TT: Of fads and more on my main setup

Adding inner carbon fibre layers to table tennis rackets. Randomly adding "sea salt" or "salted caramel" into beverages. Adding fake exhaust fixtures to cars. What do all these additions in the modern world have in common? They are all fads - fads that will eventually be recognised as the gross excesses they are.

Arguably, more is really not more when it comes to table tennis equipment - if not rightly applied. Whereas adding salt onto meat before cooking can enhance flavor and texture, putting it in coffee is just boneheaded. So then we can say having a fairly elastic carbon fibre as an outer TT blade layer can make one's game a lot faster and easier. But what does an inner carbon fibre layer actually do? Sure it improves power over all-wood blades but it also has a deadening effect and does nothing positive for ball feedback. In other words, it is hard to use - perhaps in general even more than having it as outer-layer. Is it worth the addition when an outer carbon fibre layer can increase power much more effectively, so that with an inner carbon blade, the speed disadvantage still exists? Probably not.

Now the irony: I've bought into the inner carbo fad. I've chosen the hard and fancy over the safe choices like Viscaria or FZD ALC (I'm assuming inner carbon user Ma Long is no longer the fad maker). My main racket which is what survived, among other competing setups, rounds of elimination, is the Tibhar Dynamic JC, considered inner carbon. It is one of the hardest (most difficult) setups I've ever tried because when paired with DHS Hurricane 3 forehand rubber, it changes my playing style - what I'm used to - quite dramatically. Especially on loops, the direct / guided style must now change to a frictional style, which is typically used by Chinese players today. And which can be a quite tricky way to play indeed, what with the precision needed to achieve spins of a low-kicking and hazy quality for more skilled opponents. If hard is a two way street, the best setup must then be less hard for me than it is for the recipients of the shots it produces.