Staffs - hilt and blade lengths

[wargame_insomniac]

Long term I want to get a staff. Not immediately as I want to get technique sorted with single blade first. But I was thinking of picking up half of staff now to use single wield and then buy second half later.

So for staffs, is it better to have say two Iniates / Apprentices both with 32" blades? Or say two Aeons / Dominix / Dominix with 24" blades?

I.e. for total length of staff is it better for shorter blades & longer hilt(s) to control or shorter hilt(s) & longer blades?

If it helps I am 5'11".

Thinking of buying first half of hilt now whilst Summer Offers on.

Cheers

James

[Caylem]

Hi, i just made myself a ''temporary'' staff. I bought a manticore and a guardian, they dont really fit together, but it is just until i do a combo manticore/menace eventually. Those 2 hilts are one of the longest, i tried it yesterday with 2 blades of 36'' and it was perfect, maybe 2 shorter hilt would have been better, i coupled them with a vented flush  ajustable coupler. I mesured my staff and i was doing 90'' and i'm 6'2.5''. Hope it help a bit.     MTFBWY!

[Darth Logos]

It has been my experience that 32" blades work the best for staffs. I'm 6'1", so it's not really an issue of height. Considering that you use a completely different stance when staff fighting than sword fighting, you'll probably have an easier time with the shorter blades. Now the other way to increase blade rigidity is to go HG, but this will significantly increase the weight. IMO the 36" blades just look too long on a staff, and the 24s look too short (unless you are less than 4' tall).

The length of your chosen hilts pretty much comes down to practicality. The longer your hilt, the more exposed to attack you leave it. But if you're just interested in making a wicked looking staff, go nuts. I have plans to one day staff my Scorpion. It will be a behemoth to say the least, but it will look totally bad@$$.  I experimented by coupling my Scorp with my Chosen One, both w/ 36" blades. Way too big. It stood almost 8' long.

There is my 2 cent on the matter. It basically boils down to personal preference.

[wargame_insomniac]

Thanks. What about Initiate / Apprentice versus Aeon / Dominix / Sentinel??

[Darth Logos]

Thanks. What about Initiate / Apprentice versus Aeon / Dominix / Sentinel??

I think the priors would do better than the latters.

[wargame_insomniac]

Thanks

[Dr_R_Eaper]

I picked up a coupler with my last order so I could mess around with a staff.  I can say a pair of Aeon/Dominixs with 36" blades is too big, I'm about the same height as you and I found it a bit unwieldy, just maneuvering it around the house was a pain.  I can't same much on using it as a staff, because honestly I was just waving it around in the garden like knew what I was doing.

I would agree with what Logos is saying about HG just to be on the safe side.  When I have a MG blade to the ground when I'm just standing with it, it does seem to wobble a lot more than when the same is done with a HG blade.

On the subject of hilt itself.  What about combining a Initiate/Apprentice with a Aeon/Dominix/Sentinel with either the same length blades or different length blades?  The one handed sabers are pretty similar in design with their two handed counterparts to match up together pretty well.  Forget what I what I was saying about the different size blades, I was thinking that would cool.  A shorter blade coming out 2H side and a longer blade coming out the 1H side.  It would look cool, but it would be impractically.  Training for using a LightStaff I would assume relies on the fact you hold your staff in the center.  Moving where you hold the staff would ultimately change the way you used it.

Aaaaaahh!  I want to try this now, dammit.  It's going on my wishlist.

[JediXIX]

Hi wargame_insomniac, of course it gets down to personal preference, maybe trial & error, but excellent topic to start for folks that don't have a staff yet and want advice..... +1 

Like Logos said, if its just for show, go nuts.... 

I've put many together to test out, I'm 5'10 and prefer 32" blades in my single sabers for both duelling & spinning.... this has been my experience so far with staffs....

2x Aeon's (12" hilts) + 32" blades are way too long and awkward to spin, for me....

2x Initiate's (9.5" hilts) + 24" blades are just a little too short, but really good for me when I first started practicing my spins.... I have 2x Dark Initiate v3's with 24" HG blades and the balance is really nice..

