Hello,

I have a question which I really hope you will be able to answer, or at least point me into the right direction.

I've recently started playing table tennis at the local club and I really enjoy it.

I have bought a pre-made Stiga Bat (Stiga 5 Star Response) and I think at the moment it is the perfect bat for me. It is super easy to control, it is really predictable and there is almost no catapult effect on it, so it outputs whatever you put in to it, which I believe is perfect for the beginner. The it is also very balanced weight wise for me. The total weight is only 160 gram.

I know how everyone feels about the pre-made bats, but please bare with me.

So after reading countless threads on every table tennis forum, spending weeks of research I decided to build a custom beginners bat. I started by trying to find out any information on my current bat, that I enjoy a lot, to give me a starting point, so I can build something really close to what I currently have and then build upon it as I progress. But, alas, I couldn't find any useful information about the blade nor the rubber that was used in production of this pre-made bat.

All I know are the following details:

Blade: very light, all wood, 5 ply blade with WRB tech (stiga allround WRB?)

Rubber: Stiga S5 (ITTF 68-016) don't know any spec of it, don't know if it's heavy/light, soft/hard e.t.c., my best guess it something close to STIGA J.M.S. Evo1 which I suspect was discontinued by Stiga.

So I have tried to build something on my own by reading what everyone suggests tend to suggest to the beginners, so now I have 2 custom bats at my disposal:

1. Stiga Allround Wood NCT + Yasaka Rakza 7 on both sides - very bouncy/catapulty/fast, impossible to control as a beginner

2. Stiga Allround Wood NCT + Yasaka Mark 5 on both sides - very close to my pre-made bat, but 20 gram heavier, balance is a slightly worse, still a bit too fast and catapulty, I think I still need to have practice for at least a year with my current bat, before I can use something like bat number 2

So my original question remains does anyone know the specs of the blade/rubber for the pre-made bat that I have, or at least something which would be closer to it than the bat number 2. Or does anyone here works or knows someone who works for Stiga Sports and can give me the information I seek?

I know this might be a silly question, but it does keep me awake at night, as I would like to know my current starting point as in:

1. What blade do I feel comfortable with right now?

2. Is it and offensive or all-round blade?

3. Do I like soft or hard rubbers?

All I know is that at the moment (4 weeks in or so) I like lighter, balanced setups with not too fast rubbers, that offer a lot of feel and control, but still allow for a couple of attack once in a while.

Any suggestions and advice are welcome.

Kind Regards,

Vladimir