Yasaka is one of top Japanese brands. But, for long time Yasaka has dealt with the blades made in Sweden. ‘J.P Gatien Extra’ that was launched in the middle of 1990’s is the first Swedish blade introduced by Yasaka. Afterwards Yasaka introduced new Swedish blades named after Ma Lin who had been one of the top Chinese players. Yasaka ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’ is the first model of new ‘Ma Lin’ series, and it became great hit after Ma Lin won a gold medal of Men’s Singles at the 2008 Olympic Games. And, Yasaka added more models such as ‘Ma Lin Carbon’. The blades of ‘Ma Lin’ series aren’t the representatives of Yasaka blade range now because those were launched more than 10 years ago. However, those are still serious considerable.

The representatives of ‘Ma Lin’ series are two early models – ‘Ma Lin Carbon’ and ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’. Regarding two models please refer to the article : “Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon & Ma Lin Extra Offensive [Full Review]“. After the release of two models more variations has been added to the series, and one of them is ‘Ma Lin Extra Special’ released in 2012. ‘Ma Lin Extra Speical’ is the 7-ply wood version of ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’. According to Yasaka it keeps the hitting feeling and great balance of ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’ while increasing the power by adaptation of 7-ply wood construction.

‘Ma Lin Extra Special’ is the 7-ply wood model of ‘Ma Lin’ series. Its graphic design is based on that of ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’, but two red lines are added at the border of gray block and black block of handle.

The construction of ‘Ma Lin Extra Special’ is a 7-ply wood construction. Top layer is Walnut, middle layer is Limba, and three center layers are all Ayous. Two among three center layers are dyed red. Overall thickness is around 6.2mm.

The head size is 157mm x 150mm (FL handle version) or 159mm x 151mm (ST handle version). It is interesting that the head size differs by handle type.

Left is FL (flared) handle version, and right is ST (straight) handle version.

The width of FL (flared) handle is around 26.5mm (at head side) ~ 27.5mm (at the middle of handle) ~ 36mm (at the end), and the thickness of FL handle is round 23mm (at thumb) ~ 25.5mm (at the end).

The size of ST (straight) handle which isn’t shown in the picture is around 29.5mm (width) x around 22.5mm (thickness). It is a very wide handle. But, because it isn’t thick the handle fits into palm without problem. The top and the bottom of handle is almost flat. (Not perfectly flat.) So it feels like squared handle.

The printing on the head looks ordinary. However, the gold printing on dark wood surface looks quite attractive. The speed sign in the indicator is ‘OFF’ which is same as the speed sign of ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’.

There isn’t printing on the backside of head. But, on the backside of handle, there is the plastic lens whose size is same as that of the foreside lens.

The name of blade – ‘Ma Lin Extra Special’ – is printed at the foreside lens.

The backside lens is same as that of ‘Ma Lin Carbon’. The design of backside lens is also same as that of old ‘Gatien’ series. (Currently the products of ‘Gatien’ series are being sold without the name of Gatien.)

Recent Yasaka blades have squared plastic lens at the end of handle, instead of old metal sticker. The logo of Yasaka is printed in gold color on the black background.

Left is ‘Ma Lin Extra Special’ which is a 7-ply wood blade, and right is ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’ which is a 5-ply wood blade. Those are the pure wood blades with Walnut top layer.

Left is ‘Ma Lin Extra Special’, and right is ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’.

‘Ma Lin Extra Special’ provides higher power than ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’ shown in the background. But, at the same time ‘Ma Lin Extra Special’ is succeeding the excellent hitting feeling and the great balance of ‘Ma Lin Extra Offensive’.

Following are the performance indices of Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Special(avg.weight = 90.3g) :

– Ep = 1.84

– Ec = 1.43 (Ec/Ep = 0.78)

– Vp = 1.12

– Vl = 1.30 (Vl/Vp = 1.16)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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