Hello Custom Bats,
This is my first ever post but I have been a LONG time follower of this forum. I check it almost every day but have never posted on any online message board before and for some reason, perhaps uncertainty, never signed up.
Despite this I have really benefited from the knowledge and trade found on here. Three years ago (about a year into my addiction to the forum) I followed a train of good reviews and friendly posts to buy my first small brand bat, in the form of a
San Andreas Fault, Fabrica. I saw that Andy was interested in the engineering behind bat performance and had a lot of really interesting things to say about what a 'middle' actually is and how concaving might not be a great thing. At the time most of the desirable bats posted on here were heavily concaved (and, as a sidenote, there seemed to be a lot more 12+ grain bats around). It has been fascinating following the development of bat making knowledge on here and seeing how a degree of informed consensus can be reached on something I have always been obsessed with but can sometimes feel like a frustratingly vague business. Thanks for all the help.
So now the Saf has run its course and I am looking to find something really special that puts all the knowledge the forum has provided to good use.
The Saf was exactly the profile I wanted at the time (too high a middle in hindsight) and a lovely bat, but it was never an absolute corker. It was pressed to last and I am grateful for the longevity of it, but it never quite opened up and was a bit slim for its weight. I play cricket at university and in a more casual London league so I see a lot of bats. Over the last season I have been fortunate enough to net with the occasional 'corker'. I am on a quest to get one of my own.
I know that £300 is an awful lot for a bat and I have been reading this forum for long enough to know that many people would advise "Three GM 505s". But as well as playing with the odd beauty I have had a hit with a lot of really lackluster big name bats and I really don't want to risk playing with one. Cricket is a huge part of my life and I want something special.
Here is the main issue I am facing: Should I give
H4L or
B&S or one of the other fantastic smaller brands a custom brief for £300? Looking at
Paul Aldred's work a lot. I have seriously been enjoying his videos.
Or, should I spend the £300 on a
Salix, Newbery, Mongoose or M&H. These are the brands that make the aforementioned corkers that the Blues play with (I know some are sponsored). If you were to go for a top of the range bat by one of these brands, which one would it be?
Will that extra £60 above the boutique brand's top grade help? Just to be clear, I have no particular desire for a radical offset edge profile or counterweight balancing that would warrant a custom profile. I just want a special piece of willow (something big and pretty) shaped by someone talented that weighs 2.8/9 and picks up nicely (don't we all?
)
As you can probably tell my mind is a bit overloaded with all the options and bat theory. Any help would be seriously appreciated. In return I promise to have whatever bat I finally manage to settle on photographed and on the forum as soon as it arrives and review it with some comparisons to teammate's.
I will upload a few pictures of the SAF tomorrow, just for old time's sake.
Thanks for your patience.
Author
Topic: A thank you to the forum and an appeal for advice. My £300 bat quest. (Read 2200 times)