We worked on the Yonex MUSE 100 today. Yonex presents the MUSE family as a way to make rallies more comfortable and enjoyable, and the MUSE 100 is one of the few Yonex racquets made in China. Its familiar Yonex isometric head sits on a frame that, at first glance, reminds me of the old “game improvement” category.  The Muse 100 looks bulkier than it is, maybe due to the color.

Yonex Muse 100

That Game Improvement label deserves a closer look. Many earlier game improvement racquets were light and stiff, with enough weight toward the head to help the racquet move through the ball. They were often marketed to beginners, though that didn’t always make them a good choice for a beginner.  The Muse 100 is different.

The MUSE 100 raises a different question: how easy is it to swing in play? Our measurements will help answer that. The HEAD Squared provides a useful comparison. The Head Squared swingweight is about 290, giving us considerable room to add weight for a player who wants more stability. The MUSE 100 we measured is higher, offering less room for that particular modification. That doesn’t make either racquet better for everyone; it just makes the starting point especially important.

The Muse 100, and we’ll show this in the numbers later on, as we will have some pictures up as well, is a heavier racket. I think you can look at the numbers in a minute, but the swing weight is right around 310 or something.  For example, the Head Squared is a 290 beginning swing weight. We think it needs to be a little higher, to be honest, but the point is that the Head Squared lends itself to modification for a higher-level player, I believe, more than the Yonex Muse 100.

The Muse 100 is very flexible, as you will see by the numbers, which is good for increased string bed stiffness while keeping effective stiffness down.

Look at the numbers, then look at the racquet.  There is also a Muse 98!