Edit: 7/10/04 9:00 PM

After discussion with Action Man, I feel I must correct any misconceptions I may have allowed to permeate this thread.

While I have been disappointed in that I could not get my The Answer to work, that does not mean many other LaneMasters balls may not be suitable for someone else. It is just my ball and I suppose any number of things may have happened to it on its way from production to my hands. That is the sole reason I felt I cannot recommend any Lanemasters balls. Perhaps it's best if that statement be edited out until I get this straightened out. Thanks for your understanding.
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Ok, I got sucked into (so far that's the evaluation) the hype. I went a bought a 3" pin, 15 lb The Answer; drilled it medium-strong, 4"x5" for yours truly.

The ball comes with as high a gloss as I have ever seen on any ball. I'd guess-timate it at about 3000-4000 grit sanding with a very high gloss polish. This is, in my experience, a VERY fine grit with a VERY high gloss polish.

It hooked MAYBE 2 boards more than my Blue Dot on very dry conditions. I used on a veyr dry cndition and embarassed myself because I did not use it before hand and test it in order to establish some parameters. I either went thru the nose or left washout on very dry conditions. I put it away and finsihed ith my Blue Dot. Bad night anyway.

So I sanded it to roughly 1000 grit with a grey Scotch Brite Pad and then polished it to about 1500 grit, maybe 1200 grit. Now it moved maybe 4-5 boards more than my Blue Dot. I tried it in practice but didn't dare to use it in league.

The ball came to be directly from Lane Masters with abnormal but extremely logical directions to polish or sand as needed to get the desired reaction (as if I have not been preaching that for years here at br.com.)  I feel it is necessary to use a ball as it comes to see what the manufacturers planned reaction is. Seeing as how both BJI and BTM both reviewed this ball as being for Medium-Oil patterns, YET with neither of them mentioning having changed the surface at all PLUS my normal release making any ball seem much more powerful than the average bowler finds them, I remain mystified at "The Answwr"'s lack of even medium-light or even dry performance parameters.

What the ______!

I will next try to sand it to 600 then polish lightly and see what happens.

So far it "does not work for me"!


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"We get old too fast, and too late, smart."


Edited on 4/17/2004 9:02 PM

Edited on 7/10/2004 9:16 PM

Sanded it to 600 grit then applied a light polish (I do mean light).
It is now a decent DRY lanes ball. I do mean dry as it goes longer and hooks less than my Barrage with the pin and CG stacked in the grip center (1.5" pin-CG distance) AND polished; it hooks MUCH less than my SlayR with CG and pin stacked in the grip center. These two balls are as mild as resin balls get; the Barrage is virtually a pancake core.

God only knows how BTM and BJI got this ball to be appropriate for medium oil lanes. For me who can usually make light oil balls work in medium to medium-heavy oil, it is more tham amazing, it is beyond unbelievable (I mean, I do not believe it, LITERALLY) than this ball, as I received it directly from Lane Masters, can work for anyone short of Robert Smith's rev release on medium oil.

Could they have changed the ball at the factory?
And this is supposed to be a particle pearl!

Something is rotten in Denmark.
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"We get old too fast, and too late, smart."


Edited on 4/19/2004 11:51 PM

Just throwing in my two cents.  I have the Answer and the Drastic Carbide.  Still haven't had enough testing to post my reviews on them yet.  But so far I like them.  Like bullred said, ALL of the AZO stuff has length right out of the box.  They don't like carrydown or long patterns.  On these patterns they will push past the breakpoint.  But get them on the right condition (med-light oil / clean backends) and they will impress.  I have had some great and not so great nights with these two.  Most recent night was spectacular.  Both performed great.  Not sure what type of shot was out.  But judging by the way the both me and my friends balls were reacting, there were good backends.  First time since I have had them that I have seen them move that much or that early.  Pins were flying everywhere, even on erant shots.  

My Opinions(thus far):

These balls seem to roll better with slower speed and medium to higher revs.  However I could see a high rev high speed bowler having sucsess also.  They also get better as they track out a little.  Just need a slight wear in the cover.  But keep them polished and use them for the conditions that best suit them (to all bowlers).  Sanding wont make oilers out of these balls.  Just make them less predictable.  But by all means drill them strong if you want to use them on more conditions.  My Answer is 3-3/8 x 3-3/8 with pin out 3-3/8 (perfect triangle).  And it's been my most consistent of the two.  I really like it so far.  It will definitely be in my bag for my next tourney.  I have also stated my position in the past about AZO's marketing and PR.  Nothing has changed in that regard (I agree with bullred).  They still have a long way to go in the US market from a consumer relations standpoint.  By the way bullred, how is that Illusion still working for you?


ARC7...............