I have a lot of Wizards and Warlocks with custom stamps and no indication of anything about the plastic blend on them. If they are stiff enough I just throw them.
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[Gateway] Gateway Wizard
- Thread starter Fosterjon35
- Start date
pjhayes7
Double Eagle Member
My guess is it had something to do with it being a Factory Second, but that is just me speculating. Maybe any of those is not "evaluated" by someone to designate the plastic type/flex and mark it on the disc. My guess is once it has been designated as a Second, no one bothers doing much more with it, although they did obviously take the time to write Wizard and the weight, so I don't know.
Yeah, I like it and don't really care other than just being a little curious what the plastic mix was supposed to be.
I get that; if you like it and want another it helps to know what it is.
Except this is Gateway so next time it will probably be something else.
It's Wizards, man.
Long story: Back in the day before the Internet we used to buy guitars at stores. When you were a teenager and didn't know about tax and straps and amps and such you would see a price for a Strat and think you had enough $ for a Strat, but when you got to the store suddenly the Strat was $100 more than in the ad and you didn't have enough for the guitar much less tax, amp, etc. BUT the store would have this old Jazzmaster that they magically could work on the price of so suddenly you owned a Jazzmaster. Eventually somebody would tell you that you need to replace the strings (hopefully before you needed a tetanus shot) so you would go to the music store and ask for strings only to find out they come in different gauges and you have no idea what you are doing. So the guy asks you if you want to play like Eddie Van Halen or Stevie Ray Vaughn and of course you say Eddie Van Halen so he sells you 9's and you go home to put them on your guitar. You cut the old strings off your Jazzmaster and the first thing that happens is the vibrato system falls into the guitar. So you are a teenager and freak a little, then turn the guitar over to see if the vibrato comes back out. When you do that, the bridge falls on the floor. Since you are not expecting any of this you freak out harder but eventually get everything put back together with new strings and this fear in the back of your head that you broke the guitar. You strum some power chords and then all of a sudden the strings start popping out of place on the bridge, so you know you broke it but you are embarrassed so you don't tell anyone or take it anyplace and just sorta play it like that for a long time until somebody finally tells you that the bridge design is bad, the guitar probably had like 14's on it when you bought it and the lighter strings pop out of place. So you didn't break anything, you buy a buzzstop, and after going through all that you become a devoted Jazzmaster player because why would you learn all those in's and out's of a Jazzmaster just to trade it in for a Strat?
Gateway plastics are like Jazzmasters. Once you know, you know. You know?
BillFleming
* Ace Member *
Look at the bottom....all of the Wizards I've seen have three embossed lines. One to the left of center, one to the right of center, and one below center. They will have the information written in marker.
Left of center: Grams (ex: 173)
Right of center: Flex (ex: SSS)
Below center: Mold (ex: Wiz for Wizard)
They don't, though. I'm at work so I can't take a picture, but I have some that have the weight and mold but nothing else filled in. You just have to guess, I guess?
Not a big deal, it's not like I'm going to go 'Well, it feels good but I'm not sure if it's Medium or Soft so I'll pass" or anything. I just throw them.
pjhayes7
Double Eagle Member
I get that; if you like it and want another it helps to know what it is.
Except this is Gateway so next time it will probably be something else.
It's Wizards, man.
Long story: Back in the day before the Internet we used to buy guitars at stores. When you were a teenager and didn't know about tax and straps and amps and such you would see a price for a Strat and think you had enough $ for a Strat, but when you got to the store suddenly the Strat was $100 more than in the ad and you didn't have enough for the guitar much less tax, amp, etc. BUT the store would have this old Jazzmaster that they magically could work on the price of so suddenly you owned a Jazzmaster. Eventually somebody would tell you that you need to replace the strings (hopefully before you needed a tetanus shot) so you would go to the music store and ask for strings only to find out they come in different gauges and you have no idea what you are doing. So the guy asks you if you want to play like Eddie Van Halen or Stevie Ray Vaughn and of course you say Eddie Van Halen so he sells you 9's and you go home to put them on your guitar. You cut the old strings off your Jazzmaster and the first thing that happens is the vibrato system falls into the guitar. So you are a teenager and freak a little, then turn the guitar over to see if the vibrato comes back out. When you do that, the bridge falls on the floor. Since you are not expecting any of this you freak out harder but eventually get everything put back together with new strings and this fear in the back of your head that you broke the guitar. You strum some power chords and then all of a sudden the strings start popping out of place on the bridge, so you know you broke it but you are embarrassed so you don't tell anyone or take it anyplace and just sorta play it like that for a long time until somebody finally tells you that the bridge design is bad, the guitar probably had like 14's on it when you bought it and the lighter strings pop out of place. So you didn't break anything, you buy a buzzstop, and after going through all that you become a devoted Jazzmaster player because why would you learn all those in's and out's of a Jazzmaster just to trade it in for a Strat?
