...down to Sarf Lahndahn yesterday to visit Paul's bijou showroom and take a look at some of the new ranges.
Have to say I really enjoyed seeing a different range to the GM/GN/Kookaburra heavy ones carried by most of the big retailers. A few observations from me about what I saw to stimulate discussion:
1. Best bat on show, by a country mile, was a truly lovely Salix Pod 1 - came in about 2lb 9 and picked up perfectly with about 10-12 straght grains. Reckon Paul should have posted more pics of this one by now as I'm sure he'd find a willing taker.
2. Second best was a pleasant surprise to me - saw one of the new Affinity range, which was a nice bit of willow indeed. I also really liked the stickering, which was very different from pretty much anything else on the market with its use of texturing. I was also pleasantly surprised by the Vantage bats on show - obviously I'm not a huge fan of the older stickers, but the same willow with the new stickers would love sweet!
3. Finally got to see the Hammer bats that everyone is so talkative about. Sad to say I wasn't much impressed by these - for something priced as a premium product, the decals just didn't do it for me at all, the shapes were somewhat odd (indeed, some of them would represent a definite risk of cracking if you ask me) and the pick ups were not great for the weight.
4. The benefits of handpicking - the quality of bats on display overall was a lot higher than most retailers, with clean straight grains throughout, even for the lower end bats.
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Topic: Finally made it... (Read 3133 times)