looking for Eric Wang

[TheAngelSerpent]

Hi everyone,

I once ran into someone at a tournament who had a really interesting sabre grip. Being an industrial designer it looked just like something I would have designed and made myself (if I wasn't too lazy).

I learned that it was in fact designed and made by an industrial designer named Eric Wang. I then learned that he once fenced at Haberstadt in San Francisco but was thought to have moved to LA.

I would like to get in touch with Eric and ask him if he still has any of his grips left. Does anyone know him or have any clues on how I can find him?

thanks.

[Pescados666]

NAME & CONTACT INFO
Eric Wang
2956 HADDINGTON DR
LOS ANGELES, CA 90064
(310) 837-5806



Eric Wang
860 WELLESLEY AVE
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
(310) 442-3657



Eric Wang
11863 DARLINGTON AVE
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
(310) 820-8063



Eric shei Wang
11863 DARLINGTON AVE
LOS ANGELES, CA 90049
(310) 820-8063
Add to Address Book | Map

You can try them. The only Eric Wang's listed in LA. I assumed LA stood for Los Angeles, not Louisiana.

[dekko]

LA could be lower alabama.

Don't laugh too hard there is a Mercedes plant in Alabama and lots of folks work there who are originally from the eastern part pacific rim.

[ACrimsonRapier]

ASKFred > Results > Search Results > Eric Wang

Dunno if you're looking for a student, but there's an Eric Wang. Try contacting UCLA or someone there. On this forum, akaiyuki is a UCLA student. PM her, maybe? Or Notalent, or their coach.

[akaiyuki]

I can get in contact with UCLA's coach, Greg Schiller, and I know he has Eric's contact info. But perhaps notalent knows a more direct way to contact him?

[Neinteen]

What was so great about the grip?

[TheAngelSerpent]

Thanks guys,

No luck with those phone numbers. I did mean Los Angeles although I feel a little less ignorant about the meaning of "LA" thanks to you.

I was hoping someone would know him through the fencing community since I'm not even sure if he's still in LA or not.

I just stumbled on this site myself and am quite impressed by the geographical vastness of its membership.

[TheAngelSerpent]

What was so great about the grip?

Hmm.. I'll try to explain it in words.

I guess is was analogous to a foil Belgian pistol grip vs. a French grip. My coach would always tell me that foil is all about the first two fingers (and thumb) and sabre is all about the thumb. So, just as the pistol grip "isolates" the first two fingers (and some have a scored wide surface for the thumb), this sabre grip was sculpted almost like a spoon right where the thumb goes which gave it an almost joystick like control with the slightest movements. The shaft where the fingers rested was also shaped more like the curvature of the hand so it would seem to facilitate "snapping".

I know everyone has their own view on pistol grips vs. the traditional French foil/épée grips so I'm sure this sabre grip would not be for everyone either but I do make a living from ergonomics and the principles where sound not to mention it felt great in my hand.

Oh well, if I can't find it I should really just bite it and make it myself...and I'll make a better pistol grip while I'm at it too.

[notalent]

ASKFred > Results > Search Results > Eric Wang

Dunno if you're looking for a student, but there's an Eric Wang. Try contacting UCLA or someone there. On this forum, akaiyuki is a UCLA student. PM her, maybe? Or Notalent, their coach.

Wow this is what happens when you don't give lessons at SC for a season, they forget who you are. Even when the GF was at ucla I didn't give lessons there.

[DLEE]

You are correct. Eric Wang was at Halberstadt and when he completed school he got an industrial design job in the LA area. I think for a company that designs toys.

At any event he fenced in the Blade Runner tournament in San Diego which was January 5-6 of this year. He is listed as unattached. The organizers may have contact info for him.

I used one of his grips for years much to the chagrin of my coach. The grips are well made and the design is interesting. I used it differently than the way it was designed to be used as I found that placing the thumb in the recessed part caused the elbow to become too involved.

In my experience Eric is very bright, friendly, and talented.

[Inquartata]

I know Eric, as in talking to him at tournaments. Alas, I don't know how to get in touch with him otherwise. I had not heard that he had moved to LA.

[TheAngelSerpent]

Wow - getting warmer!

