Author Topic: Balls dying...which company the worse? (Read 3082 times)

sammy the sage · « **on:** February 25, 2007, 12:55:10 AM »

Which company's balls are dying after 40-60 games?

Am talking about CURRENT equipment w/proper care.

And personal experience only...not friend of a friend garbage!

novawagonmaster · « **Reply #1 on:** February 25, 2007, 09:00:45 AM »

I will be the first to break your rules.

I only throw Lane #1, so I can only tell you that I have not had ANY balls die.

That said, LOTS of fellow league members and teammates have had problems with Ebonite equipment losing it's reaction. In fact, I have not heard any complaints lately about any other company. Only Ebonite.
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Jon (in Ohio)
CHROME WON'T GET YOU HOME!
F.O.S. Proud Saw user...see profile.

cnimsk · « **Reply #2 on:** February 25, 2007, 09:06:35 AM »

Ebonite according to this web site. I haven't but I switch bowling balls back and forth as to what I use.

Chuck

Martin710 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 25, 2007, 09:08:32 AM »

Well for me it's Ebonite. Although I don't know about their current balls because I don't buy from them anymore after what happened to my xxxcel which I bought in November 2005.That ball died after about 60 games and was discontinued by the company after about one year. Is it normal for a ball to be discontinued after such a short time or is it an admission that the ball was a mistake?

RSalas · « **Reply #4 on:** February 25, 2007, 09:26:07 AM »

quote:
ball death = operator error, its just good hygeine boys, you gotta clean those balls, especially after ya use em.

The operator also has to recognize that the ball is actually dying, and not that it isn't reacting as expected because of its use on the wrong lane conditions.

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...formerly "The Curse of Dusty," and "PoÃ¶ter BoÃ¶f" before that...

rabbit_sla · « **Reply #5 on:** February 25, 2007, 09:31:56 AM »

If you said that it is operator error on ball death, then why did ebonite come out with the hook again system. Also, why does big b and columbia also recognize ball death as a problem for bowling balls? I have had a brunswick riot zone die on me, but I bought the ball used with an unknown amount of games on it. I used it for about 2 years before it started dying on me. I used the hook again system on it and brought it back to almost new.
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It does not matter what type of shot you throw, it's the results on the scoresheet that counts.

TWOHAND834 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 25, 2007, 09:33:03 AM »

I watch people all the time using different manufacturers equipement not using any type of cleaner to wipe their balls down after each league night. They only show up in a pro shop about every 20-30 games to freshen up the surface. The reason is that they dont want to spend 10.00 on a bottle of Energizer Cleaner or other cleaner for that matter. They dont think it is worth it. It is too expensive. So, instead, they spend all their money on new equipment only to complain that their balls are dying after 40+ games. In other words, they can spend 200+ on a ball every 6 months to a year but a 10.00 bottle of cleaner is too expensive.

It is not as though ball death is anything new. Bowlers complained about balls dying back in the late 90s into 2000. There was the all to familiar "TEC death" years ago. As a former pro shop operator, I would have people come in with balls from the mid 90s that are saturated in oil and complain that their ball doesnt look like it once did. If bowlers would swallow their pride and spend an extra 8-10 bucks on some cleaner and get more anal about cleaning their stuff, the ball death issue may subside quite a bit.

FWIW......I know and understand that that results and complaints vary from bowler to bowler on this issue as well as some people do say that they clean their stuff and still get ball death.
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Steven Vance
Former Pro Shop Operator

If anyone out there is worried about the scores being too high, try duckpin!!

Martin710 · « **Reply #7 on:** February 25, 2007, 09:44:04 AM »

I have to respond to those who always blame the operator. I have always and still go through the same procedure. I wipe my ball after each throw, I clean the ball with a recognized ball cleaner after each three game set and I use the hot water bath to extract the oil after about 80 games. One of the cleaners I used was the Ebonite Powerhouse Energizer. Despite all this, my xxxcel died after about 60 games. I am not to be blamed for that ball's death. I did not even use it for spares.

Edited on 2/25/2007 10:47 AM

MIBowler · « **Reply #8 on:** February 25, 2007, 09:49:07 AM »

for me its Ebonite and Hammer, i'm not just sayin this cause i throw mostly Brunswick but i got at least 300+ games on my strike zone and it still moves in the back end, just as much as my scorchin.
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My stats: High game sanctioned 299, high series 780 http://members.bowl.com/FindAMember/memberView.aspx?mp=1104&ms=6619&s=2005-2006
Arsenal:
Brunswick- FURY, Orignal Inferno(undrilled),Strike Zone, Scorchin Inferno, Smokin Inferno, Power Grove dry'r
Ebonite- Angular One
Hammer- Big Blue spare

The SuperHitMan · « **Reply #9 on:** February 25, 2007, 10:14:17 AM »

Rule #1: A bowler must clean his/her equipment after usage.

