saberforge lightsabers

[Hawkeye[501st]]

Hi Guys

was looking for some lightsabers, stumble upon the saberforge site.

Anyone have this?any advice?thanks

[RogueTrooper[TK]]

I never had one of their products before...so I cannot say good or bad. I normally go with the Custom Saber Shop.

 

You might want to post the same question about saberforge over on the Replica Prop Forum

 

Good luck man!

[pandatrooper[TK]]

In a nutshell, if you're looking for a higher caliber saber and are planning on ordering from Saberforge or on Ebay - I would advise against it.

 

There's a rash of negative feedback on FX sabers and the Custom Saber shop forums. Unfortunately, I ended up buying a saber form him before I found out more info on him. I got it in a reasonable amount of time, but there are serious issues with it.

 

In a nutshell:

- communication is rather slow / non-existent

- hilts are "OK" quality wise (a common issue is that the inside is dirty / oily, with metals shavings intact (like the part came fresh out of a machine shop without any clean up), but there are also some rough lathe marks

- the electronics installation is dodgey - at best

- wires are held in with solder and tape, no heat shrink, etc.. for stability

- there is no electronics sled, everything is just "stuffed inside" the hilt

- both battery holders broke off the board during the second battery change (and I'm super gentle with this stuff!)

- the sound board only lasts about 10 minutes at full charge (it's been discovered that if you're not running 6V consistently, the sound board drops into a constant loop swoosh sound and becomes useless.)

- only fresh AA's work for 10 mins, Rechargeable batteries do not offer enough voltage

- the LED is glued in, somewhat fragile with glue

- the switches are non guarded / momentary, so your hands tend to make it go on / off a little too easily

- the blade is sanded on the outside, the inside has no film (bright top and bottom, but not the middle)

- the blade itself is slightly larger than 1" and does not fit into 1" blade holders / hilts

- the blade is 32" long, a bit short for my taste.

 

If you're looking to spend $100 or less and want an LED blade with no sound and so-so machining, then its a "buyer beware" purchase. Looks good on a shelf and turning on the blade for friends, but lots of sabers do that (including FX / Hasbro).

 

he did end up sending a replacement board and some parts, but I don't think that makes up for my experience or the experiences that people on saber forums have had. (no communication, orders delayed, faulty boards, etc.)

 

If you're looking for something sturdy for dueling, higher quality machining, or something that lasts - look elsewhere. I have since ordered other parts from The Custom Saber shop and they are AWESOME in comparison. Couldn't recommend TCSS more, they are that good.

 

I'm not a saber expert, but I've become more knowledgeable after taking this saber apart and rebuilding it, along with building my own from TCSS parts.

[SW1]

Hi Guys

was looking for some lightsabers, stumble upon the saberforge site.

Anyone have this?any advice?thanks

Hi Kirby , i orderd a princess leia saber from saberforge just the hilt and it was perfect ,and i instaled Erv,s crystal focus sound board this is his sight if you havent been there yet (www.plectralabs.com)the sounds baords are the dogs do dahs , need any more info let me know mate.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

I have seen the saberforge hilts and blades in person.

 

I even talked with him about panda's experience with dirt, and shavings, and no electronic sled.

 

The owner says that he has changed his manufaturing process, and now offers soundboards from a different source.

 

the main reason his blades are larger is because he makes the 1/8 wall to duel full contact with.

 

I think that a crystal focus soundboard would work great from erv at plecterlabs.

 

I think panda got his sabre from them a long time ago...

 

I plan to order the trooper's blade from them, as I've seen it and it looks quite a bit

 

like the MQ sabre from the paintings.

 

he offers short and long blades...

 

things do change... and panda, how does the sabre work these days

 

with your replacement parts?

 

if the custom sabre shop had a more stormtrooper type design I'd go for it... but for now it looks like

 

sabreforge has the best stormtrooper blade.

[pandatrooper[TK]]

The original saber fell apart. Personally, I wouldn't consider buying something less than a year ago as "a long time ago". I basically took it apart because it was useless in it's shipped state. It worked a couple times and basically died. The wiring was really bad. There's other people that make full dueling blades, and they can make their outer diameter 1" with a thick wall.

 

The hilt is now sitting on a shelf. I used the soundboard and built my own saber from parts from TCSS and it works way better. The internal diameter of the Saberforge hilts is really small, so you don;t have many battery options.

 

Saberforge has to do a lot of work and PR to do with the saber community to earn their trust back. I think he should have stepped up when the Sabersound 1.0 boards weren't working as advertised, and he probably should have offered exchanges or a discount on the next version of the board.

 

I think that's great if he can turn a new leaf and start fresh. I think his designs are cool. But I think he has to reach out to the community first.

 

There's a wide open market for people looking for affordable sound cards. No one currently offers an affordable one that performs and is in stock. He could totally jump on this.

[Hawkeye[501st]]

Thanks guys for all the feedback!

Thanks Terry,Vern and Stephen!

I guess Will look around and see what i can get my hands on!

I tried to get an MR but they dont ship to malaysia due the the length!

Thanks all this is excellent feedback

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

I think that if a sabre fell apart, then I don't doubt why you're upset with the design.

 

that's too bad, because his trooperblade looks really good, in photos and in my hands...

[BlackDOG[TK]]

CAVEAT: I don't have a saberforge saber but have SEVERAL TCSS MHS Sabers....

 

That qualification being said, try the custom saber shop Saber Builder or a Saber Guild Member.....

 

Reasons why:

 

1. With a little adaptation, you can get a hilt that looks very similar and will be better. Take a look at the photos.....there are exposed set screws holding the sections together. My experience with this type of design makes for less than stable build. TCSS sections are held together by threads that lock them together. Dueled hard with my TCSS Modular Hilt System (MHS) saber..No issues of durability.

 

2. Saber folks are PICKY, but they know their stuff. If you have bad feedback on a saber forum, that comes from saber guys judging other saber guys. If I am going to go for EIB, then I would listen to EIB folks.........same thing with sabers.

 

3. You get what you pay for...and sometimes less. A quality saber hilt alone should cost about a hundred bucks.......You can buy a MR and hit something with it and it can die (you get less than you pay for). I broke a poly C blade tip dueling with my TCSS saber and the hilt has never faltered. The 149 price tag scares me........waaaay to low for a nice saber.

 

Recommendations:

Several guys over at TCSS and FX sabers have built trooper sabers. Do a search and take a look. Any of the MHS hilts will feel good in the hand and look good with the white powdercoat.........

 

Finding a Crystal Focus.......they are rare gems......they are the best around, but hard to come buy. I have 3 CFs in sabers..........after several years of building and collecting. If you really want an awesome turn key product...get in touch with a sabersmith in the SaberGuild....snag a saber with a Petit Crouton (basically a CF lite)...enjoy a well built prop that wont fritz out on you after the first clash with a bathrobe jedi......

 

My 2 cents......

 

 

HMMMMMMMM...Trooper Saber....I have not thought about that in a while.......great...another prop build.

 

J.

Edited October 1, 2010 by BlackDOG