The PS lists 4000 wet sand as the surface OOB; I find that too smooth, meaning I want an earlier read, so what do you think of:

a) Neat "N" pad, followed by the "T" pad (equivalent of 750 abralon then 4000 abralon)

-or-

b) 500 abralon followed by the "T" pad.

I guess I'm looking for some under-texture, and following the lead of the Utah balls (Critical Theory, and the forth-coming Lucid [plus the over-seas release 'sure road']) of rough start, 4000 finish with no intermediate steps.

What does anyone else think? (that is, if you can get logged in to reply) lol

Well, with no responses, I took a chance.

I've applied the "N" pad for 25 seconds on four sides, followed by the "T" pad on four sides for 30 seconds per side. Done on a spinner with water.

I'll let you know the results after league tonight.

Thanks for the reply Justin.

I have found that I can throw this ball thru the breakpoint in the parking lot.

I went back to the spinner after Tuesday (no change in read) and applied the "E" pad, which is supposedly equivalent to 1500 grit.

Still doesn't read super early, but at least now it doesn't grip much on the back end.

Back to the drawing board.

"n" pad, here I come...

PS- I put a 4" pin to pap and 45* VAL angle in her, with a P2 hole. I expected a much stronger reaction. Maybe it is my hand, or rather, lack thereof. But, even when I bang on the ball at the bottom, i can't get her to read like I'm expecting. I could tear up a 100' lane tho'!

I had your problem with the raptor. And Justin was nice enough to tell me just what he thought of that. He said I needed lessons because some thing had to be wrong. Not offended I had Mo Pinel recommend a performance grip for me. After changing the grip on the ball and putting my Linds wrist brace back on and now I have ball reaction again plus increased revs where I used to play straight down the 8/9 board I now have to play with a little belly 12 to the break point. Drilled up a 2 Cruel
move a little more inside with it 15 out to the break point slow it down a little and had my first Motiv 300 . the Primal Scream plays the same way and my scores and average is just going up and up.
Look at raising your revs and slowing your ball speed down and that should fix your ball reaction . Remember what we all seek is
get our revs to match our speed to get ball reaction and great pin carry ! .

Well, here's the update.

After Thursday night, I discussed my ball issues with my teammates. He noticed that when he threw it, the ball seemed to hang up on his hand. He mentioned it felt longer; I knew that I had left it a bit shorter than another 'prototype' grip I copied, so that wasn't it. But it did make me take the ball to the bench and measure it. Guess what-- I had mistakenly put 1/16" and 3/16" forward pitches in the fingers, instead of reverse. Oops.

Two bevel-plugged holes later, drilling with the correct pitches, and lo and behold, the ball rolls just fine. No surprise, looking back. It rolls absolutely terrific! And I left the 1500 grit finish on it, and it is still a back-end beast, albeit controlled yet strong.

Nice to see that when the layout *and grip* is right, it's a beautiful thing!