After seeing some pics of the equipment involved in the production in that link given on page 1 I can imagine how it's not profitable to offer customization to the single consumer. It would take ages to earn back the investment and it's too time consuming for the big manufacturers ... Going back to tennis none of the main brands offer it and I'm still not sure how Bosworth does it but seems more like customizing with lead, etc rather than true customisation from the material onward. If you want a romantic picture of customisation you'd think of something akin to a samurai sword maker crafting your baddy racket .
I was wondering about custom Badminton or Tennis racket at one point too. I assume there are a lot more technology went into a racket than a Billiard Cue. Plus the material might be harder to manufacture then a cue too. Judging price from a custom cue. It is from $800usd and up to $2,000usd or even more like 4K to 6K. If there were custom rackets out there, then you will not be looking at a price that is just "a little bit more" than a factory racket. If there were custom rackets. I am pretty sure it will start from Tennis first before Badminton since there are more money from Tennis.
The Bosworth tennis looks quite interesting; I like the fact that they "fit" you for your racket by taking various bits of info from you. Not too sure about the look of the rackets though! Donnay USA tennis have started doing some form of self customisation that looks quite interesting although I don't think its the full "build your own racket". Could a reason that there isn't anything out there for badminton be because its a retail outlet driven market? The major manufacturers sell into retailers who sell onto the consumer; you couldn't do this with custom products as every racket would need to be built separately. If I could build my own I would go for: 85g - X Stiff shaft - Head Light - Isometric Head - 675mm long - Silver and Black cosmetic - No harm in dreaming!!
Hi tommygun11 (cool username!) Sounds like you may be interested in the Revelation which is produced by the Panda. You can specify the BP and weight which Sir Dink usually gets pretty near to. See these links http://www.dcbadminton.net/revelation.htm http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...-String-Tension!/page193&highlight=revelation Cheers
I dont think the Nanospeed is head light?? You would also be paying a huge premium for a mass produced product because its got the Yonex name on it?? Alpinerock: thanks for the info, I've read a bit on the Panda Power link (theres plenty to read!!); it looks like a good concept although I'm sure you will agree its not the complete customisation service? Donnay Tennis USA look like there starting to do something along the customisation route which looks really interesting.
Do you mean that weight/balance system? I suspect that's what they do at Bosworth as well as they seem experts in that area and it's much more common in tennis to modifiy with lead/weights ... The effect (of changing bp) is not much different from messing around with your grip and adding strips of athletic tape on top of your badminton frame but it's all added weight. You could call it cutomizing but it's hardly taking this frame and adding this shaft and paint it in this pattern with those colours ... You could probably do it with those that have external t-joints ( a good point you mentioned regarding retail driven btw) I don't think a dry NS9900 3U weighs 85gr; Apart from weight, NS8000 old colour would come quite close (although over time I've started to prefer the new colour) Maybe if your lucky there is one out there that is 85gr since 3U is still a weightrange after all and perhaps there are a few that didn't need to be balanced out with extra weight inside the handle (http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...ing-Tension!&p=1582538&viewfull=1#post1582538)
Even if you were to order your customized racket from "badmintonOEM" you'll need to pay for 100 pieces. Also panda power isn't a complete customisation service because all we do as the racket buy is think about what stiffness he/she wants then picks the bp/weights. Dinkalot is the one doing the customizing to make the products not us. So if you do want to make your own rackets try contacting http://www.badmintonoem.com/main.html Maybe I'll ask to see if they can make me a ultra stiff woven racket
I sent them an email just out of interest and initial quote came back asking for 1000 pieces! I guess they get emails all the time so try and scare a few away!! I think there would definately be a market in the UK for the complete customised racket designed solely by the individual...........shame no manufacturers want to make them! Surely there would be a market for it in other regions? Has anyone even attempted contacting the large manufacturers such as Yonex and Li Ning about whether they would consider making one off frames??
Hi everyone. Just joined Badminton Central - what a fantastic place! Been playing my whole life to a fairly high standard but never knew about this little gem. Was reading the above with some interest as I've always thought the technology claims made by manufacturers - 25% this and 35% that - were potentially false. I also play tennis and the claims are even more exaggerated. In my opinion, carbon, for the foreseeable future will be what rackets are made of. Adding nano-tubes, titanium, d30, aerogel, basalt etc I don't think really makes a difference - it's just a sprinkling added to the resin system during manufacture is what someone told me. For me it's all about the right specs and as Tommy Gunn says maybe manufacturers should start to look at how they manufacture and not what they manufacture.
