I hear you. I too don't like the regular R41's handle. It does feel like plastic. As far as the head goes, and that in general, I don't like at it whether it's boring or not (it should still be built well) but if it does the job. The handle on the other hand is something I'd like to be, well, aesthetically pleasing.
Sure the R41 head does the job but as this is a bit of a hobby I was hoping for something special and didn't find it. I know special heads are out there because I have experienced it with the SLOC, 37C, etc. I agree this GS has a good looking handle very similar to my EJ 3one6. I still haven't quite worked out the relationship between Muhle and EJ eg are they just developing the products together, is one licensing from the other, is there any co-production, is it just historic, etc? One thing that does put me off both the GS and 3one6 is that the handle is not a single part and seems to be somehow glued together which according to Amazon reviews can fail after a while negating the expected longevity of investing in stainless steel.
My 3one6 handle also looks like one piece, certainly not intended to be disassembled by the consumer, but from that Amazon UK review photo it does look like it's made from multiple parts and I suspect your GS might be too.
My view is that the handle of a three-piece razor is largely irrelevant - you can always replace it with a better one. I have a whole bunch of brass, stainless, aluminium, and titanium handles. I generally prefer titanium handles, even on my vintage razors. I find vintage handles to be too small and fiddly, stainless steel handles too heavy and clumsy. YMMV.
The EJ stainless steel 3one6 handle does not unscrew into subparts it seems to eventually break with usage and has been somehow bonded together internally. When I look at mine in real life it's not obvious made from multiple parts but that picture I posted above of a broken 3one6 from an Amazon UK review seems to confirm it. My concern is that the Muhle seems to have the same or very similar top/middle parts of the handle so is also likely to be a 3 piece handle that might suffer a similar failure scenario so my comment is for longivity I would prefer the handle to be a single piece of metal.
Looking at a decade old interview with the founder of EJ he said of the DE89/R89 "It was Andreas Muller — new to the Muhle Company at the time — and myself who teamed up to search for potential contract manufacturers before we started to design a two-part head that suited both company’s needs. It was a very exciting time as we exchanged numerous sketches and CAD drawings with alteration after alteration. Ultimately my determination to keep improving the underside of the DE base plate — clean and uncluttered — allowed us to agree on a new design that was really quite different from anything else we had seen already on the market. Once we had approved the drawings we both committed to prototyping costs and shared the complicated tooling costs, which were at that time considerable."
I have the same one and use it daily, the day I got it the first thing I did ( before shaving) is change the handle.
If I have to pay 130 EUR for the razor it is not irrelevant.
My 2011 R41 does have a slightly smaller baseplate than my 2013. I think that factors in on the aggressiveness of the razor. In fact, I placed a 2013 top cap on the 2011 baseplate and got a near 2011 shave result with less drama. But, I do not get very good shaves from the 2011 since I cannot go ATG with it without tearing up my face. YMMV they say, and that is very true. I will try once more with a Feather blade in the 2011, but if I can't make it work, it is going to be benched for a while.
I measured the baseplates of the current R41, R41GS and 2011 R41. The differences were tiny, and probably within manufacturing tolerances. I'm convinced the significant difference is that the 2011 top cap is much narrower. Personally I can't tell the difference between the 2011 top cap on the 2011 baseplate or on the R41GS baseplate.
I believe the configuration of the "teeth" is also different and somehow, may affect the quality of the shave result. There is a past discussion on the differences between the 2011 and the 2013. Not sure where it is, but it was informative.
No. The teeth on the GS are not so rounded, so you can feel them more, otherwise there's absolutely no difference in my experience, especially in the end result.
