Is the Simpson 58 Best Badger a good all rounder ?

[Owen Bawn]

The Zenith Manchurian brushes are incredible values. I love mine and I say that as an owner of 1 Zenith and well over 20 Simpsons. 1/3 of the price of Simpson Manchurian and in the same class IMO.

Zenith Manchurians and Silvertips and the Semogue Finest are the best values in luxury badger brushes. Terrific products. In terms of price, Shavemac is one small step up from these two brushmakers, but you get the opportunity to participate in the brush design, to some extent.

 

[SliceOfLife]

My experience with the 58 is that in super or best it's a bit lofty for MY taste... but I like loads of backbone. In Manchurian, it'd be fine, but at the pricepoint, "fine" doesn't cut it. You want fantastic.

As others have mentioned, Zenith has a nice manchurian (but they're all big... like 28mm+) for the price. Semogue Mistura is a top notch brush as a low price. Simpsons, I lean towards the chubby brushes, as I find nothing else they make compares (they make lots of great brushes, but Chubbies are a top tier brush).

Personally, I use my collection of restored vintage brushes with fan-shaped Oumo mixed knots 99% of the time these days. They're basically a lower end version of the Semogue Mistura (a lot of intermittent shedding, definitely more scratchy/scrubby). If given the choice between one of these and a Semogue though, I'd take the Semogue for the reasons noted.

My zenith Manchurian doesn't see much use (because It's a bit too big for me mostly), but for the price, it's definitely a good brush if you want a pure two band... but so are the semogue's. Simpson's two band is great, but again, I'd only buy it in the chubby (or eagle) format personally... and those brushes are not cheap.

I haven't owned a shavemac in a long time, but they are great brushes. I only ever sold my 2 band D01's because they overlapped with my similar Rooneys, and the Rooneys edged them out. Since Rooney's are now gone, Shavemac would be the next best thing I've tried (but again, you're paying a good bit more than a Semogue or Zenith).

 

[EclipseRedRing]

My experience with the 58 is that in super or best it's a bit lofty for MY taste... but I like loads of backbone. In Manchurian, it'd be fine, but at the pricepoint, "fine" doesn't cut it. You want fantastic.

I agree, I have the 58 in Manchurian and it is a little lofty for me; indeed the loft is a few mm higher than stated on the Simpson website; but as we all know, Simpson play fast and loose with their measurements. My 58 adds nice variety to my rotation and the longer handle is useful when loading from a small wafer of soap at the bottom of a mug. That said, the 58 will never be my favourite, the Duke 3 and Chubby 1 Manchurians are far superior to my taste.

 

[shaveguy492863]

Simpson 58 in best was my second brush, I arrived at it because I heard the Duke 3 was a solid all-rounder, but I didn't like the handle, I view the 58 as a Duke 3 with a better handle. Having used the 58 for 2 months now, it is my second favorite brush after a slightly bigger and denser 2-band Shavemac RB3 which is a real beauty.

However, I would recommend the 58 whole-heartedly, I consider it a goldilocks brush.