Fibreglass Vs. Aluminium

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Permalink Reply by Xander on August 30, 2009 at 3:44pm

I've only been spinning contact about 4 months, but I'll throw in my tuppence...

Personally, I'd go with fibreglass every time, as it gives the extra weight (ie momentum), and is incredibly well balanced. Length is entirely up to your own personal preference. I'm 5'11" and I spin a 140cm fibreglass staff from Firetoys, which is about chest height on me, but a lot of the pros say chin height is about perfect. Contact is more difficult with a short staff, as it spins so much quicker. If there's a choice of grip, I always choose foam rather than rubber, but that's more to do with the fact I've got long hair and the rubber grips tend to rip it out when doing anything around my neck. Firetoys have recently started stocking fibreglass contact fire staffs, which I'm pretty sure is going to be my next purchase.

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Permalink Reply by Mr Joe on August 30, 2009 at 6:52pm

I've got a fibreglass stick from firetoys, and the weight of it and whatnot is great, possibly even excessive. I've a couple of gripes with it, though;
I find the silicon grip too sticky, and it's horrible to use it on sand (it sticks to it) or if it's even slightly damp outside or on the ground (it gets very slippery).
My other issue is the flexiness of it, though to be fair this is a two-edged sword. It means that it's very durable, and almost impossible to break, but I find contact throws and catches are of much-reduced smoothness and on rolling moves like steves there's a tendency for the staff to develop a bit of a wobble.

My intention (and advice) would be to build your own aluminium (not steel, not rigid enough) staff. Just make sure it's got enough length and wick on the end to give it enough momentum.

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Permalink Reply by Drew Littlebury on August 31, 2009 at 9:52pm

thanks for the advise guys, appreciated

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