ok, guys. Bat has finally arrived. Seller has been generally pretty good posting apart from not sending it until late Monday, instead of the Friday as promised. Anyway, I asked him for:-
1. The lightest bat he had - he said 2'9
2. Lots of grains - he said he had a 11-12 grain bat
3. 40mm edges - he said ok
What I got:-
1. 2'6.5 ! - since my preference is 2'7 I'm not unhappy with that. I'll come onto other reasons for that later.
2. Lost count but somewhere between 14-17 grains
3. Just about 40mm edges
Pictures below:-
First thing you notice isn't really the edges but the handle. It's pretty thin, but a second grip is provided. The bat also came with some ghastly anti scuff tape on the edges, I removed it as I will have to oil and do some knocking in. The bat is pre-knocked in but needs more for best performance. What you notice from swinging the bat is the pickup is bottom heavy, hardly surprisingly given the amount of wood but it makes the bat feel a good oz or two heavier. Being a laminate bat, once I removed the anti scuff I could clearly see the join. The other giveaway is the 7 fairly wavy grains on the back and the 14 plus on the front. Looks like a grade 3/4 back and g2 on the front. The front would be a g1 but for a small knot near the bottom. A strip of heartwood is on the inside edge.
I'll add more thoughts once I've started knocking it in. Initial impression is this is one hell of a bat for the weight.