OSPblades Forum Testing

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   It was quite a surprise to receive this blade in the mail few weeks ago.

OldStiga Standard Palatinus 5 ply All Wood Anatomic (Ulf “Tickan” Carlsson style) handle
Blade weighs 86.5g.

First Impression:

The craftsmanship and finishing is just nice. Not overly conspicuous and it doesn’t have any attention-seeking look with sophisticated graphics or multiple colors, just plain, boring and simple as one might say but to me personally, its simplicity alone already caught my full/earnest attention. Its head or face reminds me that of Clipper/All Round Evolution. The blade came already lightly sealed, it looks like it’s been sun-tanned. I could still feel that there are some minor rough edges and upon close inspection, I could see that the handle where it joins the head, seems to have a hairline gap/void, if one thinks that some Stiga blades are not well put together, well, this one is better but not as immaculate as Butterfly, Donic or Xiom or other leading brands. To me, it doesn’t really matter at all as the Limba outer plies seemed to be of the highest quality as its grains are so distinct, it’s already to me “Graphical” enough.
The Anatomic handle is as good as Stiga Clipper’s and some of my Butterfly’s, I like it as much as my Photino’s, SC’s which are thick, “meaty” and I always use these two as my Benchmark, but not the KLPSP’ & TBS’s as these two are just too thin for my liking. The “prints” on the OSP Virtuoso handle seemed to be smudged while the “maker” was printing on it, it therefore doesn’t look as good as the “Golden” color of the later batch. Again, if I paid HUGE bucks for it, I would’ve returned it for an exchange, yet this one was just 1 out of PLLSystem’s 1^st initial batch and it’s for me to test play, it doesn’t matter as most of the Stigas I came across over the years looked more awful than this.

Rubbers Info.:
FH: Joola Tango 2.0 Red, Used & with Glued Residue
BH: Haifu BW II Pre-tuned, Used, Max, I think, as there is no thickness info. on the sponge.
Overall weight of this Combo: 173.5g

Counter-hitting / Blocking:
For Flat Hitting:
Nice cracking, crispy sound yet not as loud or pronounced as my other/last/previous blades, i.e. Old SC, 91g Acoustic, TBS, KLHSp or even my favorite Photino yet louder than another of my all time favorites, Tibhar H-3-9. It feels less stiff than all the above-mentioned, but I felt that it has quite a sweet spot compared to the others but not as nice/large as H-3-9. It has the typical woody sound but with an added sweeter kind of tone unlike that of Acoustic or other pure 5 ply (Pkorbel) which I’ve tried and still own. The control is, well, just fabulous and I thought I could just go on & on and that it’s THE blade that makes me NOT thinking about…..”wooooo…I’m playing with THE blade of ALL blades and I’ve got to be careful and not hit the table by accident”. It’s just a confidence-inducing blade as far as I’m concerned. Really really put a smile on my face every time I hit or blocked.

For Blocking:
It was a breeze both FH and BH, whether active or passive but not as “instantaneous” as more expensive or famous blades like SC, Photino, TBS or even KLHSp. In a way, it reminds me of my last but seasoned 91g Acoustic with some glued DHS rubbers, not as fast as those greatest but faster than Pkorbel, AR Stellan Bengsston, AR Evolution, it felt better than YEO as good as my friend’s WCS Senso V1 w/Tibhar Nimbus Medium on BH yet slightly more confident both FH & BH almost right on par with H-3-9 with IQ 35d 2.0mm.

FH/BH Looping/Drive:
I like FH looping/smashing/Driving a lot, I was pretty happy with that versatile Pkorbel until a Photino came along and it was a pure/pleasant joy/surprise to find out that I could actually do more, as it’s more power, stable, faster yet controllable, I pretty much stopped my EJ quest for my Illusive, the ONE. How does this Virtuoso stand while comparing with Photino? Well, pretty well, I’d say, slower, dwell time longer, not as spiny yet adequate for my liking/purpose. It’s not quite there yet in the Speed/Power spectrum still I just thoroughly enjoyed what I could accomplish w/the OSP or may be even more if I could upgrade my FH rubber to, ermmm….just dunno what, when or ever as $$$$ is the issue here. This OSP V does have lots of control and nice feedback. I could in a way, do pretty much well playing fast /slow loops vs DEF opponent (Vlady, my partner likes FH/bh chopping a lot as well and he’s a good chopper too.) So loop drive/slow spiny loop are no problem there.
BH looping/drive is my most favourite way to enjoy this blade. It’s easier and more controllable than with my 84g (blade only) Photino combo set-up. The shot went slower/spiny and may be longer more often and the arc went high near the end of the table and that was a pleasant surprise, I must say…..Vlady said a few times, “WTF…I thought these BH shots you made few times were too long beyond the table..These were supposedly out?”
Just so enjoyable, reminds me the good times I had w/my 1982 Stiga AR w/ Tackiness Drive BH plus 38mm ball era long time ago, all those BH Drives went in, in and in most of the times vs my old classmate who played vs me with his old Jpen.

BH/FH Pushing:
More delicate/controllable compared to, in the speed department, the two Photino and H-3-9 set-ups, it was very noticeable esp. in the short game/flipping BH, FH. Serves were as good as H-3-9, may be with a little more control, slower and a tad spinnier. For FH/BH rallies, I was more consistent, able to stay on the table for longer time. Just so enjoyable.

Final thought/Conclusion:
Would this be my main blade from now on? Would I be feeling sorry to demote my 2 favourites, H-3-9 & Photino? Oh Yes & Nope!
Would I spend huge amount of money to acquire this? Yes, but I’d have to unload some of my gems for just this or IT.
Would my EJ Quest/days be over for good? Very likely YES, as I don’t see anything interesting out there for that equal amount of $$$$$.
Would I pass this Virtuoso on to others to have a crack at it? I don’t think so..
Would I return this Virtuoso to Laszlo, PLLSystem upon his request? Nah…Fat Chance. I’m gonna keep it for the NEXT 25 years at least. There's no way I'm gonna sell or trade this away....

Would I be playing better and better from now on? Hah….Don’t think so or Do I ever care?
All in all, IMHO, this is just a gem and to be honest, I’ve not touched other blades for 3 solid weeks…that’s really quite unusual for an EJ or now past EJ like me.
I might have said things/BS repeatedly in my so-called “Review”, If I did, please forgive OR just ignore me as English is my 3^rd language. I might come back to this thread to fix my mistakes tho’ in due course/next or future re-visits.
Once again, thanks you, PLLSystem.

Edited by tiehwen - 06/28/2010 at 8:58pm