I have a Redback and live around the corner of the Newbery store.
In my opnion, for what it is worth.
Newbery are considered the best "mass manufacturered" english bats and certainly give a fantastic finish.
But saying that some of the general bats you find from them are fairly average as will happen with every bat manufacturer that produce a large number of bats.
There is only so many good clefts you get out of an order.
However what they do with a good cleft i have to say is spectacular in some cases.
I have tapped some of their pro bats and they are quite simply rockets and are finished beutifully.
I personally have a Redback as my match bat and i am very happy with it. I dont have an LE, but in hindsight would have spent that little bit more for one. If they are better than what i have then i think they are exceptional value.
My feeling is that you unless you are a good pro, or willing to spend HUGE amounts of money then you will have more chance to get a great bat from say the Redbacks and SAFs than one of the larger manufacturers as their best goes straight to the pros,
UNLESS you have contacts that can get their hands on the good stuff ( and everyone say they know so and so)
Forum members on here have got hold of what looks like beuties of Newberys and If i liked heavy bats,i would have had one of the Newbery Sachins by know. A friend has two or three and those ones have massive performance.
Or you can spend 350 quid or something to get a newbery pro, which will generally be a lot better than the average bear
I personally would not hesitate one second in recommending gary to make you a bat.
I have not read a bad review. You might have read before but i have one custom and then Gary sold me something he had mended as a spare bat as i had broken all my bats last year.
The refurb was literally in my top two bats every and would find the boundary effortlessly from my mistimed swipes. As a result i used it all season as a match bat whilst "warming up" the custom for this year.
If the custom is three quarters as good as the "broken bat" then it will be very good indeed plus they are significantly cheaper.
He gives good customer service, but be quick something tells me he will be becoming increasingly busy!
Summary
The Keelys at Newbery are the best batmakers, but chances of getting their best bats is low, unless you have contacts and a big bank balance. I think they make better big bats like the Sachin profile. THeir pro bats are great , but middle i feel is high if you dont play on covered pitches and the Thruxton and bomber are not a "brilliant" bat in Newberry terms. But This is Newbery. When they are not great i feel Newberys are a bit dead/hard
Redback
Gary is a well respected and increasingly acknowledged batmaker who give you the option of custom making your bat.
I think he offers better contemporay lighter bats i.e. a mix of traditional and modern profiles, gets hold of good willow and have never heard a bad report on his bats.
My feeling is that you stand a better chance of a Standard redback being better than a standard off the shelf compnay and offer excellent value for money.
Author
Topic: Which bat ? (Read 11279 times)