The Aldila Ascent is a re-painted Mitsubishi Fubuki V

[03trdblack]

Since Mitsubishi owns Aldila, it appears they are recycling previous shaft lines by repainting them and giving them a different name.  If you take a look at the specs between the two shafts, they are identical, down to the torque, weight, kick point and even butt diameter.  The specs charts are a copy/paste.  They are even re-using some of the same marketing images in explaining what the shaft is supposed to do to increase launch angle.

 

Russ Ryden on golfshaftreviews.info did an EI profile of the Ascent and he stated, "I looked back through the library of Mitsubishi designs and found both the 2015 KuroKage XT and the 2017 Fubuki V to have nearly identical profiles."  I know shafts often share similar profiles but to have the EXACT same specs, down to the torque degree makes me think they are the same shaft repainted.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Fubuki V Specs:

 

 

Aldila Ascent Specs:

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by 03trdblack

[DFS PFD]

Would not surprise me at all. Thanks for sharing the comparison. 

[swgolf12]

Not sure how well the Fubuki V sold but would make sense to take a bunch of old stock that's not moving, paint it as something new and try and re-market it. Fubuki shafts used to be pretty popular but you rarely see anyone playing one now, especially on the tour.

[kmay__]

Hey if ya get fit into it, and it it suits your swing who cares. If they are in fact the same shafts re painted, I'm sure people would have been more upset if they had wasted them by scrapping them. The environment and all that. 

[QuigleyDU]

2 hours ago, kmay__ said:

Hey if ya get fit into it, and it it suits your swing who cares. If they are in fact the same shafts re painted, I'm sure people would have been more upset if they had wasted them by scrapping them. The environment and all that. 

This is correct. It does not matter what the shaft says if you hit it and it is the best fit.. But this  (if true) is very disingenuous and leads to a lot of mistrust in manufacturers. 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by QuigleyDU

[DoubleEagle08]

Would make you seriously consider never buying and Aldila again....

[dmbrill719]

The Fubuki V was/is a $360 shaft.  Ascent is a $250 shaft.  Maybe they're taking an older/premium model and re-introducing it in another line at a lower price point?  Nothing nefarious about that, IMO.

[J13]

I don't know if the Fubuki has been repainted but repainting old inventory has been done for decades by shaft manufacturers.  Fuji, Mitsu, Aldila, the list goes on and all of them have done it.

[QuigleyDU]

42 minutes ago, J13 said:

I don't know if the Fubuki has been repainted but repainting old inventory has been done for decades by shaft manufacturers.  Fuji, Mitsu, Aldila, the list goes on and all of them have done it.

 

 

That is pretty sad to hear... It does make sense I guess, but still I don't like the trickery.. 

[sociojeje]

a long time fubuki k owner but finally changed it. When I saw the spec of ascent, I thought it looked similar to fubuki... BTW, does any one know why fubuki suddenly disappeared while AD DI is still very much relevant??? I liked it very much at first but i somehow felt that I lost the initial feeling. I know graphite shafts doesn't get loose but it felt loose (or my desire for a new shaft told me so...). 

[Go Horns!]

Do we know if it is made from the same materials? Just because it has the same EI profile does not mean that the materials used to make the shaft have not changed.

[tourpure]

I heard the Aldila has boron and kevlar in the tip.

[ode]

6 hours ago, J13 said:

I don't know if the Fubuki has been repainted but repainting old inventory has been done for decades by shaft manufacturers.  Fuji, Mitsu, Aldila, the list goes on and all of them have done it.

How would they then be the same specs, exactly. Wouldn't they be heavier or is there some process to take the paint off?  And wouldn't that be time consuming and expensive?  Or we talking unpainted shafts laying around that never made it to paint?

[03trdblack]

2 hours ago, tourpure said:

I heard the Aldila has boron and kevlar in the tip.

 

From who? 

[03trdblack]

21 minutes ago, ode said:

How would they then be the same specs, exactly. Wouldn't they be heavier or is there some process to take the paint off?  And wouldn't that be time consuming and expensive?  Or we talking unpainted shafts laying around that never made it to paint?

