Nittaku Violin

This is my third blade and to be honest, I'm a bit disappointed. The quality is top notch - no doubt about it, but the racket is pretty slow. I switched from a Primorac (classic 15 years old hungarian made blade from a very nice batch of wood) and the Violine is slower. You can tell immediately - I tested the two blades with exact same rubber - Yasaka Rakza 7 and the bounce was higher and faster on the Primorac. Also it is stiffer and harder. In my opinion Violin must be labeled ALL+ or even ALL, not OFF-. That being said, the blade is very consistent and the control is awesome. I'm disappointed because the Primorac is a better blade (for me) and it costs trice as cheap. Maybe I've come across a good batch with the Primorac or something but that's the reality of it. Nittaku Violine is a very well made blade with awesome control but it is overpriced, hyped and slow.

The Nittaku Violin is an extremely high quality 5 Ply blade that I would rate in the All+/Off- category. An amazing blade for developing players, it has great feel and control. It's Ply composition is fairly unique with the blade feeling harder yet very flexible compared to your standard Limba 5 Ply wood. It's great for looping and close to the table play. Not quite as fast or good at blocking as the Acoustic but the control and feel is the best. As a new player to the sport of table tennis I used this and the Yasaka Sweden Extra as my main blades along with Mark V rubbers. A very high quality All Around wood blade by Nittaku. Recommended.

Despite its reputation and price, it's a pretty mediocre racket. It's also relatively slow. Nittaku also has a number of much better rackets, even in clear woods.

Build quality is as expected top notch. Comparing with nittaku acoustic and barwell, with same rubber and same blade weight 88g. Speed: Barwell >acoustic >violin# Control: acoustic >violin >barwell # Flex : acoustic >violin >barwell # Blocking: barwell >acoustic >violin # Agressive topspin: acoustic >barwell >violin # Arc: acoustic >violin >barwell (all similar)# Best overall performance : Acoustic >barwell >violin down by couple of notch. # Acoustic and barwell are very close on performance and play, has medium feel and feel very alive on all strokes dwell and superior catch is a instant feel when playing Agressive. Violin is not the same, it is slower by couple of notch the feel is soft and is less Agressive than other two. It's for all round play with high spin. Still highly recommended .

This blade is simply stunning! It almost feels like part of your hand when you use it! I've tried several rubbers to see which ones go best with it and have settled on Xiom Vega Elite max on the forehand and Friendship Geospin Tacky max on the reverse. However the Geospin works great as a f/h as well. I play an alround attacking game and this bat loops, blocks and counter hits with ease. I've had to prise it away from other players at my club as they wanted to keep it! Worked great with Friendship 802 short pips on b/h as well. Great for blocking and driving. Looping with the short pips was hard work for me though not impossible. But this is supposed to make things easier right? So I'm back to the Geospin. Found Tenergy 80 didn't suit me or the blade (one or the other anyway!) But other people who tried it while it was on the Violin liked it so guess it was me! Don't be fooled into thinking this is a slow blade just because its all wood. You put max Tensor style rubbers on this and it comes alive; too lively for me with the Tenergy 80! But any blade can be tamed with the correct rubber for the playing style. I can only compare it to the other blades I've tried recently and in the past. Butterfly Viscaria owned by another player at the club: very heavy but nice to use. Not as fast as I expected. 1976 Butterfly Surbek Hinoki. I thought this was a fast blade when I was 17 but it feels a bit slow these days. The Sriver still works fine and plenty sticky too! Two Stiga A/R woods. One from 1975 the other a modern version. Slow in comparison to the violin but play ok. Ok so the Violin is expensive, but if I lost it I'd buy another immediately!