I did show my Starmate mods to Sal and the gang while in Golden, and they didn't seem too thrilled. I don't blame them - finger grooves have a couple of problems associated with them.
The first is that (I find) any reasonable size groove will fit about 1/3 of the users well and 1/3 not so well, and leave the remaining 1/3 with an uncomfortable, ill-fitting grip. That's just because of the way hands vary. The lock cutout on the Starmate is really too small to make a good finger groove, so I had to extend it formard slightly in addition to making a counterpart in the back scale. The result fits me well, but wouldn't work for someone with very large hands - and there is no room to widen it further.
The second issue is that grip security and mobility are often a trade-off. I've been carrying an AFCK for years and have grown to like a finger-groove that "locks in" the grip. On the stock Starmate, there are really only slight humps to index the handle by and dictate how you grip it, so it supports a very loose and mobile grip. My modification changes this enormously, the finger-groove dictating a specific saber-grip at the the expense of some versatility.
Do I like my Starmate better with its modifications? Absolutely. Would they work for you? Probably, unless you have very large hands. Should they be a "standard" feature? Probably not. This would leave some users "out in the cold" with a grip they couldn't use, plus it's Bob Terzuola's design, not mine. And, like most things, there are trade-offs to the knife's appearance and function:
Good - more secure grip; better access to the hole for "drop" opening.
Bad - less versatile, mobile grip; one more curve on an already awkward-looking handle.
In short, the Spyderco folks have seen what I've done, they've considered it, and I wouldn't expect to see it become standard.
I do think they should consider more grooving on the spine, though. My thumb falls mostly on the grooving already there, but it has little effect sandwiched between the scales. Many folks I've seen with larger thumbs reach farther up the spine, where there is no grooving at all. Like the shallow false edge, the grooving seems surprisingly cosmetic on a knife from such a function-oriented designer.
-Drew
