SIGI Maestro Review - Is It Worth It?

[@jonathanbartlett1098]

I love this review and I think it is a good assessment of Sigi weapons in general, not just the Maestro. The qualities you describe are the same qualities I have found in my Sigi Schilt-less and the Sigi Gothic. Lots of flex, well balanced, extremely durable, and handles like a dream

[@TurulHEMA]

That's great to hear! I have never handled a SIGI standard before, but if that is the case then I will start recommending them.

[@leonardosalomao6296]

I got a Maestro recently and do not regret it. Best Feder I used so far, and after intense sparring and some competitions, it's still holding fine.

[@TurulHEMA]

I feel the same. I have handled plenty of other feders and they all have their own merits. Nothing quite as good IMO and the Maestro.

[@ultimomos5918]

Nice review! Got my Gothic coming at the end of the month, can't wait to join Club Sigi :)

[@GreenMachine1975]

I got two Sigi Maestros! They're AMAZING!!!

[@ricardomilos2107]

Great channel, keep Up the good Work, Love those Fight Reviews :)

[@TurulHEMA]

Thank you! I have a few fight analysis videos planned that I think you will like.

[@ricardomilos2107]

@@TurulHEMA looking Forward to it, maybe Björn Rüther :)?

[@TurulHEMA]

@@ricardomilos2107 It's funny you would say that. I actually considered Björn Rüther. I love his channel! Unfortunately, I can't find enough tournament footage of him to do justice to his fencing.

[@alpenjon]

Nice review! I have been using Regenyei spiky schilts for years and don't think they are dangerous at all, as I haven't experienced any injury that was clearly related to it.

[@TurulHEMA]

Well I am willing to admit I could be wrong. I just think when fencing like what I did @4:50 a spikey shilt could hurt someone. Same goes for a blade grab at or around the shilt hurting the hand. Have you experienced any benefit from the spikey shilt?

[@alpenjon]

​@@TurulHEMA Yes and I appreciate this about you, same here! Let me make my argument: When you strike a flat surface, you cannot hit with the shilt, as the blade and the crossguard will get in the way long before that. So something has to portrude for the shilt to hit it, AND the object and the plane of the strike need to be fully aligned with the crossguard for some damage to occur. What is an over-riding effect I think is that the crossguard really sticks out no matter what, and is way more dangerous. This is why e.g. the Mordhau is feared. For me it comes down to this: Strikes with any part of the sword close to your hand have to be well measured and controlled (if done at all), simply because of the crossguard. If I wanted to hit you with my shilt without the crossguard also hitting you at the same time, it would be a big challenge, and I wouldn't want to try. @4:50 the shilt may connect to your opponent, but at the same time the crossguard connects as well. Luckily, the way it happens seems to be "flat" and with insufficient force to cause injury. If any strikes are connecting that close to the hand, I think one should try to either not get as close, increase the distance, or move on to pure grappling. The benefit of this shilt I think I have is that it allows me to trap the opponent's blade better, especially as this is something I am increasingly using, e.g. when actively parrying (seeking the opponent's blade in my Pflug, letting this blade slide down into the strong of my blade). If the shilt is more of an afterthought I can also trap the blade, but then it will have to land on my crossguard and hence often a bit on my hands as well. It is also possible that the opponents blade glides down, only gets deflected by the non-spikey shilt, and then won't be caught by crossguard as well or at all.

[@TurulHEMA]

@@alpenjon I appreciate you taking the time to write such a detailed response. I agree that when making any kind of strike the crossguard is much more likely to hit before the shilt would. Therefore, the shilt is far less of a risk than the crossguard. I can, however, still hit someone with the pointed end of a shilt while avoiding hitting them with the crossguard. See 0:32, where I have my shilt on my opponent, but I didn't hit with the crossguard. So hitting with the shilt is less likely, but can still happen. My point in this, is that you have two pointed ends to keep an eye on rather than just one. My main concern is still in close game techniques more than the occasional strike that lands on the strong of the blade. E.g. once someone was trying to grab my right hand as they were stepping in for a grapple. Instead, the palm of their hand grabbed the end of the crossguard. It not only ripped their glove, but it injured their hand slightly. Now, the crossguard is far less pointed than these pointed shilts but can still be dangerous. This in unavoidable risk as crossguards are integral to longswords, a pointed shilt on the otehr hand is an optional risk. Depending upon your approach to fencing (how you grapple, blade grab, turn your opponent) determines how much of a risk a pointed shilt poses. I study and teach Fiore, and many of the plays place the hands at or near the shilt. See: first scholar of the seventh remedy, first and second scholar of the fourth remedy, or the twelfth scholar of the third remedy. While these techniques could be used against an opponent with a pointed shilt, all it would take for an injury is for someone to grab the shilt on accident. Much like the injury I previously described with the crossguard, our gloves offer little protection for the palm. Above all, accidents happen. Lastly, you mention a benefit to blade catching. This is actually really interesting and I would like to try it out some time! Though that isn't exactly fair to your opponent unless they have one too. Not sure what the impact could be at tournaments.