Gateway plastics are like Jazzmasters. Once you know, you know. You know?
That is an oddly specific story. I almost think there is no way someone could make up a story like that unless they personally experienced it.
Honestly, Gateway plastic is not as crazy as everyone makes it out to be. I would say 90% of the plastic I have felt feels pretty much like what it is labeled as. If you stick with the normal Suregrip, you will probably get what you expect when you buy it online. That is not to say that you won't have some SS that is as stiff as Firm or as flexible as SSS, but those are the exception and not the rule.
I probably only have about 20 Wizards and that will probably last me another 10 plus years since I only play on the weekends any more. If I find one I like, I buy it, but am not worried about getting all of the exact same blend. As a Wizard user, I have enough choice in local stores to find a couple a year I want to buy. Now if I liked Magics, Warlocks, etc., I might get annoyed with Gateway.
pjhayes7
Double Eagle Member
I have several years worth of Wizards going back until around 2015. The Orange is brand new and has no place where the Flex/Plastic type should be marked. I am assuming this is a new mold piece without the designated place to write mold, weight, and plastic type. Sorry the pics are so crappy.
I would love to know why the orange one is a Factory Second. Seems like there is nothing cosmetically wrong with it. Same for the other i have almost exactly like it with the same markings.
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Lurp Nuts
* Ace Member *
So then what is the Sunburst with Rosewood and Tort of the Wizard realm? A nice Soft sure grip in white? Or perhaps a black SSS?
tbird888
Salient Disc Test Team
I'm not sure you should judge your Wizard by how it feels when new. I once had an email exchange with Dave about the flexibility of his plastics. He told me the flex rating was more based on a broken in disc more than new. I'm a big fan of firmer plastics and loved the firm black og sss wizards I started with. As I'd get a few hundred putts into them the flex would start showing up so I started experimenting to find a firm Wizard that stayed firm. I stopped long before the SBs and all the chaos that's since followed. I couldn't imagine that same hunt today.
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Here is an example:
It's a 2010 club stamp; usually the flex was written there even though there was no spot for it, but sometimes there is nothing.
It's a 2010 club stamp; usually the flex was written there even though there was no spot for it, but sometimes there is nothing.
Soft sure grip in black? Black sure grip has one Hell of a feel, anyway.
Emoney
* Ace Member *
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
- Messages
- 2,889
The main problem for me, besides texture and firmness, is how the different plastic blends make the Wizard mold up.
I have 3 Wizards that are all from the same molding but have a "beads worth" of plh difference... that honestly makes or breaks a good wizard for me. (Red=best, hemp=good, suregrip=trash)
(New White Organic hemp
I have 3 Wizards that are all from the same molding but have a "beads worth" of plh difference... that honestly makes or breaks a good wizard for me. (Red=best, hemp=good, suregrip=trash)
(New White Organic hemp
vs new white suregrip firm
)
(New white organic hemp
(New white organic hemp
vs new red special blend Nikko
)
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Kind of hard for me to judge the parting line height with the discs upside down. It's obvious the dome or height of the discs are different but to me the difference in the parting line height is best judged by the height of the line from the bottom edge of the disc.
I can try and get some pictures up later if this isn't making sense.
I can try and get some pictures up later if this isn't making sense.
Emoney
* Ace Member *
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
- Messages
- 2,889
Sry...yes...maybe dome and shoulder flatness and whatnot is more what I meant rather than plh...
You can at least see the difference in my pics.. this is the most frustrating part of wizards for me...then it's texture...then firmness
pjhayes7
Double Eagle Member
A couple of Black Softs were the Wizards that made me fall in love with the mold.
Yeah. Upside down or right side up those things would feel like totally different discs in the hand.
There was a general time frame of 2010-2011 where all Wizards sucked. The one I posted a picture of today was one of them, it was not very stable out of the box. I had three from that time frame; I used them for putting since they sucked for driving. If you go into the Disc Golf Review archive there are dozens of Frank Delicious posts bitching about how screwed up the Wizard was was from that time frame. Then somewhere along the way in 2011 good Wizards started rolling out again. I never could figure out what the issue with them was.
That was a decade ago and everybody has forgotten about it. Now when I'm putting with one people will go "Oh, that's a sweet old Wizard" and I'm thinking "Actually it sucks, but thanks anyway."
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2021
- Messages
- 565
Pretty big fan of these putters. I've used a Voodoo which is primarly for dead straight laser putts but I've got 6 different Wizard molds in my bag and really enjoy trying new ones / finding OOP plastics/molds to try.
Anyone else a huge fan?
Anyone else a huge fan?
BuzzzChief
Double Eagle Member
Yes, they're great. :hfive:
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2012
- Messages
- 6,311
Agreed. I've tried out quite a few different putters, too many actually, before finally figuring out that Wizards are the best. I just switched out a SS for a Lunar yesterday for putting. Shot my personal best at my local course with it too.