 

I'm guessing blanks that were never painted.

[03trdblack]

3 hours ago, Go Horns! said:

Do we know if it is made from the same materials? Just because it has the same EI profile does not mean that the materials used to make the shaft have not changed.

 

Like I said, It's more than just the profile being similar. Unless they copied and pasted the specs from the Fubuki for the Ascent, and those specs aren't correct, then literally every spec on every weight is identical. If they're using different materials, it would be next to impossible to get every spec exactly the same, especially down to the tenth of a degree in torque. 

[mcounci2]

"Oh no, my Aldila shaft is an MCA shaft with a different paintjob, it's crap!"

 

- no one, ever

[03trdblack]

9 minutes ago, mcounci2 said:

"Oh no, my Aldila shaft is an MCA shaft with a different paintjob, it's crap!"

 

- no one, ever

 

Who said anything about it being crap? BUT if you want to save some money, just go pick up a Fubuki V since it's older. I found one on Ebay for $80. 

 

Also proves that shafts don't always improve if they are being repainted and sold as something "new". 

[ode]

2 minutes ago, 03trdblack said:

 

I'm guessing blanks that were never painted.

I don't buy it.  They had enough overruns to cover a whole new line? 

 

**The rest are random thoughts on this topic and not directed at 03trdblack

 

There is another thread about the lighter weight Ascent suggesting it is capitalizing on the autoflex love.....so they are double duping us?  

 

I don't doubt that shaft companies use old models and reproduce them with a new name/marketing.  I have no problem with that.

 

Golfers are weird.  You get massive love for the OG Ksig which they put ZERO into as far as R and D.  It's a rebranded Nassau for gawds sake.  Even if Mitsu had a bunch of old stock Fubuki, at least they put some r and d and produced it.  Costco through a dart at a board of pics and said sure, that one. LOL and Mitsu gets roasted?

 

And for the record ... I'm not spending $250 on a shaft EVER.  That's the real sham!

[03trdblack]

Here's another theory. Maybe the Fubuki V line was originally created and earmarked for a large OEM order and they produced a TON of them for the order. Maybe then that order was canceled so they painted some of them in Fubuki colors and tried to sell them that way. Could be that the V didn't sell well so they have a ton of unpainted blanks that they still have to do something with. 

 

Since unpainted graphite shafts all look exactly the same, there's no way anyone would know other than the execs at the shaft company. 

 

Regardless, all shafts only cost a few dollars each to make and the markup at retail is astronomical. 

[third-times-a-charm]

Lots of good info here - but I will say that Mitsubishi has been THE MOST sketchy shaft OEM with their RSX vs TX releases and “made for” contracts 

 

Its so frustrating because their real deal shafts with exotic materials perform so well, but the run of the mill stuff is just so underwhelming.

 

[Red4282]

5 hours ago, ode said:

I don't buy it.  They had enough overruns to cover a whole new line? 

 

**The rest are random thoughts on this topic and not directed at 03trdblack

 

There is another thread about the lighter weight Ascent suggesting it is capitalizing on the autoflex love.....so they are double duping us?  

 

I don't doubt that shaft companies use old models and reproduce them with a new name/marketing.  I have no problem with that.

 

Golfers are weird.  You get massive love for the OG Ksig which they put ZERO into as far as R and D.  It's a rebranded Nassau for gawds sake.  Even if Mitsu had a bunch of old stock Fubuki, at least they put some r and d and produced it.  Costco through a dart at a board of pics and said sure, that one. LOL and Mitsu gets roasted?

 

And for the record ... I'm not spending $250 on a shaft EVER.  That's the real sham!

Yea golfers are weird. Although in your example, the golfers save money with the ksig and lose money buying a repainted shaft, so theres that.
 

A repaint can work out to your benefit too, i bought a brand new uncut Fujikura Motore VC TS 7.3x for 20 dollars... yea crazy. Why? Because it had the “TP” paint scheme for the slider. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by Red4282

[ode]

4 hours ago, Red4282 said:

Yea golfers are weird. Although in your example, the golfers save money with the ksig and lose money buying a repainted shaft, so theres that.
 

