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[Chad]

If I'm honest, and it pains me to say this, big edges do kind of sell bats. Stickers also sell bats. Have a work on the stickers, and in terms of concaving, try keep it to a minimum, but remember, people are after light bats as well. You cannot possibly offer 2.8 bats with 40mm edges and minimal concaving all the time, just isn't possible. You could ask the batmaker to concave a little more lower down the bat, so it helps aid in pick up. Concaving itself only really keeps weight down, concaving it differently throughout the bat is key. If done right, then concaving isn't a bad thing, I just prefer to use medium weights (2.10-2.12) and don't really look for 40mm edges, so my bats are generally not concaved much, if at all.

Hope this helps, and good luck on the brand! You've already nailed it on the batmaker, just get some better stickers printed, work on a bit of marketing and you'll do well! Look how far Hammer and Affinity cricket have come over the past couple of years. (Or year in Affinity's case) Good stickers and marketing is what you could work on, the quality is already there!

[toenails97]

Try and get decent shoulders on the bats though as it's a put off for me seeing thin shoulders as it's a pretty vulnerable part of a bat, also thick shoulders will aid the pick up

[rhino25]

Thanks guys.  I think the big edges thing might get a people a little more interested when they only get a chance to see the bats online or in pics.  When someone gets the chance to pick the bat up, they know whether they like it or not straight away and probably don't notice the edges as much.  It's also a great 'talking' point when showing off the bat.  In regards to the stickers, I couldn't even get someone to pick a bat up without the labels. Now with labels, the bats 'suddenly' feel and look good and guys are keen to have look and hit.  The quality of the stickers is definitely something to work on though.  The ones we are using now do the job, but don't really convey quality...

So far the idea im working with is to have a low amount of concaving through a high-ish middle with a small amount of concaving at the toe and a touch at the shoulders.  With the concaving, the spine should be able to get right through to the toe and up into the shoulder.  This should hopefully give a larger playing area and extend the middle down the bat a bit...It will also mean I have not copied an existing profile (although I'd love an amplus look-alike) so it should be unique to us.

Our current bats have a fairl thin toe and shoulder. The initial reaction is they  like the feel of the bat, and the balance is nice, but a couple of comments have been made about the lack of 'meat'in the shoulders, and after using it, one guy said he would have like a bit more behind the toe/lower part of the bat.  Obviously no complaints about the middle With the spine extending through into the toe, I'm thinking this will improve the feel of the bat when a ball doesn't quite bounce as high as you think. 

[kal_m]

after using it, one guy said he would have like a bit more behind the toe/lower part of the bat.  Obviously no complaints about the middle With the spine extending through into the toe, I'm thinking this will improve the feel of the bat when a ball doesn't quite bounce as high as you think.

+1 for thick edges, no concaving and thick toe