I don’t want to say anything that’s not my place to say, but I will say I don’t think the LS-56 is the last custom job I’ll have a hand in. I do love the LS-40 after all, lol. LS-32 I do not personally have, but I would be willing to make something for it if I could get my hands on one. Hmm, there are other things I’m also working on but can’t really say much about, lol. One that will be really interesting for sure, and something no one is even thinking of.
Focus Attack is only selling the official LS-32 gates and even got the description wrong on one of the sub-gates claiming it as Octo feeling, which it isn’t at all. That new sub-gate they have will make the stick feel like a Korean stick, since the shape of the restrictor is similar to the restrictor built into the body of say, a Crown stick, only the guide for the LS-32 will have less movement range.
The 5 custom gates will indeed fit the LS-58 as well, which is why I usually type LS-5x since they’re essentially the same stick. I also think they’ll fit the LS-33 and LS-55 as well, but I am not sure since I don’t have them. I’m fairly certain the gate is the same part used on all of the compact Seimitsu sticks. If someone would like to send me a test sample or when the gates come out, confirm, I’d love to know.
The LS-40 is, IMO, a better stick. I like the LS-5x a lot, but once you put any kind of additional tension on the level such as a tighter spring, it causes the pivot to feel grindy or “pop” because of that odd pivot design, even when lubricated. The LS-40 has a much higher quality pivot, over all the stick feels a lot smoother than the LS-5x. Both sticks also have the same exact engage and throw distances, so they’re both fast and the same gate mod theories for the LS-5x will work exactly the same on the LS-40, which is why snip Anyway, I highly recommend giving the LS-40 a shot. The only thing I prefer about the LS-5x over it, is the length of the shaft once mounted in a stick. The LS-40’s shaft is simply too short, which makes it unusable for most people.
Huh, I never understood why people think Sawna feels better built. I mean, the snap tabs on their buttons break all the damn time (probably the same for Seimitsu snap in tabs, though…) and they don’t offer screw in options. I do however, like the tint of their smoke and transparents, and I think the plunger designs are interesting, but they still have those crappy snap in tabs. JLF only has a superior pivot IMO, other than that, the plastic body is just the same in feeling and I even worry that the tabs on those would break after a while. The JLF gate feels super brittle although it’s fairly sturdy, however the tabs that allow 4 way restriction break extremely easy. I only changed the gate 4 times and they broke off.
For what it’s worth, the Seimitsu gates have a softer feel to them that I feel makes them a bit more durable, less brittle, could probably take more abuse. I’ve hammered a stock gate against a piece of MDF to map out mounting holes for an older variant of the short throw mod, and there was no damage at all to the gate. Those things will definitely last, even under minor abuse.
The JLF has dead zone wiggle as well.
Dead zone wiggle is something that you can cut down on by putting more tension on the lever, which means a tighter spring. But you’ll still have some degree of wiggle, and I don’t recommend tighter springs unless you use aluminum ball/bat tops.
I think the cause of the “cheap” dead zone feel may be because of the pivot design. Since the Seimitsu pivot doesn’t feel as smooth as the JLF, that could be it. I personally feel that the LS-40 also feels better at dead zone than the LS-5x, and the only real difference between the two sticks is the pivot, otherwise the measurements for engage and throw are the same between them.
