I gave them a try. My only gripe was that occasionally it would move. This always seemed to be at the most inopportune times for me. I scrapped them by gluing in the couple that I did have.

Thumb molds are by far the best way to duplicate thumbs. Bruns Nick has a easy to follow guide to make these.
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Mike Craig-Columbus, OH

I have had them for several years now, and I have had no problems with them.  I had the slug slip down into the sleeve twice over the two years I had my first one.  The first time, we just reglued it.  The second time, we decided that it had seen better days, so we just made up a new one.

When I find the inner sleeve being a bit loose in a ball, I put a piece of black tape into the outer sleeve in that ball, and that takes care of that problem.

A friend of mine found out the hard way that you have to be careful when using strong cleaners with the inner sleeve in the ball.  His inner sleeve ended up getting stuck in the ball because the cleaner he had used dissolved the plastic of the inner/outer sleeves just enough to fuse them together.
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RW (THB)

I use them as well.  One outer sleeve came loose; we reglued it.

That was the only problem I've had with them in the year I've been using them.

Tried it...loved it at first...then after a while I realized how overrated they were. Unless your a regional, pro or enter a lot of amateur tournaments, they are not that big of a deal.

I echo DP3's statements. I've been using Switch Grips on a few heavily used balls for several months now, and I'm comfortable enough with product to start converting my other equipment.

If you're a serious bowler who does a lot of tournaments, they are a real plus. Just as important, if you're fussy with your thumb holes, it's easy to punch out new inner sleeves and get things right.
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"Sometimes, the best move is the one we don't make"

I don't use them, let me say first off. I have a customer that did, had them installed ( not by me ) in all his balls, over 40 all told. Loved them after a few mishaps but that was early in the creation of them and they did have a few problems, long since worked out.

If anyone remembers the guy at Nationals that had a ball slip out of his hand, fly up and almost hit him in the head ? That was my customer, sad to say. His grip broke on him and it could have been much worse.

Since his return from there, I have changed all his thumbs. He no longer uses them. Call it a bad batch, call it the extremes of weather we have I really don't know but he does not trust them any more.

To be fair, there are 3 guys here I know of that use them and besides a few 'bumps in the road' they have had no problems and love them.

All I can say it it's a hit and miss if a person likes/hates them as I see. I do remember my customer loved the fact that when/if his thumb swelled/shrunk he only had to take a moment to change sleeves and felt like a new drill, so in that respect they are great. From the down side, if/when they break, you're in trouble.

I guess it's a matter of opinion more than anything else. Either you love them or hate them, only you can know for sure.

Good Luck !
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az guy aka: R & L Bowlers Pro
rlbowlerspro@cox.net
www.rlbowlerspro.com