Category Archives: String – New
New string information
Still Committed to Your Racquet!
For the past few years and certainly the past year Racquet Quest has been committed to tennis racquets and yours is included!
Hopefully the days of the “mask”are over and we can resume actually talking to each other and be understood! Of course if you prefer to wear a mask that is OK, too!
Here is what is not OK!
Not caring about your tennis racquet is not OK, and by that I mean keeping it in the best possible condition. That includes string, grip, grommet sets, overgrips and general reactions of beating it against the ground or net!
We have seen five year old racquets that look brand new and five day old racquets that are in really poor shape! One of the most damaging “strokes” in tennis is the ball pickup stroke! This is not a stroke at all but a way to keep from bending over to pick up balls!
Using the racquet head to scoop up the balls is easy and cool! It is also the quick way to ruin the bumper guard which is there to protect the Racquet from normal stroke, not pick-ups!
So, what do you do about it? The next time you consider scooping up balls with the racquet consider tapping the ball to start it bouncing or simplpy use the fingers on your hand to pick up the ball…that would be good!
Looking at the Differences
For the past fifteen (15) years or so, most string discussion centered on polyester. By now, you know our position on polyester, so we won’t go through that again right now. What we will go through right now is the difference(s) in a polyester string!
PET, polyethylene terephthalate, is the standard “material” in the better quality polyester string, so how can there be so many different versions of the same material?
Can you say “additives”? Luxilon has made it part of their brand to use acronyms for materials in each string’s description. ALU, for example, is aluminum, Timo is titanium/molybdenum, and I don’t know what 4G is.
So let’s take a look at the differences in a couple of polyester stings. Shown here are two (2) polyester strings, Luxilon ALU Power and Volkl V-Star. You can see the difference in stiffness between them, the V-Star being “softer,” but what you can’t see is the V-Star package does not say “co-polyester” but instead Co-Polymer!
Polyester? Co-Polyester? Co-Polymer?
We know “co” is two or more and “poly” is many, so how many of anything does any material have in it? We may never know and probably shouldn’t care as long as we have the presented data.
What can we see from this graph?
- ALU Power reaches 50 lbs quicker (stiffer)
- ALU Power exhibits good elasticity
- V-Star is more linear (consistency)
- V-Star has a greater tensile strength
- V-Star is softer (takes longer to reach 50 lbs)
How would a player know this by just looking a the package? I am not sure! Adding the word “soft” or “comfort” or “feel” may persuade a player to try the string, but what if a better decision could be made before spending the time and money?
Jack is Headed to France!
Many of our readers know Jack Anthrop, but I will tell you a little about him just in case you don’t.
Jack Anthrop
We started working for Jack about six (6) years ago, at which time he switched to Ashaway MonoGut ZX. Since that time, Jack has progressed at a stunning rate, now with a UTR of 13.26!
Jack is using the Head PT113B Speed custom racquet and now a new fiber made by Victrex, a UK company that specializes in PEEK materials for high-performance applications which is the Ashaway MonoGut ZX and ZX Pro material.
But, the big news is Jack is headed to Paris, the one in France, to play in the French Open Juniors! Jack and his partner, Max McKennon from California, are in the main draw doubles!
Jack has a great chance to be in the main draw singles as well.
Max McKennon
Congratulations to Jack and Max on this great accomplishment!
House Cleaning!
Every once in a while Racquet Quest decides to do a little house cleaning and that means opening boxes that have not been open for a long time!
And surprise! We find a lot of really interesting and exciting tennis racquets! Most of these have been on the Racquet Museum site but now it is time for them to find a new place to hang out!
Most of these racquets are new! Many have been strung for evaluation purposes but have not been played with! All of the racquets will be fitted with a new grip. All the racquets will come with the string that is now in the racquet, unless new stringing is requested. All racquets are sold “as is”. Most of them are new, but the string may be several years old. There will not be any “junk” offered, just good racquets!
