off the mallet is lovely, a 9.5 for that!
Finishing - Very good finishing, a couple of very fine splinters at the edges taken out, but so fine you can't feel them.
Here's some more pictures of it alongside my middling bat.
As you can see, this LE profile has offset edges and this one has a mid-low swell like I asked. It isn't a massive bat, but I did ask for very minimal concaving, and I think this is about as minimal as you can get! It has a pretty big playing area with it responding well off the mallet around 1.5 inches off the toe up to around 9 inches. I really like this shape, and I reckon I could have done with a tiny bit more concaving to be honest! A higher spine height and this bat would look really nice.
I am looking forward to giving it a bash in the nets today after I have knocked in the toe and given the edges some attention. Hopefully I can have a good feel of it before the indoor tournament on Saturday!
Last but not least, a review of the service I received! John was brilliant throughout the process, even with me changing my mind quite a few times! He always replied quickly and was patient with me. I had not actually realised that John had similar conversations over a 2 month period with another 'customer' who actually pulled out after John had made the bat for him, so when I heard about this, I felt I may have been a risky customer! All was fine with John though, as I had dropped off a deposit first!
All in all, very happy with the purchase, and shall let you guys know how I get on with it in the nets tonight.
Author
Topic: My Red Ink LE (Read 4860 times)