BBC Reviews: 9-10-9 blade

I am posting this review as it discusses a newly modified blade by Charlie that has some similarities to the 9-10-9 blade. < ="text/"> p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

I have recently been playing with a Quad Trip ++ produced by Blades By Charlie. Charlie is a master craftsman who takes pride in each paddle he produces. He has been making innovative, quality blades for over 40 years. I am an offensive player and have found this paddle to be a great benefit to my game. This blade has four layers of instrument grade cypress with 3 layers of nano carbon. The result is a solid, responsive, powerful blade that also has great touch and feel for the ball. I am using Evolution ELS rubber (2.1 FH and 1.9 BH).

This blade has a very large sweet spot and produces powerful shots, in addition to well controlled spin. When playing against choppers, I find that I am able to precisely place shots and counter-attack when the opportunity presents itself. When hitting from well back from the table, I am able to hit topspin shots that accelerate off the paddle and force my opponent into a defensive position. As a final added benefit, there is a distinctive sound when the ball is hit well. I am having fun as I continue to discover the improvements to my game that are possible using this paddle. 

Yummy. But I can see you already abandoned 9-10-9 in favor of some other blades. Traitor! 

the_theologian wrote: mhnh007 wrote: Check the handle.  I think Attack 1 has a much longer handle (according to the diagram anyway).   oh, hmm, the handle is about 103mm... guess it's a hybrid

Sound like it's attack 2.  Mine is ~159x149, and the Handle is ~101mm (it's hard to measure the exact length LOL).

Check the handle.  I think Attack 1 has a much longer handle (according to the diagram anyway).

mhnh007 wrote: What shape type is this 9-10-9?  Is it attack1, attack2 or something else?

What shape type is this 9-10-9?  Is it attack1, attack2 or something else?

the_theologian wrote: Carryboy wrote: the_theologian I can understand that. My Tricarbon has a handle just like that, same shape and I find it to be some comfy with a nice wide thumb rest. What do you think of it??   man I love the handle. prior to discovering it, my favorite handle was on the burn off- flared, and prior to that, i was debating if i needed to go to a straight handle. i have wide palms and on most flared handles, the lowermost flared portion ergonomically clashes with my hand, especially when rotating from forehand to backhand.   this handle is my favorite

Indeed Charlie makes really good and comfortable handles - my palm is also relatively large, I am 6'1" ... - and handles on his 9-10-9 and Ultima series blades are perfect for me.

I add a very thin layer of soft thin grip tape (Wilson Overgrip Pro Soft) to avoid slipping and the result is great.

the_theologian I can understand that. My Tricarbon has a handle just like that, same shape and I find it to be quite comfy with a nice wide thumb rest. What do you think of it??

Edited by Carryboy - 03/16/2012 at 2:44pm

Ugh!!

Can I make you an offer on that 9-10-9 please!!!!!!! Better still name your price!!! Really a nice blade

JimT wrote: Blade: 9-10-9 (name is given presumably because the thickness of the cypress plies is 9, 10 and 9 hundredth of an inch (90, 100, and 90 thou, to be exotic). Weight: 90 g (plus-minus 1 g) Here come the pics:

Just wanted to state that I am the proud owner of this very blade reviewed by JimT a little over 2 years ago. Furthermore, it is the greatest blade of all time. . I personally refer to it as, "The blade of blades."

Strangely, last night I weighed it, and it came in at 87.4 grams.... ... maybe it's burned off some calories since it was created?

As you may have noticed in other threads, I like this blade so much, I'm having Charlie make a duplicate

despoticwalnut wrote: I bought a 9-10-9 off a tester from this site and received it this Monday. It certainly is much thicker and more solid than any other blades I've tried, but I love it. At first I was doing great, although that was probably the honeymoon phase. I soon had trouble controlling it with IQUL 35 2.2 on it so I tried my renanos bright hard and found it much easier, most likely due to the more predictable nature of the harder sponge. I'm picking up a couple chinese rubbers a friend sent me from the post office tomorrow to try out and see if I like them. It could just be that I prefer harder sponge than the 35, but at the moment I don't have the resources to find out yet, but soon I'll get it. As an amateur review of this blade, it is very excellent and I don't think I'll be needing to try any other blades anytime soon. The rest has been covered more thoroughly and with more experience by previous posters.

Saw you selling the blade. Turned out a bit too fast for you, maybe? Korbel with Srivers sounds like a slightly slower and controlled combo, but you could put some controlling rubbers on 9-10-9 and use it that way.

One thing that sometimes makes me play Nexy Color instead of 9-10-9 is that NC is a bit more flexible and "hugs" the ball more. So for the players who prefer a flatter game with blocking and hitting and very nice short game control, 9-10-9 is just the ticket. I loved it with short pips on BH.

jcdi wrote: @JimT : Thank you for the tip. Outlaw works much better on 9-10-9 than anything else I've tried so far. It's low throw, fast without being a speed demon though. I like the "crispy feel" it provides and my wallet likes the price. I took it in 2.2mm and it does the match perfectly. Closed case !

Glad you liked it. I kept it on BH there, but replaced FH rubber with LKT Rapid Speed 2.2 - for better control over table and extra spin. It's a tad slower but hits good still...

Also (about the wallet) try using Palio Macro Era 47.5 instead of Tenergy. I played with both and PME is better almost in every aspect (price included), but mostly for me the important thing is that PME is way less sensitive to the incoming spin than Tenergy. Read my review about PME and comparison to T-05 and T-64 which I just posted today.

jcdi wrote: Outlaws...? Thank you, it might be an option. I am still searching the perfect match with this blade (remember ? I'm a "perfect match" searcher....). I've tried Tenergy 64/05 = trow angle way too high. Baracuda = Even worst (sorry Charlie, we disagree on that one) , too slow, too high. (off topic : Baracuda on Mazunov is fantastic...) Xtend hs max is the best bet I've reached so far. It's low throw and fast enough, but I'm still lacking a bit of "tenergylike" power, seewhatImean ? In short, I want something like tenergy 64 but with a very low throw. Does that exist ? Would Outlaws be the way to go ?

Yes, I think you should give them a try - they are definitely lower throw than Tenergy, faster on drives and blocks, no noticeable catapult effect (not sure if you want that or not). Less spin but that's fine in my book as they react to the incoming spin much less that Tenergy. The only problem for me is fragility but I am told they have made it better with the latest "3rd" generation.

hi jcdi,  i've been thinking how could i have been so wrong?  i still play with
Baracuda, even went from 2.0 to max and play well with it.  i can stay with the Tenergy users and the sales hype on it about durability and accuracy is still incredulating to me!
i played with Gambler's Outlaw 2 years ago and loved it.. the juniors at the club all used it until splitting, delam and broken pips started on the players who trained alot.  make sure you get the upgraded newer version (added a taste of synthetic rubber (i hear).  i still have players who are economizing buy the Outlaw, but i love my Baracuda.
i may have figured out our lack of concord.  i play with 1.5 563 on my b/h and the weight for all is 153 grams.  the 9-10-9 is faster with more weight.  i just didn't tell you, sorry!   a friend borrowed my backup blade to see what the 9-10-9 is all about for himself and put Donic Coppa Platin on both sides, then  beat everyone there.  he thought it was special that he could play so well without having to get used to it. 
i have been testing an 8-9-8, to see if it plays better with both sides inverted and heavy like Tenergy.  we'll see, thanks,  charlie