A repaint can work out to your benefit too, i bought a brand new uncut Fujikura Motore VC TS 7.3x for 20 dollars... yea crazy. Why? Because it had the “TP” paint scheme for the slider. 

It speaks to the outrageous markup on product.  If there is truth to what OP is suggesting....then why was the Fubuki $360 and the Ascent $250?  

 

Have bought a few of the TP paint scheme shafts as they are the "real deal" painted to match the TM head they were intended for. I will wait for the TP version of the Ascent in the heavier weights to hit the bay😆😉

Edited March 25, 2021 by ode

[Red4282]

11 minutes ago, ode said:

It speaks to the outrageous markup on product.  If there is truth to what OP is suggesting....then why was the Fubuki $360 and the Ascent $250?  

 

Have bought a few of the TP paint scheme shafts as they are the "real deal" painted to match the TM head they were intended for. I will wait for the TP version of the Ascent in the heavier weights to hit the bay😆😉

Yea sadly that wont happen any more... no doubt its a huge markup, but hey its a business and as long as people throw money at them, not stopping any time soon. Im sure alot of the lower in stuff gets refurbed into a newer shaft. I have confidence MOST manufacturers develop the higher end stuff. There will always be “tweaks” off existing stuff. Its a huge flag for me when a new shaft comes out and there is little tech behind it, or tech that makes sense. They are all a bit guilty of it but the one with the “M” seems to be the worst... 

[QuigleyDU]

13 hours ago, 03trdblack said:

 

Like I said, It's more than just the profile being similar. Unless they copied and pasted the specs from the Fubuki for the Ascent, and those specs aren't correct, then literally every spec on every weight is identical. If they're using different materials, it would be next to impossible to get every spec exactly the same, especially down to the tenth of a degree in torque. 

For their to be a material chance and have the exact same specs seems almost impossible..

[J13]

13 hours ago, ode said:

How would they then be the same specs, exactly. Wouldn't they be heavier or is there some process to take the paint off?  And wouldn't that be time consuming and expensive?  Or we talking unpainted shafts laying around that never made it to paint?

 

There are multiple ways this is done but when i say repaint I don't necessarily mean repaint the actual painted shaft.  I'm referring more to making more "old" shafts and repainting them with the new graphics.

 

People would be amazed at how many old profiles are now called something else.  They also take older profiles that worked well and added in new tech like Velocore and hexcel ect...  It's not a bad thing necessarily.

Edited March 25, 2021 by J13

[shart6]

I don't understand why this is a problem. A shaft either fits you or it doesn't. 

[third-times-a-charm]

17 minutes ago, shart6 said:

I don't understand why this is a problem. A shaft either fits you or it doesn't. 

 

Its not about the shaft's performance. It's about aldila/mitsubishi coming out with a 'new' shaft with all the pomp and stance, and saying 'wow look at this great new shaft we made' and pricing it at full OEM price when it's just a rebrand of an old shaft with old tech/marketing from years ago. 

 

[shart6]

7 minutes ago, third-times-a-charm said:

 

Its not about the shaft's performance. It's about aldila/mitsubishi coming out with a 'new' shaft with all the pomp and stance, and saying 'wow look at this great new shaft we made' and pricing it at full OEM price when it's just a rebrand of an old shaft with old tech/marketing from years ago. 

 

 

I've always tuned out the marketing. As for old tech in golf shafts, I just finished a year and half of testing "new" iron shaft technology, it lost to old Dynalite Gold (not XP). And I'm tempted to put a Titleist tip on an old Rapport Blue Velvet I have that is weaker than the one I used successfully with a holy grail Taylormade 300. 

[autronicdsm]

I suspected that after reading the press release awhile ago. With that said, I don't really care. I have a Fubuki V in a 5W and it's a great shaft for a fw in my opinion. Nothing wrong with two companies under the same umbrella having similar products. Works for GM with Chevy/GMC/Caddy trucks and SUVs.

 

[EDIT]: Also Fubuki V went for $360 retail and Aldila is $250, so...

Edited March 25, 2021 by autronicdsm