check out www.turbogrips.com they have complete details about the system. it's been available for about 1 year here in north america and the system is tested throughtly and proven it's self.

it is likely the most expensive thumb reproduction system on the market but it is the only system that does exactly what it says it does.

the thumb molds or copying systems work as well, and are cheaper, and they are fairly consistant from copy to copy as well.

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Timothy @Juniors Pro-Shop
Montreal, Quebec.

Edited on 1/28/2005 6:43 AM

Thank you for the quick replies! The Switchgrip is new to Germany, and my friend told me that it would cost about EUR 20,- ($ 30+) per ball to make the modifications. What does this system cost in the USA? Cheaper, I guess, as with almost anything else concerning bowling?
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DizzyFugu --- Reporting from Germany

"All that we see or seem, is but a dream within a dream..." - Edgar Allen Poe

I have always had a problem with these types of systems.

One is the need to drill a 1 ½” hole to put in the outer sleeve. That is a huge hole and makes selling the ball afterwards tough and expensive. Plus from a proshop point of view they are tough to get out for plugging and you can’t just slug the hole.

Second is that you have to be very careful in the drilling depth and then the orientation of the outer sleeve so that when you put in an inner sleeve it is angled correctly. This can be done but care is needed.

Third you can put in tape faster than you switch inner thumb sleeves. And in my case my thumb is always changing and I’m adding or taking out tape in different places all the time. I would still need to use tape on the inner sleeves.

I prefer to use custom thumb molds. I can put them in all my balls using a standard 1 3/8 bit and they only cost me $10 per ball (the initial mold cost $10 to make) the same cost as sleeves/slugs. Then by matching the tape to the ball I’m changing to I’m ready to go.

I've had switch grips for about 4 months, and in that time I've improved alot on making my spares and throwing the same shot over and over, thats because I've switch to switch grips. See my thumb is very picky. i hated changing ball if the line changed.  Also about the depth of it, when you buy the kit from ur turbo rep. you get a special drill bit with a stopper on it so you don't go past the depth.
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Brunswick Nation!!!
Brunswick-=-01-05

Been using them for about six months.  They work for me.  I had horrible thumb problems with swelling.  It was nothing to start with 15 pieces of tape in the thumbhole and by the end of four games I had all the tape out and was thinking about sanding the hole.  I got them put into two balls and then got a spare ball too with it.  Only problem was originally the pro shop guy had used a glue that was too brittle and the outer sleeve came loose while bowling.  The ball came out of the return with the insert sticking an inch out of the ball.  They had some crappy instructions with the kits and he had to learn from scratch what glue to use and to really rough up the hole before inserting the outer sleeve.

He did it a little different for me, using an oval insert instead of drilling a slug in the inner sleeve and it works slick.  Now my thumb problems are minimal as I have two different sets of four different size inserts to choose from, and without the wads of tape the friction on the thumb is a lot less so it stays a more consistant size.  This way I can keep the spare ball and which ever strike ball I'm using the same with little effort and no mistakes on how many pieces of tape to remove.  Now if I could just bowl as well as the sleeve system works, I'd have it made!

We have been selling Switch Grips in our shop for about a year now, and they seem to be holding up quite well.

I wasn't ready to retrofit every ball I owned, and I wasn't drilling any new equipment, due to a possible ball contract, so I didn't bother with them at first.  Eventually, the shop owner told me that we needed to make me an inner sleeve, so I could throw try his stuff now and then (his span and fingers are close in size to mine).

Once the ball contract was no longer an issue, and I started drilling new balls again, I have been putting them in every new ball I drill.  In addition, I put one in a previously drilled ball on which I had really done a bad job of working out the thumb, resulting in a ball that didn't feel at all like the rest.  That gives me a total of four balls with switch grips in them so far.

I don't use a Switch Grip in my spare ball.  I just make sure that I get the thumb hole right in that one.  That way, I don't have to be switching every time I don't strike, which, of course, is more often than I'd like.  

I don't have the same issues as some folks, where my thumb changes size often.  As a result, I have not yet made a second inner sleeve.  I just make size adjustments with tape, as required.

The only mechanical issue I've had with mine was when I was trying the shop owner's Ebonite Xcel Particle, my inner sleeve was difficult to get in and out.  I have seen occasional problems with other customers.  It seems that Storm and Ebonite balls give us more problems than others.  It must be something about their cores.  If we don't work out the hole extensively after drilling, especially down near the bottom of the hole, the inner sleeve is difficult or impossible to get in/out.  We had one case where one of the guys was trying one of the shop owner's balls and his inner sleeve got stuck.  They ended up having to drill it out because it was stuck so badly.

I personally don't have any more trouble getting the outer sleeves out of balls for plugging/redrilling than some slugs or thumb inserts.  In the rare case where it becomes difficult, I just drill it out.  I've only had to do that once.  We haven't had any problem reselling plugged balls that had Switch Grips in them.

As for getting the proper depth of the hole, we have found a virtually foolproof way to do it - so much so that I can't even screw it up.  
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RW (THB)

I have had mine for 7 months. I have two slugs just in case one breaks. I have only had one break in a 7 month period. I bowl a lot (at least 6 games a day if not more).

Do not pick up you ball with the thumb only (puts strain on it that is how mine broke). I had a friend that broke out 8 in 5 months but he has the death grip on the ball. It is durable if you do not abuse it.
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Zack Pelton
Bowl To Win!!!