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Karl Hein: Hein's Catch Up Review
One DVD, one routine, one bonus routine, 20 minutes and $30 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect
Well . . . this is a 5 phase routine. It starts with the production of three different coins, a copper one, a brass one and a silver one. Then there are transpositions, a three fly and more. The routine ends with the coins appearing on the shoulder and the arm of the spectator. The bonus effect is a quick one coin routine with the production of a ginormous jumbo coin.
Method
The main effect requires that you own a Copper/Silver/Brass (CSB) coin set. They range anywhere from $50 bucks on up. This is a special set of coins with a special gimmick that makes all this possible. What you're purchasing is Karl Hein's routine for the gimmick. You'll also need to be able to do some standard coin moves: classic palm, finger palm, Spider Vanish, etc. The jumbo coin production requires that you own the jumbo coin. The one coin routine that goes along with it requires classic palming and muscle pass skills. No coins are included. You are only receiving the routine.
Ad Copy Integrity
While the ad copy is accurate, it does lack information. The written ad copy very clearly states that the coins/gimmicks/etc. are NOT supplied. However, the video trailer doesn't really give you any kind of real sense as to what the routine looks like. They show a few clips of the same change (a silver coin changing into a Chinese coin with a hole in it), the kicker ending (coins on their shoulder and arm) and a handful of spectator reactions. Unfortunately, for you, there's not enough information in the trailer to help you decide if you like the routine and therefore learn it (or not).
Product Quality
The DVD is very well produced. The explanations were very cleverly shot with slow motion footage, over the should angle and excellent narration by Karl Hein. However, there were at least two sleights not taught (e.g., Spider Vanish, Muscle Pass). Also, there was this moment where Karl Hein, during the explanation, was talking about that moment in the routine when you load a coin under the spectator's watch. However, nowhere in the routine does he load a coin under their watch.
To make even weirder, in the written credits at the end, he gives thanks to Apollo Robbins for his tips on loading the coin under the spectator's watch. I'm not sure what's going on there. It's a bit weird, but there was no place in the routine where a coin is loaded under the spectator's watch.
Final Thoughts
This is a hard product to review, or at the very least, it will be hard for you to decide if you should buy it. There is no place for you to see the effect, so you have no idea if you like it or not. If there was a way to see the routine, then it might be easier. I can try to explain it, but my words will nowhere near compare to seeing it. In the video review, I'll try to give more depth.
That aside, if somehow you know you like the effect, then the question is, how good is the method. The answer is that it's very good the CSB gimmick does a lot of the work for you, and the rest is your performance skills and basic coin sleight skills. Is the method doable/legitimate? Yes. As mentioned, the ad copy is accurate, and for the most part, the product quality is excellent as well. I do think $30 bucks is might be a little steep for a coin trick that requires you to spend another $50 to $100 or so dollars (unless you already own a CSB gimmick).
When you put together a few glitches/weirdness in the teaching segment and the price, along with the fact that you're only getting a 20 minute DVD (including the intro, performance footage, and bonus effect), you're not getting a whole lot of depth. Sure, you'll learn what you need to learn, but for the asking price, I think a bit more bang for buck is in order.
Final Verdict:
3.5 Stars with a Stone Status of gem.
6 Comments
Hi Jeff!
First of all, thank you for all your great reviews! They showed me some nice products and saved me a lot of money! *G*
Regarding this review:
I saw a lecture of Karl two weeks ago here in Germany and his performance was amazing. Sure, he did not invent the wheel, but his ideas and execution were great. I did not buy this DVD, I bought one with his shuffles and cuts and its strange, that he did not include his performance in this DVD, like he did on mine or the one of a friend…
Anyway, thanks again and keep up the good work!
Magical regards from Germany!
Dominik
I saw Karl Hein lecture in Seattle last year. He’s a nice guy, and he cuts a great deal at his lectures. I wanted one DVD on false cuts and shuffles, but I ended up buying his “Lecture Special.” His presentation for Catch Up is really fun. I’m not sure I would have bought this as a stand-alone DVD, but it did get me thinking about some other coin stuff that I do.
Thanks for the cool review, Jeffro.
Hey All,
First I just wanted to mention that Karl does thank Apollo Robbins for his tips on loading coins onto shoulders and under watches, not specifically under spectator watches.
