Shenzhen Ping Pong: Modified SuperCPen

It's always interesting to try innovative ideas. Recently, I have been experimenting with a SuperCPen handle for the penhold grip. As the picture shows, the handle is extremely wide (60mm).

Unfortunately, for various reasons I've been unable to get to "grips" - so to speak - with the SuperCPen grip (at least so far).

(See blog entry here for the details.)

With respect to the SuperCPen experiment, I had two paddles, a Butterfly Amultart and an Butterfly Innerforce ZLC, converted to the original 60mm wide grip. (I sent the Innerforce back a second time to be converted into SuperCPen S(small).)

I decide to reshape one of these, the Butterfly Amultart SuperCPen, back to a regular Chinese penhold handle but with a built-in or integral thumbgrip. As shown in the picture on the right, I accomplished this by removing part of the wide SuperCPen handle to accommodate the thumb. As the scale indicates, one welcome side effect is that the reshaped paddle is actually much lighter than the original handle because, despite appearances, the modified SuperCPen handle is actually lighter than the stock penhold handle.

I had initially tinkered with the idea of adding a thumbgrip for Chinese penhold by simply using a piece of wood epoxied to the stock handle.

The idea behind the thumbgrip is that it provides additional grip surface area and stability for executing reverse backhand strokes. In my opinion, it is an improvement on the standard Chinese penhold handle for those who want to use a non-traditional backhand stroke.

(See blog post here for the details.)

Here is how I hold the modified SuperCPen blade:

I use Tenergy 05 black on the forehand and Tenergy 05 FX red on the backhand.

How does it feel and play?

Well, it certainly feels pretty good in my opinion. The handle is extremely comfortable: the back of the SuperCPen is wide and flat and has a cork backing. My index finger can comfortably wrap around the front part of the handle. And the thumb has great support. The wrist can turn quite freely (nearly as freely as with a regular Chinese penhold handle). No morphological issues at all.

As to how it plays, well here is a video clip:

Link: here
Thanks to Moy Yu (practice partner on the far side of the table).