| Racquet Brand | Model | Head Size | Grip Size | String | Condition | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilson | nCode n1 | 115 | 5 | NXT16 | New | 200.00 |
| Weed | 125 Tour EXT | 125 | 3 | Weed Synthetic Gut | New | 50.00 |
| Weed | 135 Open Tour | 135 | 3 | ALU Power Rough | New | 50.00 |
| Weed | 125 X-One 25 | 125 | 3 | Weed Synthetic Gut | New | 50.00 |
| Prince | Tour 100 18x20 | 100 | 3 | None | New | 150.00 |
| Prince | EXO Warrior 100 | 100 | 2 | Prince Premier Attack | New | 150.00 |
| Prince | EXO Red 105 | 105 | 3 | Prince Premier LT | New | 125.00 |
| Prince | EXO Blue | 110 | 3 | Prince Premier LT | New | 125.00 |
| Prince | EXO Rebel Team 98 | 98 | 3 | Prince Premier/Beast Hybrid | New | 150.00 |
| Prince | EXO Rebel 98 | 98 | 3 | Prince Premier/Beast Hybrid | New | 200.00 |
| Prince | EXO Rebel 95 | 95 | 3 | Prince Beast | New | 200.00 |
| Head | Speed LTD Edition XT | 100 | 4 | None | New | 100.00 |
| Head | Instinct MP XT | 100 | 2 | None | New | 100.00 |
| Head | Graphene Instinct PWR | 115 | 3 | PPS 17 | New | 150.00 |
| Head | Graphene Touch Radical PWR | 110 | 3 | FXP 16 | New | 150.00 |
| Dunlop | AeroGel Smoke | 100 | 5 | Silk 17 | New | 100.00 |
| Dunlop | M-Fil 3 Hundred | 98 | 5 | None | New | 150.00 |
Head Graphene 360+ Gravity MP/Tecnifibre RPX
Normally our racquet reviews are when a racquet is brand new; however, this is a case where the updated string, RPX, from Tecnifibre is an excellent opportunity to add another review to the site!
There are some excellent reasons to review the same racquet again with different string or tension settings.
- It allows us to evaluate new strings for comparison purposes.
- It will enable the player to demo the same Racquet with a different string.
- The string can affect the overall weight to a small degree but significantly impact swing weight.
For example, this racquet with Victrex 7718 PEEK string (15.9grams installed) has a swing weight of 318. With the new Tecnifibre RPX (18.0 grams installed), the swing weight is 325. That is not huge, but it is different.
Lead tape, commonly used to increase swing weight, weighs in at 2.8 grams for 12 inches! So, slightly over 2 grams of additional string weight in the strung area contribute to the difference between these strings.
Of course, this also means that swing weight can be reduced, somewhat, by using lighter string! We weigh all of the string we test for Power Potential, so we know which string can benefit either swing weight preference.
| Manufacturer | Head |
|---|---|
| Racquet Model | Head Graphene 360+ Gravity MP |
| Reference Tension | 55 lbs - 24.9 k |
| String | Tecnifibre RPX 16 |
| Machine Used | True Tension Professional |
| ASPS, RDC | 53 |
| ASPS, FlexFour | 62 |
| Racquet Flex, RDC | 59 - After stringing |
| Racquet Flex, FlexFour | 54 |
| Weight, Grams | 322 |
| Weight, Ounces | 11.36 |
| Balance, mm | 337 |
| Balance, Inch | 13.27 |
| Length, Cm | 68.6 |
| Length, Inch | 27.008 |
| Head Width | 9.92 |
| Head Length | 12.85 |
| Head Area, cm2 | 645 |
| Head Area, Sq. Inch | 100 |
| Beam Width, mm, Shaft, Center, Tip | 22, 22, 22 |
| In Plane Stiffness, Pounds/In | 381.0 |
| In Plane Stiffness, Kg/cm | 68.12 |
| Number of Main Strings | 16 |
| Number of Cross Strings | 20 |
| Ratio Cross/Mains | .617 |
| Main String Grid | 7.75 |
| Cross String Grid | 10.37 |
| Density (% of head filled with string) | .784 |
| Average Cross String Space | .480 |
| Average Main String Space | .520 |
| Dynamic Tension, Kp, ERT | 36 |
| Dynamic Tension, Lbs/in | 201.35 |
| First Moment, Nm | .843 |
| Polar Moment | 339 |
| Torsional Stability | 14 |
| Swing Weight, Kg/cm2 | 325 |
| Swing Weight, Ounces | 11.46 |
| Swing Weight Calculated | 365.7 |
| Power, RDC | 46 |
| Control, RDC | 56 |
| Manueverability, RDC | 70 |
| Power, Calculated | 1938.8 |
| Head Points | 1.89 (negative = head heavy) |
| Head Weight, % | 49.1% |
| Center of Percussion | 20.7 |
| Dwell Time, ms, No Swing | 8.74 |
| Effective Stiffness - lbs | 27.9 |
| K, Lb/In (SBS) RDC | 169.87 |
| Recoil Weight | 146.57 |
| Twist Weight | 236.38 |
| End Weight | 119.8 |
| Tip Weight | 202.2 |
| Total Weight Check | 322 |
| 9 O'Clock | 102.3 |
| 3 O'Clock | 101.4 |
| Butt Cap | 117.9 |
| Total Weight Check | 321.6 |
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