I did feel that this DVD was much too short but the routining is phenomenal. Given that I am a coin magic specialist and I do already have and use a C/S/B set, I would still have bought this DVD, though the price point could stand to be a bit lower. I chalk the higher price tag up to the material coming from the working repertoire of a working pro, and I have certainly seen my fair share of one-trick DVDs in the past with not-so-great material, production (etc, etc) for much more than the $30 going rate for this disc.
Personally I think this DVD deserves at least a tip of the hat because it got Jeff (of ALL PEOPLE!) to consider possibly buying a C/S/B set. 🙂
Great job again Jeffu!
Dr. J.
Hi all, yes, Dr. J, you are correct. This review stands to go up a little in its rating. First, as you said, Hein never claims to load this under a spectator’s watch. Mr. Stone, you might want to be more careful about mentioning an omission on Hein’s part. There is none.
Next, I did the CSB almost the same way for years and years. I would be embarrassed to tell you how long. There are good routines out there, but this one deserves a better rating because: it is flexible ( a magician can use only parts of it if desired), and it breaks a lot of new ground with the CSB.
I think Mr. Hein did not want to show the whole performance because he did not want more ripoffs. But actually, he should do so because most of this is so intricate and covers so much new ground that it would be very very hard–probably impossible– for someone to copy it by seeing the performance, even with the know how of the gimmick.
Yet this is a true gem so it rightly prompted Hein to protect it somewhat by not showing the performance. if you like the CSB or feel that you could get more out of it,
you really have to buy this. It is well worth it. It would probably be worth it just for the watch load, the elbow load and shoulder load. You could use these almost every day in most coin magic.
This is the second review I saw where Jeff put WAY TOO MUCH emphasis on a small little detail that had nothing to do with the magic.
This was just Jeff’s imagining that Hein claimed to put something under the spectator’s watch. AS a reviewer, you are claiming somewhat to
be an expert in magic. So please review the trick sufficiently not to make a charge against the creator when there was no omission.
Also, the spider vanish and muscle pass are not secrets to any coin worker. you can learn them easily.
I really appreciate your reviews overall. However, PLEASE FOCUS ON THE MAGIC MORE. THE KEY QUESTION IS, IS IT GOOD OR GREAT MAGIC OR NOT?
THAT IS WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW. NOT HOW YOU WOULD HAVE STATED THE CLAIMS MORE CAREFULLY OR HOW YOU WOULD HAVE SHARED A PERFORMANCE. WE are looking
to buy magic not on how you would have arranged some tiny details, but rather, is it good to great magic? If so, how good? that is what we are looking for.
Thanks again for your great reviews overall. It is very hard to find an honest, discerning reviewer like you so we all appreciate you!!!!
@Scott – Thanks for the comment. However, you will not find what you’re looking for in a review from me. I do not review whether the trick is good magic or bad magic. I think that Coin Flurry by David Roth is bad magic. But others think it’s great magic. If you like Coin Flurry then the fact that I think it’s bad magic is irrelevant.
Ad for me “imagining that Hein claimed to put something under the spectator’s watch.” I think you misunderstood what I was saying. In the teaching segment, Hein mentioned “the part where he loaded the coin under their watch.” I was merely confused at why he mentioned that since it wasn’t in the routine. However, that did not impact the star rating.
My reviews are based on three things:
1) Is the ad copy honest
2) Is the product quality (i.e., gimmick construction, teaching quality, etc.) good.
3) Is the method realistic and effective
That’s it. I do not judge if the trick is good or not. If I judged products based on whether or not I think it’s good magic or if I “Like” the effect, almost everything would get a bad review from me.
The final thing I try to do in my reviews is let the buyer know what they are paying for as much as possible without exposing anything. Generally, it goes something like this:
The potential buyer watches the ad trailer and thinks, “Wow that’s a great trick. I’d like to do it in my act. I wonder if it’s as good as the ad copy/trailer claims.”
Then they watch my review, and I say “yes it is as good as the trailer claims” or “no, it is not as good as the trailer claims.” That’s it. It’s up to you to decide if you like the trick. It’s not up to me to decide what’s a good trick. I think Card Warp is a bad trick. I don’t like it. Yet, guys like Eugene Burger have made a very good living doing that exact trick (along with others, obviously). What’s good magic is way too subjective for me to base a review on. Further, a good magician can make a “bad trick” play better than a bad magician with a “good trick.”
The main reason for 3.5 stars is because the potential buyer has no idea what he’s buying other than it’s a CSB routine. The only way to find out if the routine is something you like or not is to spend $30.
Hopefully that clears things up a bit. 🙂
Peace!
Jeffro