Author Topic: Polishing a Pluto? (Read 2915 times)

Spider Ball Bowler · « **on:** October 28, 2008, 04:56:37 AM »

Has anyone on here put a coat of polish on their Pluto?

The one league I bowl is on old wood lanes with a regular house shot oil pattern, which even with the little bit of hand that I have has my equipment hooking somewhat early.

I'm shooting okay, averaging 228 after 4 weeks, but playing weird lines with weird hand positions, just to find the pocket.

I am a much better bowler when I can play straight up the boards and was thinking of putting a pretty heavy coat of polish on the Pluto to be able to play right up the outside boards. Right now if I try it, the Pluto starts hooking about 3 feet past the arrows.

Any suggestions?
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Ahhh Disco Biscuits!

Nor Cal Bowler · « **Reply #1 on:** October 28, 2008, 01:04:25 PM »

Honestly, why not try it? Whats the worse that can happen? Thats the great thing about todays coverstocks cause they are so easily changeable.

I had one and I put polish on it and liked it. But I also played on synthetics.
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Visionary Test Staffer 08/09

www.visionarybowling.com

Smokey469 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 28, 2008, 01:05:20 PM »

I bought my Pluto along with my Cell last winter with my the intention of being able to go to the Pluto once the Cell became too much. I also bowl in an old wood house and quickly found out that the Pluto was still a much stronger ball than I anticipated. Needless to say I played around with the surface quite a bit, and have finally settled on 1000 abralon plus a generous coat of polish. The Pluto is perfect for me now, it gets through the heads pretty easy but still maintains the backend "pop" it had in its oob condition. Depending on how dry the lanes get it's still not really a down and in ball for me but it's still very predictable on the turn.
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302efi · « **Reply #3 on:** October 28, 2008, 01:05:49 PM »

quote:
I'm shooting okay, averaging 228 after 4 weeks, but playing weird lines with weird hand positions, just to find the pocket.

Come on man, Your averaging 228, how much better are you looking for ?..lol

Your having no trouble finding the pocket..lol
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quote:
I will head to my local pro shop. Right after I buy it online.

Sport Bowling is a F**king joke

Kid Jete · « **Reply #4 on:** October 28, 2008, 01:08:15 PM »

He never said he was having trouble finding the pocket. HE just wants to try and find a way to play his strong part of the lane without being uncomfortable.

Try polish it can't hurt to experiment you can always take it back off.

302efi · « **Reply #5 on:** October 28, 2008, 01:13:01 PM »

quote:
HE just wants to try and find a way to play his strong part of the lane without being uncomfortable.

Isnt that called adjusting ?

Sometimes in sports, you gotta play outta your confort zone to score. He avg seems like hes doing fine, no ?

...then again, maybe averaging 300 would prob look better on paper
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quote:
I will head to my local pro shop. Right after I buy it online.

Sport Bowling is a F**king joke

Kid Jete · « **Reply #6 on:** October 28, 2008, 01:17:39 PM »

quote:
quote:
HE just wants to try and find a way to play his strong part of the lane without being uncomfortable.

Isnt that called adjusting ?

Sometimes in sports, you gotta play outta your confort zone to score. He avg seems like hes doing fine, no ?

...then again, maybe averaging 300 would prob look better on paper
--------------------
quote:
I will head to my local pro shop. Right after I buy it online.

Sport Bowling is a F**king joke

And part of adjusting in bowling is changing the coverstock as well.

Dan Belcher · « **Reply #7 on:** October 28, 2008, 01:22:59 PM »

When I had my dad punch up a Pluto for drier lane conditions, I was afraid it'd be too strong for his ball speed, so I polished the snot out of it with a heavy dose of Snake Oil. Bad idea. It became very, very skid-snap and difficult to control, and gave him a bad over/under look. I knocked a little of the polish off, and it seems to be reacting better, but it still is a little squirrelly and has a tendancy to go long.

los2003 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 28, 2008, 01:24:34 PM »

I had mine polished with the secret sauce it goes longer now but still is very aggressive. it hangs a quick left and hits like a truck. pin is under my ring finger cg kicked out 3/4 inch down by the thunb with a weight hold in the thumb quadrant..

charlest · « **Reply #9 on:** October 28, 2008, 02:03:28 PM »

quote:
When I had my dad punch up a Pluto for drier lane conditions, I was afraid it'd be too strong for his ball speed, so I polished the snot out of it with a heavy dose of Snake Oil. Bad idea. It became very, very skid-snap and difficult to control, and gave him a bad over/under look. I knocked a little of the polish off, and it seems to be reacting better, but it still is a little squirrelly and has a tendancy to go long.

Dan,

Stock surface (2000 grit Abralon) may be too smooth when covered with polish.
Try 600 or 800 grit (green or grey nylon pad) and then apply the polish but not as heavy, myabe just medium, for a smoother, more even reaction.

did that with a Saturn, the Pluto's kissing cousin.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

Edited on 10/28/2008 2:03 PM

Spider Ball Bowler · « **Reply #10 on:** October 28, 2008, 02:10:08 PM »

quote:
quote:
I'm shooting okay, averaging 228 after 4 weeks, but playing weird lines with weird hand positions, just to find the pocket.

Come on man, Your averaging 228, how much better are you looking for ?..lol

Your having no trouble finding the pocket..lol
--------------------
quote:
I will head to my local pro shop. Right after I buy it online.