Balls that have died on me came from Ebonite and Columbia, after you alter the cover or clean it x'amount of times the ball quits. However Columbia wasn't always like that, I loveed the Choas series and the Power Torq.
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Wayne Saunders: AH-HUUUUUHHHHH KACE YOU SHOT 300 AH-HUUUUHHHHHHHH!!!

Janeen Hall: Congratulations Baby.

Tommy B: I'm proud of you.....

Mike Hall: I yelled the last shot in there....

K.C. White II:

And I did it My Way Hooking the lane with a high-end piece, Take that Mr. Slater...I did it my way

I got what I came for.

You don't get a ring for bowling all spares

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Team Member Of
Hoss Central Inc.

"I bowl for the tournament cashes/wins and I bowl for the honor score rings, but most importantly I bowl for the Love of the game"-KDW

dizzyfugu · « **Reply #10 on:** February 25, 2007, 10:32:48 AM »

quote:
quote:
ball death = operator error, its just good hygeine boys, you gotta clean those balls, especially after ya use em.

The operator also has to recognize that the ball is actually dying, and not that it isn't reacting as expected because of its use on the wrong lane conditions.
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...formerly "The Curse of Dusty," and "PoÃ¶ter BoÃ¶f" before that...

I second both - especially the last one. I never had a ball die on me (from any major manufacturer), nor heard it from friends and fellow bowlers.
It is IMHO either bad maintenance or simply improper use - when players insist on hooking reaction of their ultra-aggressive material even on lightest oil or late games. Ever heard of burnout on the lanes?
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DizzyFugu - Reporting from Germany
"Put some make-up on your face - Make this world a better place!"
Kahimi Karie, 'Good morning world'

toomanytenpins · « **Reply #11 on:** February 25, 2007, 10:42:51 AM »

i used to believe in ball death until i watched the oil run off my no mercy after about 10 minutes in a rejuvenator. I am no expert ,but i dont believe resurfacing will remove oil .In fact it probably compounds the problem.
After seeing what the rejuvenator did i decided to put all my junkyard dogs,(because i thought they had died),in the oven. I usually soak em but the oven gets out much more of the oil. I dont bowl until tonight but i honestly believe i am going to see a marked difference in performance. I baked a ball that i hadnt used at all since i soaked it and got a tremendous amount of oil out of it.I could be wrong but i am going to find out for sure tonight. Taking my wmb and my hercules which had both lost there bite and i havent used in quite awhile so we shall see.
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my style, the art of bowling without bowling

DON DRAPER · « **Reply #12 on:** February 25, 2007, 12:44:07 PM »

with proper cleaning, resurfacing, and use of the rejuvenator/revivor, your brunswick equipment won't see this happen.

Raven829 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 25, 2007, 12:55:54 PM »

Sammy,
I will also break your rules a bit in telling of my experience. First off, I will say that I am darn lazy when it comes to maintaining my equipment cleaning-wise. I have a spinner and change surfaces often, but I never clean my stuff after a league or tournament night. You may think that ball death would be a huge issue for me, but it's not. There was one exception to my no-cleaning...the One. The odd thing is that although I took great care in cleaning this ball constantly, it died quicker than anything else I've thrown.

As far as current equipment for me, I have the biggest issues with Hammer and Ebonite. Both my Black Widow and No Mercy lost lots of reaction (to be expected when I don't clean them enough), but both were brought back to brand new with some time in my oven. I also use Roto-Grip and some MoRich stuff a lot and I have never had a problem with loss of reaction even though I don't maintain them like I should. I've never owned a ball other than The One that got so bad that I couldn't bring it back to life.

Don
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"On-base percentage is great if you can score runs and do something with that on-base percentage. Clogging up the bases isn't that great to me. The problem we have to address more than anything is the home run problem."
~Dusty Baker being a total fool

Cobalt Bomb · « **Reply #14 on:** February 25, 2007, 12:56:22 PM »

Is it possible that the brand of lane conditioner used, the age/type of lane surface, and the surface of the ball(sanded,polished)have as much to do with "ball death" as anything else?
Joe

Author Topic: Balls dying...which company the worse? (Read 3082 times)

sammy the sage

Balls dying...which company the worse?

novawagonmaster

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

cnimsk

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

Martin710

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

RSalas

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

rabbit_sla

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

TWOHAND834

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

Martin710

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

MIBowler

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

The SuperHitMan

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dizzyfugu

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toomanytenpins

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

DON DRAPER

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

Raven829

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?

Cobalt Bomb

Re: Balls dying...which company the worse?