I have a chance to pick up a used Alpha Crux (15 games). Pin and cgnomadah are stacked over the middle of bridge, and MB is to the RIGHT of thumb. I've never tried that drill. What reaction shape will I get?. I know I have a Gamebreaker that's pin over ring and Cg in middle, thinking it might be the same, which in this case id length with some back end snap... Thoughts?

L50

Let me be sure what you mean by RIGHT of thumb. If you're looking down at the ball with the fingers up and the thumb down, that means the MB is the strong position for a right hander, and consequently the ball was drilled for a righty.
 
For a lefty (as in yourself) the MB is in the weak position, meaning that if you keep that drill pattern, the reaction is most likely going to puke. You're almost certainly looking at a full plug and re-drill for the ball to work acceptably.
 
On the other hand, if you're looking down on the ball with the thumb up and the finders down, the MB is in the strong position for a left hander, and you have a drill that will probably work well. I'd guess that 90% of asymmetric drills place the pin above fingers between the ring and center grip line with the MB in the strong position. Your PAP will determine optimum placement based on what you want to achieve.
 
For me, that drill provides length with some backend pop. It's a very safe pattern that most bowlers can throw with success.

A weak MB and low revs usually isn't a great combination. But I agree on the cover. He's taking a big chance.

Good comments, guys. Thanks for the rapid feedback... It's appreciated. Jeff, sorry I didn't include PAP, I should have as a matter of standards... 5x1 is my current PAP.

Good comments, guys. Thanks for the rapid feedback... It's appreciated. Jeff, sorry I didn't include PAP, I should have as a matter of standards... 5x1 is my current PAP.

After reading Steven's reply, I forgot you are lefty and and that MB position all but removes this ball from consideration, unless you plug all 3 holes and start from scratch.

Quote from: charlest on January 08, 2017, 08:37:23 PM

After reading Steven's reply, I forgot you are lefty and and that MB position all but removes this ball from consideration, unless you plug all 3 holes and start from scratch.

 
Exactly. There might be some bowler types who could get away with the MB in the weak position, but I've never seen it with lower rev bowlers. Unless there is something I'm missing, that ball is going to require a complete plug and re-drill.

I've one guy get a decent reaction when the MB was on the track side and he had about 40 degrees of tilt and very slow ball speed.

Normally such an MB/PSA placement produces very little backend and requires one to play a very straight, outside line. Given the pin placement, this drill will max out the flare because of its asymmetry.  A bowler using this drill would also usually require very high ball speed to get a good reaction.

Pretty sure all this requires you, Steve, to plug all holes and start from scratch.

If you have the span where you want it, cool.   
 
When you mention previously that your span was still "stretched", some alarms went off in my head. I was slightly stretched for many years and didn't really realize it. The major symptom was that I was always fiddling with my thumb: Tape in, tape out. On-going swelling and shrinking. Having to use different size ITs on an on-going basis. The final straw was a tournament in Vegas where I swelled to the point of not being able to get out of the ball with any consistency. I knew I had to find a fix.
 
After consulting with a few guys who know their stuff, I reduced my span by 1/8". As minor as that seems, my thumb issues disappeared. Now, I rarely have to change the number of pieces of tape, except for longer blocks where I might have to take out a piece or two.
 
Span does make a difference. Food for thought if you have thumb issues in the future.

To point#1, yes. I'm a disciple of Ron Clifton on this, and I believe in his teachings on the question of appropriate span.
 
As far as finger and thumb pitches, that's a very personal thing that goes to flexibility and other factors. I don't believe there is any one formula that applies to everyone. I bowl with some very high level guys who have a wide variation in pitches. But the one constant seems to be that they don't have stretched spans. It's really hard to manage a death grip and maintain any level of consistency on more difficult patterns.