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[gerhard303]

Gents,

I came across a current deal on Willowizard's website: trade in your old bat and get $100 off a new Willowizard. It's an interesting concept, but interstate shipping costs (return within Australia) could cost about $40. Their premium bat (which is probably the only one I would opt for) is still beyond my budget. That said, it's a pretty decent deal and I thought it'd be worth asking the forum about the brand.

http://www.willowizard.com/

I've heard of Willowizard bats but have never seen one nor have I heard anything re: performance, quality etc. From what little I have learnt: the Wand Pro and Limited Edition Pro are imported (and/or finished off in the Willowizard workshop) and only the Players Reserve (custom) is fully hand made (and pressed?) in the Willowizard workshop. IMO Willowizard's stickers/branding seem to be among the best of the Australian made bats.

Does anyone have an opinion or experience of Willowizard? How do their off-the-shelf profiles compare to other bats?

[gerhard303]

Admin: I should've put this in Custom Companies. Would you mind relocating this post/thread?
Cheers!

[tugga]

Check your PM.

WilloWizard bats that I've seen all seem to be fairly chunky edged, decent bows and a bit of concaving. It's pretty much a decent shape without anything too strange going on. I think the bottom of the line bat is made in India, but not sure if this has changed. Top line ones are pressed in England.

[tugga]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200279818227231&set=pb.1506736203.-2207520000.1409987069.&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-frc3%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F600264_10200279818227231_498928380_n.jpg%3Foh%3D12233b319885471a91f3d908d71833a7%26oe%3D549E1D11%26__gda__%3D1419888494_56e83b21fe5ddbf92ce320e2bfaedea0&size=960%2C720

Their go to shape I reckon.

[gerhard303]

Tugga PMed me some useful info about Willowizard and has given me permission to copy it to this thread [Cheers, Tugga]:

Messaged Brad (WilloWizard) last year, he gets his clefts pressed and handled in England by Tim Keeley, the fella behind the Newbery production line. Brings them back here and shapes and finishes them. So should be decent quality. He's down for making most shapes though. I'm looking to have him take a bit of weight off my Fisher soon.

The lower grade ones are made in India by Champ? There's a past thread on this actually, he's a forum member I think, albeit only posted a couple of times.

[Rowan]

Honestly you can do better for you're money
have a chat to Lachlan Dinger at Dingbat Sports, 100% australian made in melbourne and are crackers.

[tugga]

Just had a quick read up on Dingbat Sports, had never heard of them before. Have you used them? Seems to be a fairly new company, they're not cheap either

[gerhard303]

Honestly you can do better for you're money
have a chat to Lachlan Dinger at Dingbat Sports, 100% australian made in melbourne and are crackers.

Cheers for the tip - I don't know much about the Dingbat bats. Would you mind posting some pics of yours and sharing some info?

[BigBlueMachine]

Lad at my club uses a Dingbat. I've had a look and feel and it looks good. Not had a hit with it but the lad reckons its great. I was never impressed with the stickers but they've had a redesign this year and look a lot better. Interestingly when my mate got the bat Lachlan said he might as well get a lower grade for cheaper as the performance was no different. From all accounts Lachlan knows what he's doing. For example if you take your bat to GCCC to be refurbed it's not GCCC that refurb it.

[gerhard303]

It's interesting that they also have Australian willow custom bats, which is their most inexpensive model to choose from @ $330 AUD. Was the one you saw an Australian willow bat? I'd be interested to know more about how it compares to English willow.

http://www.dingbatsports.com.au/new-products/tailor-made

It appears that Dingbat's custom made service is unavailable at present - all models are sold out, which is a bit odd considering we are in the preseason. Either they are extremely popular and have significant back order of bats to make or they are suspending this service for a while. Possibly both!

[skip1973]

It's interesting that they also have Australian willow custom bats, which is their most inexpensive model to choose from @ $330 AUD. Was the one you saw an Australian willow bat? I'd be interested to know more about how it compares to English willow.

http://www.dingbatsports.com.au/new-products/tailor-made

It appears that Dingbat's custom made service is unavailable at present - all models are sold out, which is a bit odd considering we are in the preseason. Either they are extremely popular and have significant back order of bats to make or they are suspending this service for a while. Possibly both!

Or because of size they can't get willow.

[gerhard303]

Or because of size they can't get willow.

Very good point. In fact, I have just found their facebook page and there was this recent post (4 September) on their wall:

"New batch of clefts are due from the UK next week! If your wanting a Tailor made this season then be sure to get in touch early before they all sell! Will also be a few Charisma and Aggressor bats heading to selected retailers! #dingbat #cricketbats #madeinaustralia #handcrafted"

https://www.facebook.com/dingbatsports?fref=ts

There are also a few pictures of the Charisma and Aggressor bats, which are not listed on their website.

[gerhard303]

As the topic has broadened to include other Australian bat makers, it might be worthwhile posting a link to Tugga's review of his Fisher bat:

http://custombats.co.uk/cbforum/index.php?topic=20250.msg320691#msg320691

[BigBlueMachine]

It's interesting that they also have Australian willow custom bats, which is their most inexpensive model to choose from @ $330 AUD. Was the one you saw an Australian willow bat? I'd be interested to know more about how it compares to English willow.

http://www.dingbatsports.com.au/new-products/tailor-made

It appears that Dingbat's custom made service is unavailable at present - all models are sold out, which is a bit odd considering we are in the preseason. Either they are extremely popular and have significant back order of bats to make or they are suspending this service for a while. Possibly both!

The bat I saw was English Willow. No idea how Aussie Willow compares.

[sarg]

No idea, but I noticed a Callen bat on Aus eBay and had a look at their site, it appears they exclusively use Aussie willow.

http://www.callencricket.com.au/ABOUT-US.html