Pro Stock & Special Make Up (SMU) Racquets
Pro Stock & SMU racquets are a huge part of our business, and Pro Stock and SMU’s continue to grow!
Soon, we are going to post the current inventory of Pro Stock and SMU racquets that are at the World Headquarters; however, in the meantime, please visit our YouTube channel to see and hear more about what we do
Full Custom Head Gravity Tour 98!
We receive the racquets in the uncut, raw state, then make them yours.
The finished Pro Stock(s) are made to your specifications:
- Length: up to 28 inches
- Weight
- Inertia (swing weight)
- Grip pallet:Head TK82 (flat) or TK82S (round)
- Perfect Pallet: Custom Printed Soft Grip System
- Grip size: Size 2 to 4
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- Grip Material: Leather or Synthetic
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- String
Play Better Longer
For many years, we have been testing all racquets for string bed stiffness, effective stiffness, flexural stiffness, in-plane stiffness, and about any other stiffness you can imagine.
Throughout this process, we were also testing the strings for power potential, creep, string-on-string friction, and linearity.
Linearity is a significant property of string; however, it does not get the attention we believe it deserves. So, this little post will begin to change that. We will start with some images and explain what we see in them.
String Behavior
Four different string materials are represented here from left to right:
- RPM Blast
- IsoSpeed Polypropylene Composite
- Babolat VS Touch Natrual Gut
- Ashaway MonoGut ZX Polyether ether ketone (PEEK)
The entire chart is important, but the real property we are interested in for this post is “linearity”.
- Linearity is how straight the plot is from the beginning to failure.
- Failure is the vertical line associated with each string material.
A glance will show MonoGut ZX with the longest linear track, however, Babolat VS Touch is the very “straightest”, followed by IsoSpeed and RPM Blast.
OK, but why do we care? We care because when we say a string will play better longer, it is based on the linearity which is the property directly related to consistency.
Better predictability = better performance
Players perceive predictability more than raw stiffness.
A string that ages predictably plays better longer, even if it’s not the softest or most powerful.
That’s it!
Now all we need to do is quantify “better”.
I will leave that up to you.
Cross String Tension…Yikes!
Cross-string tensions, or actually reference tensions, are the topic of this brief post.
First, every tennis racquet has a “natural” ratio, that is, if the reference tension (and machine setting ) is 50 for both the main string and cross string when the racquet is removed from the stringing machine, the tensions remaining will be in the area of around 50 for the mains and 37 for the cross.
The resultant tension is the natural ratio of that specific racquet.
The issue with changing cross-string tension either higher or lower than the main is that the racquet has changed shape. That is why we test for In-Plane stiffness for every racquet. The higher the In-Plane stiffness, the higher the cross-string tension will remain upon removal from the machine.
If the racquet has very low In-Plane stiffness, it has expanded in width with only the main string installed, so the cross strings need to pull the racquet back into a better (hopefully original) shape.
So, when deciding how much variation you want between the main and cross strings, please consider the racquet! In most cases, we suggest using the same string tension setting for both the main and the cross, since the cross string tension will naturally be lower.
Our True Tension Professional stringing equipment supports the racquet in such a way that we install the main string and cross string at the natural ratio, so the racquet does not change shape and the string bed is consistent.
If you are curious about In-Plane stiffness for a specific tennis racquet, please leave a comment below.
Launch Angle…what is it and how do we use it?
In the simplest terms, “launch angle” is the angle the ball leaves the tennis racquet relative to the court. That does seem simple enough, but how do we, or can we, contribute to it?
We are getting more and more calls asking what to do to reduce launch angle, as the game is changing to a flatter style, which generates a little more energy.
- Racquet Trajectory plays an important role in launch angle. That is why we hear “low to high” so often.
- A flat stroke can generate more ball speed but less spin.
- String Bed Stiffness is another property that contributes to launch angle.
- A stiffer string bed can reduce launch angle.
Many, many factors contribute to this, so we think this way:
As a player, you do not want to change too many things about your stroke; you want the racquet to do the changing for you!
OK, then! The first, and maybe the only thing you would do is pick up a racquet with an 18 x 19 string pattern! In most cases, you do not even need to change your reference tension(s).
We believe the 18 x 19 pattern is slightly more compatible than an 18 x 20, but either would work to help keep your launch angle under your control!
Racquet Quest, LLC
