So my 50% discounted B3 2 Stripe Gaz Cross (number 4) shape arrived today at roughly 5:45pm and with much excitement I opened up the box. I personally went down to B3 a couple of weeks ago and picked out this 400 density cleft myself, I thought I'd get that out of the way early before any unnecessary opinions of looks and grainage enters peoples minds. Its fair to say I was very impressed once I'd gotten it out of the packaging, the quality of the stickers and finishing all are top dollar. I really loved the white stickers when they first came out over Christmas and knew I'd have to have them if I ever got a B3, the ghost look really does appeal to me and I couldn't do anything else but put a white grip on it. One thing I didn't notice is that the background area of the stickers are actually a matte texture compared to the B3 logo which is shinny and smooth.
The reason why I picked this shape is down to a number of reasons, firstly I felt it picked up the best out of the demo bats B3 had in their showroom. I did have a good five minutes deciding which shape to pick before eventually settling on the Gaz Cross, the options were the Trott, original TCK and Gaz Cross. The Trott went quite quickly as it just felt too heavy to wield but it was tough to pick when it came to the Cross and TKC, both had tremendous pick-up and feel in the hands. The deciding factors were that the Cross had a slightly lower middle, thicker toe and thicker shoulders, all of which made it my choice. The Gaz Cross shape is a mid to low middle with some slight scooping in the back, its edges are relatively thick with maybe a slight hint of an off-set edge (you can judge for yourself). There isn't much of a bow to the bat but one picture seems to suggest that there is slight hint of a one. With the sweet spot being low I hope this proves to be the right shape for types of pitches I play on, these tned to be slow northern decks without much pace or bounce.
Coming back to the bat itself, here are its specs;
Model - Gaz Cross (number 4 shape)
Grade - 2 Stripe
Bat Length - SH
Weight - Yet to be weighed but should be around 2lb10oz
Spine Height - around 65mm
Edge Height - between 37-38mm
Scooping - medium
Stickers - All White
Handle Type - Semi-oval
So this cleft was picked by myself when I was at the B3 factory a couple of weeks ago. It was fair to say that pretty much all the light'sh 2 stripe clefts had gone but I found two which I liked the look of. One was the bat you see before you today and the other was a very similar cleft however the other one weighed in at 410 and had the heartwood on the right-handers outside edge (I would have preferred it there tbh). Both had similar amount of grains but I decided on the lighter one as I knew it would mean my bat would pick-up and feel something like the demo bat I had been playing with earlier. This cleft has about 10 grains, some heartwood on the right-handers inside edge and some slight staining but overall I think I've picked a cracker of a two stripe.
So after wafting the bat around (with and without gloves on) I really love the feel of this when playing cover drives and back foot shots and this is down to the lightness of the bat and slight scooping in the back. I have also bounced a slightly used ball and it goes well off the face with no knocking in and sounds good off the mallet. I purchased this bat only with a toe guard on, my days (although very short lived) of shoe goo'ing bats is over as I could never get the quality and looks how I wanted. This means I still need to oil, knock-in and scuff sheet the bat, all of which I'm happy to do and to be honest I'd much rather do it myself as I'd have a personal guarantee that I've done all I can to help protect the bat. On the subject of knocking in even when the bats are 'ready pressed' I believe they still need time spent on them before a game. This believe is justified when I decided to lightly tap the corners of the toe, I quickly found they had compressed indicating that time needs spent on vulnerable areas.
Like I've already stated I'm more than happy with the finishing of the wood and quality of the stickers and grip, I even like the finishing touches like where they have added a colour matching B3 sticker on the top of the handle and the use of white tape to attach the grip the the bat all of which finish the look nicely. I am interested as to why they have applied a 'Bespoke' sticker to the face as the shape itself is a one off their Custom range but I'm not bothered at all about that.
The bat arrived safely however it didn't arrive completely unscathed, I found a little ding in the spine towards the bottom end and a one on the side (see photos). The bat was wrapped in a plastic bag and then slid into a cardboard sleeve and finally that was put into a box. I seem to recall the use of bubble wrap now being used in packaging but there was none present for my bat. Not to say that a thin layer of bubble wrap would have prevented this damage but you never know.
Overall I'm really happy with my 50% discount purchase and really happy with the shape I've chosen. If I have one piece of advice for anyone wanting a B3 its this, try and get to their factory and try the bats out if they have demo versions, speak to the guys like Streaky and Tom as they will guide you down the right path and when the time comes you'll be able to pick the cleft you want to have. All thats left to do is to get this beauty ready for this season and fingers crossed it'll try to go as far as making me into a somewhat better player. If I've missed anything then just point it out or feel free to ask questions. I'll get the weight updated later in the week.
I hope you enjoy the pics.
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Topic: B3 2 Stripe 'Gaz Cross' Number 4 Shape (Read 11199 times)