A long time ago
in a galaxy far, far away.... I backed the ASP Indigogo campaign and ordered my very first SaberForge saber dubbed
"Resilience". Yesterday, after waiting patiently for my saber to be built and then flown halfway around the world from Portland to San Francisco, New York & Amsterdam, it finally arrived at my doorstep!
I tried to come up with a clean and balanced design, radiating serenity and strength. Not too agressive but still not to be taken lightly. Here's the design in the Virtual Saber Builder:
And here she is IRL:
The parts list:
Emitter: ASP Emitter 6 (Standard)
Switch: ASP Sinister Prophecy Switch (Black)
Body: ASP Fury Body (Standard)
Pommel: ASP Gladius Pommel (Silver)
Plug: ASP Blade Plug 1 (Silver)
Blade: ASP Blade 37''
LED: ASP LED 12W+ (Deep Blue)
Soundboard: ASP Sound Viridian
According to the Virtual Saber Builder the hilt length should be 246mm (9.7") and total length with 37" blade 1186mm (3'10.7") but I measured the hilt to be 282mm (11.1") and total length 1167mm (3'9.9").
As for my thoughts, well, I have to say I'm very satisfied with the quality of my saber! The hilt feels exceptionally well made, durable and looks fantastic. It really does look even better than the render in the Virtual Saber Builder and exceeded my expectations. A real work of art. The 37" blade is long, easy to replace, very bright at night (as in, lights up the room) and easily visible in daylight. The 5 different blade 'pulse' settings available are a nice touch. The sound from the Viridian soundboard is fun, the blade ignition sound being especially satisfying. The included display-stand is a great addition too and really completes the package.
I had no trouble installing the electronics; simply slide them in, hook the 2 quick-connects up (short lead to the switch, long lead to the LED) and you're good to go. As others have already pointed out, when assembling the saber it's best not to screw the LED unit down and keep the battery-pack dangling out of the bottom while tightening the body to the switch and the switch to the emitter to avoid wire-twist damage.
The only minor issues I have are:
Tightening the actual switch with a flat washer against the curved interior of the switch section is a little tricky; it would be nice if SaberForge included a curved spacer to make that easier. The same goes for the blank switch. As it is now you need to glue that in, some threading would be nice for that.
The switch itself is very sensitive and a little too easy to trigger accidentally while holding the hilt. The polished silver finish also doesn't quite match the matte silver of the rest of my hilt. I might be replacing this when other switches become available.
My order unfortunately didn't contain any spacers and the covertech wheel on my hilt isn't quite directly opposite the switches so I'll have to see what I can do about that. A minor issue but still something that's nagging me.
Finally, it would be nice if the sound volume was configurable on a scale of 0-5 or even 0-9 instead of just mute, low and high. Low is still a bit too loud for my taste, especially with other people in the house.
Overall though, I'm extremely happy with my saber and am looking forward to the ASP shop opening up as I'm sure this won't be my only saber for very long. Well done and thanks SaberForge!