Sport Bowling is a F**king joke

I'm not disappointed in my scores 770, 697, 605, 670, it's just that I am making some bad shots and really taking advantage of the easy conditions. I have trouble swinging the ball consistently and last night I was playing right down the middle with the smallest amount of hand possible, which worked okay. I left a lot of flat 7's if I got a hair wide left.

I don't mind having to make adjustments and try new things, but I would like to be able to get into my comfort zone more by playing straighter or just a really small swing. I think I am going to try the polish for next week and see what happens.

The Pluto has been okay for me, but I thought it would be a weaker overall piece and that disappoints me some. I too bought it to be a step or two down from my Cell, but that's not what I got. For the price I can't be too upset though.

I'll try the polish and if that doesn't work, I'll be punching up my Ebonite Grey Wolf....
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Ahhh Disco Biscuits!

Dan Belcher · « **Reply #11 on:** October 28, 2008, 02:48:50 PM »

quote:
Dan,

Stock surface (2000 grit Abralon) may be too smooth when covered with polish.
Try 600 or 800 grit (green or grey nylon pad) and then apply the polish but not as heavy, myabe just medium, for a smoother, more even reaction.

did that with a Saturn, the Pluto's kissing cousin.
--------------------
"None are so blind as those who will not see."

I agree, and I want to take it to a lower grit plus polish eventually, but I have to be very careful when adjusting Dad's equipment. He takes everything his ball driller told him in 1998 as gospel, he's very picky about how the ball feels and how HE thinks things should be, and hates change. (He actually gets visibly upset when he needs more than one piece of tape in his thumbhole and HATES adjusting tape and refuses to do it until I basically force him to. He thinks tape is a bad thing for some reason basically! You get the idea.)

When we drilled his Pluto, I had him try using 1/4" reverse instead of his usual 3/8" reverse, plus oval inserts instead of lifts. He throws the ball SO much better and it carries better when he gets it to the pocket, but he's so used to his old grip that he doesn't have any confidence whatsoever in it. (He was mystified by why his hand didn't lay completely flat on the ball, I had to explain to him repeatedly that his grip was never stretched all the way like that and why that'd be a bad thing) The biggest downfall right now is that he loses all confidence and throws it like garbage for the rest of the night as soon as he turns his hand over the top and hangs up in the ball for just one shot.

So, needless to say, I try to keep surface alterations to a minimum since I'm afraid of crushing his confidence by messing with his status quo. Since we've seen more oil than usual the past couple weeks, he hasn't used his Pluto much, so I just haven't gotten around to adjusting it yet. I'll probably do that tonight since the lanes are starting to play more and more difficult as the weather gets colder outside.

charlest · « **Reply #12 on:** October 28, 2008, 02:57:40 PM »

I understand, Dan.
It's amazing the misconceptions we get along the way and how prejudiced we become if anyone tries to change our made-up minds. I suspect he still believes subconsciously that, as someone younger, you can'tknow as much as the expert he trusted 10 years ago. My father was like that. All you can do is use logic, if he'll listen. Also ask him to test a change and offer to change it back if he's unhappy with the change.

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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

Dan Belcher · « **Reply #13 on:** October 28, 2008, 03:08:08 PM »

I think he really knows that 1) the game has changed a lot in the past 10-15 years, and 2) I know a fair bit about bowling even though I'm half his age. He's just incredibly stubborn and set in his ways about almost everything. He also isn't fond of the "you have to bowl worse before you can bowl better" aspect of making a change to your game. I made the same kind of grip change with my mom and also tweaked her approach and release. She bowled awful for about three weeks while getting used to it, but then it suddenly clicked. Now she's throwing the ball better now than she ever has, with lots of good scores and her average going up steadily. Though some REALLY goofy lane conditions the past couple weeks haven't helped anything. (I swear, I would rather have been on the US Open shot than the slop we saw in our Tuesday and Saturday night leagues last week...)

Spider Ball Bowler · « **Reply #14 on:** November 01, 2008, 01:38:55 PM »

Just wanted to give an update on this.

So last night I went bowling with my roommate. I decided to go ahead and commit a ballreviews.com sin. I put my Pluto in the bowling alley ball polisher. I have heard everyone here say don't do that, but I have done it ever since I started putting polish on my equipment, and I've ALWAYS had good results. Not with the super old Brunswick Luster Kings, but the newer gray models.

Anyways...I put the Pluto in there for 4 minutes. I was hoping to get extreme length to be able to play up the boards. Not so much.

What I did get is a new MONSTER on the back end. The Pluto now gets down the lane pretty well. Starts about 3-4 feet later than it did OOB, which is what I was looking for. When it starts though, there is no stopping it.

I didn't notice any over/under and the reaction was fairly consistent.

So I got added length, and more pop on the back end. Which is about what one would expect. I really wanted to polish the heck out of it, but I didn't have enough quarters.

I'll use it in league on Monday and report back on a completely fresh shot.
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Ahhh Disco Biscuits!

Author Topic: Polishing a Pluto? (Read 2915 times)

Spider Ball Bowler

Polishing a Pluto?

Nor Cal Bowler

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

Smokey469

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

302efi

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

Kid Jete

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

302efi

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

Kid Jete

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

Dan Belcher

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

los2003

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

charlest

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

Spider Ball Bowler

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

Dan Belcher

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

charlest

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

Dan Belcher

Re: Polishing a Pluto?

Spider Ball Bowler

Re: Polishing a Pluto?