Hello all,
Today was one of the better day's of the year - our trip to visit Salix and HitsHard. I thoroughly enjoyed the day, as always Andrew and the team are incredibly welcoming and hospitable, and the opportunity to just talk bats with such a veteran expert is one I always relish. I've attached photos from the day, but here are just a few thoughts from our visit.
1. Andrew offered us a grade that isn't actually on the price list, but offers incredible value for money. They are Salix bats, called Factory Grade, and are highly limited in number. They are bats whihc they will fit a scuff sheet to with fibreglass edges (not dissimilar to Hammer edge sheets). They mostly looked like Grade 1 bats, just with some slight defect, usually a small mark on the back or something else very minor. The best part. A Salix bat with a £150 RRP in SH, or £65 RRP in junior!
2. Salix, and Andrew, are incredibly open and honest about their grading process. They admitted to using a planing process, which effectively straightens the grains on a cleft, which explains why pretty much all of the bats on our order had 9+ straight grains (even in the lower grades!)
3. We wanted to make sure that our HitsHard range and our Salix range were sufficiently different, and so utilised one of the advantages of handpicking. We made a request, which Andrew was happy to fulfil, that our HitsHard bats had fuller, almost domed, profiles, and slightly thinner edges than the Salix bats we picked. It just shows you another reason why we deal with bat makers when we possibly can, as we can have a product range which is tweaked to our customers needs!
4. The IJC Exclusive. The Torque range of bats usually have a slightly shorter blade, but he had a random example with a full length blade, and Andrew suggested he would be happy to make this bat an IJC exclusive going forward. We only took the one this time, but depending on response we can take this shape and replicate it if it is of interest to our customers!
5. The Pod Finite bats took an age to find - they really are incredibly limited, especially as Andrew is so fussy with his grading. Between us we literally went through every single bat in the entire work shop to find ones which we thought met the cut. We only took a small number, since they are such a high price point we felt that these few examples were the only ones worthy of meeting that price!
6. It is refreshing to see someone as passionate and nerdy about softs as Chris is! Andrew knows his softs inside out, and explained to me in great detail the reasons why each pad or glove is priced how it is. There is a real vision across the board for softs, and that's very good to see from such a classy brand.
7. We saw the bats which Vitas and Serious Cricket, also Talent, had handpicked whilst we were there - and damn they looked tasty! Just proof Andrew consistently churns out some of the best bats around!
8. Mea Culpa. I think we made an error last year not stocking Salix (and that's not just because I love visiting so much!). It is such a pleasure and a treat to have them back in our line up this year!
Finally - we took at least one bat of each shape, with all grades being covered across the entire range. This is relevant for Salix and HitsHard - I know for a fact we took 3 stunning Mojo Powers. We have bats varying from a £150RRP to a £500RRP - we really have something for everyone. We also took junior bats in sizes 4-H!
Photos will follow shortly - thought that should be enough to whet the appetite!
Paul
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Topic: IJC Salix Visit (and an IJC Exclusive!) (Read 5996 times)