I picked this up up from a fellow BR user (photo in profile). The span would have been almost perfect if he didn't use a drop ring finger... so I plugged it up and and redrilled it using the exact same layout. On the drillers clock, the letter E was at 12:00 and the pin was shifted right into the leverage position. A 15/16" weight hole was located on the VAL, just below my PAP. I finished the ball at 1000 grit abralon and put a light polish on it with Ebonite factory finish.
I have thrown it a couple times on our 39' house shot on AMF synthetics. Usually most of my "current' equipment forces me inside playing around 15 at the arrows to a break point of 5. Being almost 10 years old, I was hoping that this ball would allow me to play a little squarer to the pocket. With the current surface, it just wasn't going to happen. The ball started up VERY early and really had an incredibly smooth reaction. This ball definitely needs some head oil! It really reminded me of the visionary midnight scorcher I had previously owned.
I started moving inside to try and find a little more oil to get the ball to push down the lane. I still saw the same type of reaction, where the ball would start up very early and just roll up on the backend. The ball didn't want to cover a ton of boards, just a nice small arc. Even when I tried to really rev it up, the ball wasn't overly aggressive (it did cover a couple more boards), but still very smooth. Finally I moved inside, sliding at the ends of the left gutter, playing 24-25 at the arrows and sending the ball towards the 3 pin (similar to the line I like to play on longer sport patterns). The ball seemed to skid a little further (still very early reaction) and just rolled up to the pocket.. On high flush shots, it seemed to carry everything... If I pushed the ball out a little, it was either a flat 10 pin or a weak 7 (depending on how far)... This seemed to be the best line. I am going to try a little less surface, maybe 2000 grit abralon and some extender polish to help this ball get a little more length and a little more backend. Hopefully this will allow me to play a little squarer on the lane. Right now, this ball looks like a very nice option on longer sport patterns where you want to play deeper and not cover a ton of boards on the backend. I think it definitely has some potential...although currently it probably not my best choice for playing a typical house shot pattern.
I also have a black Omega LM sitting in the shop, fully plugged resurfaced and ready to drill. I may hold off on drilling this one until I get to experiment a little more with the blue. It anyone is interested, its for sale!
Thanks,
S^2
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I'm a great quitter. It's one of the few things I do well. I come from a long line of quitters. My father was a quitter, my grandfather was a quitter... I was raised to give up.
- George, in "The Old Man"
