Hi guys, just another bat story.
I saw this posted up on the eBay bargains thread, and just couldn't resist!
As you can see, it was quite a disappointment. If I had spent £300 on this, I would have sent it straight back. For something that is top of the range, you really don't expect any large areas of marbling or blemishes. It looks alright for a £160 bat, but if I paid £200, I would have been sitting on the fence. It also had some dinks on it from storage, which was a little annoying. If it had looked a stunner but had dinks, I wouldn't have minded as I would have definitely kept it and that would have happened anyways from carrying it about!
I decided to give it a chance, afterall, not everyday you get a top of the range bat for near half price, so I gave it bit of knocking, and it is a pretty firm pressing, not too dissimilar to GM. (Not a bad thing) It seemed to respond alright, but nothing out of the ordinary to start with, and it slowly came to life as I knocked a little more above the swell. So I decided to keep it, and to take off the scuff, as I wanted to round the edges properly. After a sanding, a little bit of white spirit, some fine sanding and oiling, it now looks much nicer!
And a lovely oval handle, feels really nice in the hands. Up there with the oval handles from Hunts, Red Ink and Screaming Cat.
As you can see, the stickers look lovely, and the finish of the bat is decent, but obviously with the bat being on the shelves at Lords, it's hard to say what it would have been like straight from Chase, but I'd imagine it would have been good. I've actually come to quite like that large area of marbling, I guess it just gives the bat a bit of life! It is still a little disappointing to be on a top end bat, but I guess it was discounted. Also, there's a slight tear in the sticker at the toe, just under the R, which may have been done in storage
Onto the specs, it says 2.9 on the handle, and I couldn't find my scales to begin with, so just assumed it was 2.9. I thought the pick up was good for a 2.9 low middled bat, and it felt really nicely balanced, as did King Pair. Actually found out it was 2lb 10.5oz when I finally found my scales, which tells you how well balanced the bat is. The handle is quite thick, and a nice feeling oval, which probably aids in the balance. Also, quite happy that it's a little heavier than what it says, as I tend to use bats around the 2.10-2.12 region, so this was a welcome discovery for me, although it would have probably been an unwelcome one for many others!
Now onto the concaving, as you can see, there isn't much concaving at all from the toe up shot, but there's just a touch more as you go further up towards the shoulder. (There really isn't much at all though) This is pretty much the same as what happens in the Bubble, and I'd imagine it helps extend the sweetspot lower down the blade. I'm not sure if this was part of the thought behind the design, as it may well have just been the way this particular one was made! The reasonably small amount of concaving was a nice surprise, as I actually expected a little more concaving, as the description of the FLC read something along the lines of 'scooped flanks' which helped aid pick up and keep the weight down. Also, it does look like the bat has been shaped, at least partly, by CNC, as it has the lines across the back which suggest this.
Slight tangent:Andy Norbs, the ex-batmaker at SAF, used to talk about a C-V profile, which meant that the bottom part of the blade is concaved, while the top part is convex, which helps aid the pick up. This Chase is the opposite, and while it picks up nicely, the Bubble Star I had was pretty bottom heavy! I won't be surprised if we see more of this kind of concaving occuring in future designs, as folk seek to pack as much wood as they can in the hitting zone while keeping the weight down. B3 had a bespoke Crown bat which had the toe area concaved, the middle area non-concaved and the area near the shoulders concaved. It isn't too dissimilar to the idea that was behind the Menace I feel, and may very well be something which becomes very common in the near future. It isn't something massively new either, I think that Stuart Surridge had a bat out which had weight removed at the toe and at the splice, as did Symonds Tusker and many others I'm sure, it's just a different way of doing it, which appeals to the modern market. Heck, I reckon a lot of bat makers do it, but just hardly market it, the only one that I can think of who mentions it is Rob Pack, who concaves differently throughout the blade of a bat to keep the balance right for that specific piece of willow!
Oh, and as for my views on concaving, I feel that if you have none, it just creates a more stable hitting area, so that the bat feels more substantial upon contact with the ball. You get some amazing bats which are heavily concaved, and some convex which are planky. All down to the pressing of the blade, preparation, the quality of the willow and handle, and also the amount you use the bat.
Mind you, the bat I'm currently using is the B&S which was obtained through one of the kitbag competitions on here a while back, and it is ridiculous. It is a convex profile, and I've only used it twice, but it has been properly oiled and knocked in by myself, and feels like it may be the best bat I've used yet! Right up there with my Laver and a REALLY bottom heavy Blue Room I've used.
Tangent over:All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how the bat looks now, and hopefully it will turn out to be a performer. Only time and a good knocking in process will tell though, but I'm almost certain it won't be a plank! From the lovely balance, pleasing profile shape and the handle shape, to the classy stickers and the angled toe, all these things make me give this bat a stamp of approval.
(If only it had the same looks as the one Soulman got...
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Topic: Chase FLC from the Lord's Sale (Read 13887 times)