I know of a couple of tennis manufacturers that do something of the sort. Vantage tennis and Bosworth both produce frames to your specification (within a certain range). It has to be said though, they are far from custom in that they aren't really bespoke frames - they are based on set moulds meaning that you don't have unlimited scope for customising the head shape, beam width or stiffness. Sure there are options but it isn't a completely custom treatment. I believe the weight and balance were customised with lead tape and you certainly wouldn't have any say in the construction but for a little over the asking price of most big brand off the shelf frames, Vantage wasn't a bad deal. Bosworth on the other hand charges a vast amount of money for almost the same service although it was run (up until recently) by Warren Bosworth who is something of a demi-god when it comes to racket customisation. I just cannot see it ever being feasible to produce rackets that are completely tailored to individuals. Even a minimum order of ten, which sounds like quite a lot of identical rackets to own, is far too small for manufacturers to even entertain the idea. The more we reduce the amount of customisation down from "anything goes", the more feasible the idea becomes but the less attractive the proposition is. If you can find somewhere that will do anything like the initial "anything goes" bespoke rackets in small quantities, you can certainly put my name on the list for some but I really doubt you will find anywhere. Another thing to consider is doing what Dinkalot has done (very well might I add) and design a racket that you like and that you think will be popular with others. That way, you get the benefit of having a racket that you want and although you'd need to order a large quantity, you could market and sell a lot of them, perhaps even making some money in the process. Of course, in reality it was nowhere near that easily for Dinkalot and he put an awful lot of work in to the original Panda Power racket models and continues to work hard on his latest range. My personal tastes in rackets are generally far too weird for many people to like them though.
What sort of money were Bosworth tennis charging for a "custom racket"? I don't really think adding a bit of lead tape here or there is real customisation of a frame.......more adapting an existing frame if that makes sense? I agree that I would be at the front of the queue if there was somewhere you could build your exact frame for badminton (or tennis come to mention it!) I had a look at Vantage tennis and again it looks a bit like adding lead tape here and there which doesn't really suit badminton, also only a couple of pretty boring colour options. What strange spec would you go for then?
I've just browsed around a tennis forum to refresh my memory and it seems that you can expect to pay in the region of $500 (USD) per frame. Warren Bosworth was a legend of the tennis customisation world and did work for a lot of pros so I think you were paying for the name quite a bit. The strange spec I'd go for would be extremely head heavy, extra stiff (I think about 8.0 or 7.5 on the SOTX scale) and reasonably weighty. There isn't anything that fits my requirements exactly but it seems that SOTX are bringing out something that's pretty close. As for customising rackets to those specs, it's difficult to find something light enough to customise with enough stiffness to play well.
I don't think custom rackets will ever become popular, there is a racket out there that will fit 99% of peoples taste and requirements, furthermore, peoples styles and taste in rackets requirements and specifications change all the time. So in the long run, I think it will be expensive and not cost effective with custom rackets.
The rackets that are out there to fit everyons needs are mainly sold on marketing. The majority of the frames are sold as weighing between a variance of +/- 6 grams and the shafts rarely have different flexibility ratings. You are told that a racket weighs a certain amount or has a certain flex etc but the measurements are rarely correct. That is why the pro players use their own "customised" frames with the cosmetic of a new frame. I really think somewhere where you could build your own racket to your exact spec (in theory like the top pros do with their sponsors) would really be popular! Does anyone know how much the pro players rackets differ from what the marketing tells us?
In the case of YY pro players rackets, they are handpicked out from production units to players weight & balance point preference and tagged. Hence the running production shaft number and special cone code.
Surely that is proof enough that the rackets from brands like Yonex and Li Ning sell their frames via marketing not through the actual spec of the racket? If there was something out there that would allow the general public do similar it would be fantastic. Thats the route the golf world took as 10 years ago it was only pro players who could get the manufacturers to spec their clubs to them; now everyone is designing their golf clubs to suit their own game. Does anyone think that physical attributes such as height, weight, strength etc should influence what sort of racket someone buys?
Tommygunn I think its all about personal preference and if badminton can follow golf and begin to change the way the factories pump out mass production rackets and move them into a more customised approach ensuring the price to the consumer doesn't increase markedly, then I think this can only be a good thing. Reference Yonex and Li Ning, I think players are beginning to understand the professionals don't play with off the shelf product. Look at Nathan Robertson, his racket looks like a mold Carlton used in 2006 for the airblade series that featured the ATC system. I've got to say this frustrates me slightly as all racket manufacturers are effectively hoodwinking the public.
They're not hoodwinking the public any more than the public allows themselves to be hoodwinked. I think the quality and performance of rackets as it stood 5-7 years ago is perfectly fine for 90% of players out there. What's happening now though is that companies are focusing on improved materials and various cross-sectional profiles that aren't improving racket performance as much as their marketing departments are saying them are - especially for average players. I think there's definitely a market out there for high end custom rackets - the problem is that the manufacturers are so geared up for mass production on a huge scale, they can't see how customisation would work. It would take someone to build a custom manufacturing plant from scratch for custom rackets to be a reality - it's not going to come from existing factories or companies.
I agree with you in all you say Maklike however you have to remember 99% of the consumers out there aren't as close to the sport as you and I are and as such have to believe what they're being told. Its ot just badminton, it happens across all sports sectors and more than likely non sport sectors as well.