I was lucky to get 2x Manticore CE (silver finish) stunts, with standard v3 coupler...... with no pommel I think they measure about 10.5" each, and I ordered special request 28" blades ($5 extra for each blade)..... for me, just a little long (may have been because I was used to the Initiates), so I cut down the blades to 26" and currently find it just about perfect.... I practice my spins with it as much as I can, and staff spinning is great practice for single saber spinning too because it helped teach me more freedom with my reverse grip (essentially its normal and reverse grip at the same time, lol).....

The Manticore is great for me also because the base of the hilt has a taper, slightly thinner diameter, so when staffed at any time you can feel where the centre point is and helps with balance when spinning faster, swapping hand over hand..... sometimes with my initiate v3's, because they are the same diameter all the way I can't always feel the centre point, but a flush or vented coupler might help with that.....

I really like my Manticore staff..... here's a pic



I have put 2x Menace's together, looks awesome, but for me the screws get in the way when spinning, and If I wanted to have 2 as a staff for spinning or duelling I'd remove the screws near the centre.....

Also, my son has an Aeon v4 and an Initiate v4 as an "off centre" staff, he loves it, I don't really like it, lol...... he has 24" blades in that too....... cheers 

[wargame_insomniac]

Thanks giys. I definitely wasn't contemplating 36" blades in Aeon / Dominix / Sentinel staff. I mentioned before that I was thinking of 24" blades in them OR 32" blades in Initiates / Apprentices.

[wargame_insomniac]

Manticore staff looks way cool!!

[Racona Nova]

Get 28" blades With these you have an excellent look for both staves - not too long, not too short - and great balance. Based on some theoretical thoughts, though, because I only have 36" blades on an Aeon v3 staff. But I want to cut them down, so I speculated what would look and feel best

[Master Nero Attoru]

It's always tough because the double bladed lightsaber doesn't really function much like a staff, due to the fact that it has two blades (less area to grip, as well as a totally different combat capability).  Because of this, I like to try and maximize the grip area to ensure good leverage for maneuvering the staff around your body, so I tend to shy away from Initiate sized hilts for that purpose.  Of course, if you get longer hilts then it's logical to get shorter blades to compensate - 32" is ok, but can be rather long with a full sized hilt (assuming you have Dominix or Aeon the whole staff will come to around 84" or seven feet).  I'd recommend something a bit shorter, in heavy grade to give an even balance.

If you're feeling really creative, you could always grab an extension and two couplers and make an even longer hilt for a staff.  I've been toying with my yari extensions lately and having a ton of fun experimenting with different weapon combinations.

[tomfoyle]

I am 6' tall. I have a pair of Initiate V3s with 32" midgrade blades and a vented flush adjustable coupler. That gives a total staff length of 82". I use the staff exclusively for spinning, not for combat, and I find that length to be pretty good, although the blade tips occasionally touch the ground during behind the back spins, so I think the perfect length for me would be 78".

I chose the shorter hilts because I think they look better than long hilts in a staff, but that is purely personal preference. For spinning I find the Initiate hilts to be plenty long enough, I never run out of room for my hands, and the balance feels good to me too. But I have no experience of combat so if that is your priority then listen to the advice of Nero, etc who know about that

Also, note that you don't have to go with one of the standard blade lengths that UltraSabers offer, you can have your blades cut to any length for a small fee ($5 per blade I think). Just email [email protected] and they will give you a quote and tell you how to order it. Or you can cut it down yourself if you're confident with that sort of thing.

So to find your perfect blade length: decide what you want your total staff length to be (e.g. 77" might be about right for your height), decide what hilt you want (e.g a 12" Aeon for good combat leverage), choose an appropriate coupler (e.g. a 2" vented coupler for sound), and adjust for around 1.5" of each blade that will be hidden inside the emitter.

(77 - 12 -12 - 2 + 1.5 + 1.5) / 2 = 27" blades.

[tomfoyle]

I ordered special request 28" blades ($5 extra for each blade)

Ah sorry JediXIX, I didn't spot that you had already covered the point about special request blade lengths

[James Casey]

At 6' I prefer the shorter blade lengths - 24 or 28 inches is about right for me. As Master Nero notes, a decent grip is important in how well you handle the staff, so for someone like me two longer hilts is good. The vented coupler is good as it adds about 2 inches to the overall length of the staff.

I don't do a lot of staff work, but I've just bought a coupler to put two of my Aeons together, and as it's my daughter's birthday party tomorrow, I may have to break that out for her and her cousins.