A while back I was contacted by Buddy Jim about some strings. He asked if he could send me some strings out of the kindness of his heart. He simply asked for a chance to do something nice and nothing in return. he also asked for some color options that I like. For some of you that know me, you know I instantly chose red and black. I gave him my address and today the string arrived. Buddy Jim wanted to do a good deed, and I was taught that no good deed goes un-noted. So here is a review. (My first review. Let's not be to harsh.)
When I first got the packs of string, I was astounded by the colors. Red and black is normally a very mundane combination, not bright and colorful at all. But the way that Buddy Jim does it-is amazing. He threw in other colors to really bring out the red and black. He did send me a straight set of JUST red and black, and I must say, it does look bland compared to the "master mixes" made by him. I must say, if the strings play as well as they look, I will be in for a pleasant surprise. As I continued to look at the strings, another thing kind of threw me off. I was only supposed to have five or so strings, but there was an entire envelope FULL of string. I pulled one out and threw it on my Genesis. The first throw yielded less than appealing results. For one, the string is unbearably long. I'm, a guy that stands around 6'3", so I don't generally cut my strings. This batch reached up to my chin. I can honestly say that if he would cut the string about a quarter length shorter, it'd be perfect. Now I realize that cutting your own string isn't a big deal, but if he would cut the string a quarter length shorter, he could make one more string for every four he would have made otherwise. It's just a practice in efficency and a simple suggestion.
The more that I played with the string, the more I felt aware of it, it was a different feeling string that most I have played. It isn't as soft as Highlites are, but it is not rough either. This stuff feels like it will take a beating, but that will be tested in the days to come. It didn't feel complete un-natural either. It almost felt like I had picked up one of my favorite strings from years past and decided to play it. A truly magical feeling if I do say so myself. I do have a complaint about tension though. He seems to tie his strings to loose. As I played a bit, I couldn't hit a suicide on the stock string. I tried to loosen the string, thinking maybe it had become taught from a spin out that I hadn't controlled. But it was just naturally loose. Simple solution was to do a SideWinder, the string was amazing after that. I decided to experiment with more suicides.
0.o
The suicide loop open up more than any other string I have ever used. It almost feels as though you have time to get a sip of coffee or soda before you even have to worry about catching the loop. It's always there, it never gets lost in the swing. I have to say, if you are a suicide fanatic, this string will suite you well. As I moved on to more complex tricks in my arsenal, I noticed something -not odd, but intriguing-. This was that I could all of the sudden hit whips faster and more accurately than I had before. I'm not saying that it was ALL of his string doing that. But it definently had something to do with it. The more I threw at it, the more it laughed and said, "That all you got Boyo?".
All I can say is that if he could fix the tension error that occured in my batch, he would have a life long customer in myself.
Buddy Jim, I’m glad to say that you’re product get’s the “Q Stamp of Approval”.