I never actually used his grip. I just held it in my hand for a few seconds so that's all I had to assess it.

He has no idea who I am but he's the third industrial designer I'm aware of who is also a fencer which I find interesting because both the profession and the sport is so obscure.

I'm starting to wonder if there is something about our psychological profiles that draws us into these activities resulting in us always having to explain: "no I don't design industries and I won't put up a fence in your back yard."

[bigdawg2121]

Is it the same part of your psychological profile that draws you to search for random wang on the intermets?

[KD5MDK]

Compared the the number of attorneys and doctors we have, other engineers are a minority anyway.

[Inquartata]

I once made my own sabre grip. Carved it out of a block of wood, burned a hole through it lengthwise for the blade tang, coated it with Shoe Goo.

It had a bulge to fit into the cup of my palm, a little shelf at the back for my little finger to press against when making the cut, and another, shallower one at the front, so that the pad of my thumb rested against the juncture of the grip and guard---to prevent those painful thumb/nail jams. It even had space for a hole to be drilled into the shelf at the pommel end, into which I tamped a couple of lead fishing weights for a less tip-heavy balance.

And it made zero noticeable difference in my fencing. A sabre grip is, pretty much, a grip. Were it otherwise there'd be orthopedic sabre grips on the market. Vendors are not fools. If there is a market to be captured, they will supply it.

This is why I rail against all of these little tricks people advocate to try to get an advantage. Like canting blades, for instance. Why? Because over the course of decades of fencing, I have tried almost all of them---and the bulk of them were either useless or actually had negative utility...

[keith]

Why? Because over the course of decades of fencing, I have tried almost all of them---and the bulk of them were either useless or actually had negative utility...

At last. I have always struggled with this strange sense or wrongness. Now I understand it, the problem is that we don't all fence like Inquartata.

*wanders contentedly off into the sunset*

[Inquartata]

Heh, and there it is: The inexhaustible human capacity for self-delusion, which whispers always in our ears that "I am different; it will work for [/i]me[/i], because I am special."

It's what keeps all of these unproven beliefs in the efficacy of little tricks perenially in bloom.

[Grimaldi]

I once made my own sabre grip. Carved it out of a block of wood, burned a hole through it lengthwise for the blade tang, coated it with Shoe Goo.

It had a bulge to fit into the cup of my palm, a little shelf at the back for my little finger to press against when making the cut, and another, shallower one at the front, so that the pad of my thumb rested against the juncture of the grip and guard---to prevent those painful thumb/nail jams. It even had space for a hole to be drilled into the shelf at the pommel end, into which I tamped a couple of lead fishing weights for a less tip-heavy balance.

And it made zero noticeable difference in my fencing. A sabre grip is, pretty much, a grip. Were it otherwise there'd be orthopedic sabre grips on the market. Vendors are not fools. If there is a market to be captured, they will supply it.

This is why I rail against all of these little tricks people advocate to try to get an advantage. Like canting blades, for instance. Why? Because over the course of decades of fencing, I have tried almost all of them---and the bulk of them were either useless or actually had negative utility...

This is interesting. You say vendors aren't fools, and therefore won't make fancy sabre grips because they won't make a difference in a person's fencing. Presumably, fencers aren't fools because they wouldn't buy such a grip, knowing it wouldn't help them, as vendors are usually willing to make whatever people are willing to buy.

And yet, vendors seem to make plenty of the "little tricks people advocate" which are "either useless or actually had negative utility".

So, which is it?

[ACrimsonRapier]

Wow this is what happens when you don't give lessons at SC for a season, they forget who you are. Even when the GF was at ucla I didn't give lessons there.

Well I'm a freshy at SC, and since I'm out of state I'm not really familiar with the fencing community here, anyway. o_o Now I'm just really confused about who you are. ><

Edit: Nevermind.

[Inquartata]

You say vendors aren't fools, and therefore won't make fancy sabre grips because they won't make a difference in a person's fencing.

Not exactly. They don't make them because there's no demand for them. There's no demand because they don't make a difference. One remove in there.

O(r rather, maybe there's no demand for them yet, because the search for a technical edge hasn't yet taken sabre fencers in that direction ...yet. Alas, it may happen some day.