[@alpenjon]

​@@TurulHEMA Likewise! For me 0:32 is hard to really assess. I cannot argue that 1 point is less than 2, I just know of no clear instance of the shilt causing injury. We regularily try to grab each other's blades, usually close to the hilt, that includes trying to jank it out of the opponents hand for a disarm, and so far no injuries occured during such maneuvers. I think if you grab the blade in a controlled manner, the shilt doesn't really matter unless it has sharp edges in a way that I don't know exist in todays feders. If you grab hastiy, you might manage to hurt yourself on the shilt somehow, though I can only imagine this if the opponents slashes at you and you try at catching the blade mid-air, a thing I strictly warn against. Regarding the unfair advantage: By catching I mean not really fully trapping it by the way of pinching (which is nearly impossible to do in sparring), but slighltly aiding the opponent's blade not to slip off your shilt. As everybody could opt for this shilt, in theory the playing field is even. If you have no shilt at all, you stand almost the same chance of catching the blade, though lateral movement is completely uninhibited, and your hands are exposed. If your shilt is tilted backwards, you put yourself at a disadvantage, because the opponents blade will glance of and deflect no matter what. If your shilt is just at a 90 degree angle, the point might be more pronounced and hence dangerous than with the spikey one, but the catching less effective. So my suggestion to the hand issue would be this: No matter what use cut-resistant kevlar gloves, such as e.g. the Mechanix Pursuit. With those, it is nearly impossible to cut yourself on anything. They have even taken a full longsword thrust into my open hand and turned it into a bruise instead of something much worse. There is a lot of attention to the gear we know and have when it comes to security, but many people wear either nothing under their sparring gloves or leather gloves that give almost no additional protection to parts of the body that are very important to most people.

[@TurulHEMA]

@@alpenjon Well I will concede that you have made some strong points and your actual experience does outweigh my assumed risks. I will have to check out the Mechanix Pursuit. No much more to pay to protect the hands.

[@ProphetoftheMetal]

I love my SIGI standard, but I would choose the Maestro for competition. My SIGI standard kept getting blasted during competition, so the more sturdier Maestro will fare well in the bind.

[@TurulHEMA]

I haven't had the opportunity to handle the standard yet. Does the standard just flex too much in the bind?

[@tvinforest5255]

Thanks for your review. Spiky schilt can also damage jackets - that's just financial damage to your sparring partner. Unnecessary thing imho.

[@TurulHEMA]

Exactly. Either it has no benefit and increased risk and/or damage to equipment, or it has a benefit and it is now unfair fencing. IMO the only differences between feders should be stylistic or slight differences in handling.

[@alpenjon]

If one hits a jacket in a way that shilt could do damaged to it, it is way more likely that actually the crossguard punches or ripps a hole into it. It is really hard hitting something with the shilt without the crossguard doing much more damage in the same moment. On the other hand, a spikey shilt really does help trapping a blade, where it otherwise would just glance off and possibly not even be caught with the crossguard.

[@TurulHEMA]

@@alpenjon @0:31 I place my shilt on my opponent with force, while avoiding hitting with my crossguard. Here, a pointed shilt could damage his gambeson. Towards the end of the exchange I grab my opponents shilt to control his weapon. A pointed shilt could injure my hand or damage my glove as it is only that fairly thin cloth protecting my palm.

[@tvinforest5255]

@@alpenjon I wanted to buy a sword with a pointy shilt initially- but I like to enter the grapple with halfsword and push opponents with two hands, sometimes because of that crossguard is placed under the armpit blade across the neck, torso, or crossguard against the neck. These are a bit strikes but mostly dragging pushing motions - nevertheless, I have thought that this can become an issue and I would be told to stop using this moves in my club at all. So I decided to choose something without pointy shilt and mb a bit more flexible because halfsword thrusts are much stiffer. Also, I thought that I'm yet not that experienced to add more complexity by using pointy catchy shilt or dealing with it so I should stick to the basics and rely on a crossguard. That was my consideration - but I think pointy shilt can add variety, helps to catch blade and pushing it against the neck, the face is a good thing in a real blossfechten, and some look cool also. Such thoughts - Cheers!

[@alpenjon]

@@tvinforest5255 Thanks! I think using the half-sword to merely push and shove can potentially be dangerous (more so due to the crosdguard than any shilt), but mostly it is not the best option you have in this range. If one fencer is doing that push and the other drops his sword and uses 2 hands to grapple, I would bet my money for sure on the one with free hands, that is if he knows how to wrestle and throw. This is why if you watch high level tournaments, you will rarely if ever find half-sword pushes. If you find convincing evidence that it is not so, feel free to link it.

[@StripedJacketKid]

do you guys often practice outside in the park? ive been considering throwing some practice swings with steel in a park near my apartment, but ive been worried about getting in trouble

[@petritzky]

It wasn't the wiggle that hit your opponent, but the left Oberhau right after. I still get the point though. With all the flex an unclean strike can bend around a parry and give the impression of a hit. Another thing I discovered was that you can use the flex to have a longer window for a thrust or even hit, when the thrust should have missed. You basically slap your sword in thumbgrip down from Von Tag and use the opponents sword so that the point flexes behind the opponents sword. It's a little hard to explain, I did that in my newest sparring video.

[@ericonmarzs]

Similar techniques are discribed by meyer, a version of the the prelhaw (rebound cut) and gluzhaw (clashing cut) both use the flex of the blade while in the thumb grip, striking the opponents sword with the flat intentionally to take advantage of the flex. Couldn't really pull them off with stiff swords but work like a charm with sigis or pavel moc feders.

[@anotherhistoryenthusiast5874]

Do you have a Hungarian background? I didn't know Turul was a known symbol outside of Hungary.