airblade 900 again...

[ARCHANGEL]

My racket had "Taiwan" stamped (blurry) on the bottom of the handle, whereas all of the other recent Airblades I have seen were made in China.Which one is the true? or the best?

[Yogi]

Are u sure abt the stamp?

mine only hasa sticker kind of thing which says Made in China.

I dont think u have to worry abt it as most good rackets are made in taiwan too.

victor has a factory there and forza makes it rackets through hi qua and so many other brands make it there.

So i guess u should not worry abt it.

probably u should not string it at 26Lbs.

To make sure that u get a good life out of the racket string it at 22lbs

Hope this helps

[Mag]

The 900 takes much more than 22lbs.

[Brett]

Archangel, I found the exact same, blurry "made in Taiwan" mark on my new AB 900 which I received two weeks ago directly from Carlton - all of the other Carltons I have seen have been marked "made in China," including a friend's seven-month old AB 900. When I contacted Carlton (actually the US offices of Carlton's parent company Dunlop Slazenger Group) in March, they informed me that they have been out of stock on the AB 900 for several months this spring. I'm guessing that they very recently stopped contracting with the Chinese factory because of quality control problems (see numerous other postings about breaking and defective Carlton racquets on this forum) and have hired another factory in Taiwan to build their racquets for them instead. This is also consistant with the fact that my racquet is noticeably more head heavy than my friend's Chinese-made AB 900 by about 1.1cm. If my guess is correct, this change of facilities should hopefully cure the problems that other Carlton owners have experienced in the past.

[Pete]

Dear Mag,

It is true. I string my AB 900 to 25 lbs with Gosen Roots!

Feels great.

Pete

[Pete]

Dear Brett,

The first AB 900 I got was made in Taiwan. The second and third AB 900 was made in China. I also have a Ramausen, AB 1000 and AB 2000, which are also made in China. Trust me, I don't have any problem.

I do notice that the workmanship on the Made in China AB 900s are as good as the Taiwanese made AB 900. Specifically, the holes are not drilled straight! However, nothing has happened so far.

So why do Carlton experience so much problem with production contracted out to Mainland China? My guess is Carlton contracted out to a Mainland's Stated Owned Enterprise (SOE). SOEs are notoriously famous for inefficiency and poor management, afterall it is owned by the government. Carlton should have contracted out production to foreign owned factory (preferably Taiwanese owned or Hong Konger owned) in Mainland China.

Pete

[Jeff]

my AB900 is made in china and i have no problems with durability at all. but recently ive noticed near one of the holes a crack. im really not sure if its a line from the graphite or the crack though. it starts at the hole and extends about 1 or 2 centimeters. im going to go get it checked soon

[ARCHANGEL]

Thank you pete for your info 'bout Tad's:) at vancouver area.
i've got from him last week an it's made from taiwan, and after all finally i can get the racket i've dreamed about:) lot's power and lot's smashing :)
about this racket i just curios between both of them because the difference (for playing) and for durability:)
Thank you very much:)

[Mag]

Hmmm... what an unexpected turn of events! You're sure about the difference in balance? It's not attributable to different grips or string or something? 11 mm is a LOT in terms of difference in balance... The racquets would have completely different characteristics! I've got to check which version I have. I think it's the China version, though.

Anyway, if I buy a new one as a backup for my beloved 900 I could happen to get the Taiwanese version and it will feel completely different? Duh! Couldn't they just have put out a new version instead? Like Airblade 900X or whatever? Somebody needs to teach Carlton about maintaining good consumer relations...

[Brett]

Mag, I'm sure about the balance, +- 1-2 mm. My friend had Ashaway Microlegend on his racquet, so there might be a gram or so of difference in the weight of the strings, but I would not imagine that would have made that much of a disparity in balance. Also, as of the time that we did the comparison, neither racquet had an overgrip and gave all appearances of being identical aside from the strings. If Carlton is using a new factory, it would likely produce a few discrepancies with the Chinese-made Carltons for the first several batches.

The finish quality on my Taiwanese racquet is better than on the Chinese-made AB 600 Ti that I formerly had - very close to the finish quality on an average Yonex.

[Mag]

So how does it play, compared to your friend's Chinese 900?

[Brett]

It has more power on both clears and smashes but some of that could be the result of different string tensions - he keeps his strung at about 17-19 lbs and my preference would be for 22-24 lbs. I'm not sure about control, though. I have not been too pleased yet with the control on this racquet, although I recognize that (a) replacing the strings will likely help and (b) control shots take the most time to adapt to when using a new racquet. With my old Yonex I would say that I was able to make drop shots that were either decent shots or outright winners at least 50-60% of the time. With the AB 900, my drop shots are hitting the net or popping up too high at least 60-70% of the time. The problem seems to be with accuracy on the vertical plane rather than the horizontal plane. It also seems like Carlton's factory strings have lost a few pounds of tension on my racquet during the four times I have used it.

Mag, I know I have asked you what strings you use on your Carltons, but perhaps you could tell me what you would do in my situation as far as restringing. I play almost exclusively with nylon shuttles and my game is more of a power-oriented game, but I am trying to add more drop shots and drives to mix things up. I am probably leaning a bit more toward a control enhancing than power enhancing string. I smash pretty hard but have never broken a string and have only restrung my Cab 8300 once in the 15 months I've owned that racquet from loss of tension, using BG-65 on both sets of string. I also have only about three more weeks left of badminton (no tournaments) and then my two leagues are done for the season and I will not play again until early-mid September. The two local stringers have in stock BG-65 and Ashaway Microlegend. I also have the two packs of Rally 22-Ti and the Babolat Aeroflex. Would you go with one of those four types of string or mail order a different set, such as BG-66, BG-80 or maybe one of the Gosen strings? Would you restring it now, or wait until September to avoid potential tension loss while the racquet sits unused over the summer? Thanks a lot for your help.

[Mag]

I don't know if it's any comfort to you, but I had a similar experience regarding control shots with my 900. Hairpins were too high, sliced drops hitting the net or going out on the sides, etc. It improved most of my other strokes, though, so I didn't mind too much. Now, 7 weeks after I got it, I feel I the control areas of my game are up to par again. I suspect this has forced me to hone my drop skills a little extra... which has raised the over-all level of my game quite a bit. I hope you will experience the same!
I am still extremely happy with this racquet. A proof of that is that whenever I pick up one of my backups (the MP100, the AB1000 or the Aerogear 1000FX) I can't wait to switch back to the 900 again!

As to stringing, I'm not sure if I can give you any good advice, but I'll try! Mind you, I'm a feather player so I probably wear out my strings much faster than you. I've had my 900 restrung twice in the seven weeks I've had it... (well, the factory strings broke real after a couple of days, and now I restrung it last week for it to be in top shape for an upcoming tournament this weekend)

While yielding to occasional experiments, such as trying out the BG68-Ti or the Rally22-Ti, I always return to the "classics": BG80 and BG65. In my view some Ti strings offer interesting characteristics, such as good durability and possibly an increase in power, but they lack in control. As has been discussed here before, the Ti coating makes the string a bit "slippery" which will make sliced shots very hard to control for instance.

Anyway, enough babbling! What I would do if I were you is this:
Don't worry about tomorrow! Cut those factory strings! Get your 900 restrung with BG65 today, and have fun smacking the *&%# out of that bird those last three weeks of the season!

:)

[Brett]

Thanks a lot Mag. I appreciate your help. Good luck in your tournament this weekend!