Cold weather stringing

[Donny0627]

The outdoor high school tennis season kicked off today with some sunny 30 degree weather here in northwest pa. Today we had our first practice outside, and wednesday will be our first outdoor match. I went out with a few of my BLX 95's strung with my usual Pro Hurricane 17 @ 57 lbs. And, as expected, no feel, no power. Part of this is due to the stiff strings and part of it due with the cold's effect on the balls. I want to compensate by stringing one of the sticks with a softer, more powerful string.

My question is: of the strings listed below, which should I string up and at what tension to compensate for the cold temperature:

Wilson Extreme 16
Forten Nylon 16
Gamma TNT2 16
Gamma Syn. Gut w/wearguard 16
Gamma Revelation 17
Gamma Durablast 16*

*Although I dont want to waste any pro hurricane for just a few hitting sessions, I could still string up some Gamma Durablast 16 at a lower tension I guess

[smucker007]

If you are going from poly to syn gut, then i wouldn't drop the tension much. If you are still using a poly, then drop the tension by 5-10%.

[Carolina Racquet]

I played poly at very low tension in the winter here in NC and it felt great... I would use your current string and go down to low 50's... even high 40's.

[stringertom]

Switching from full poly to full synthetic in addition to going from indoor to outdoor conditions might be very hard to adapt to. I would suggest hybriding the PH with a crisp syngut to make the transition smoother. The wearguard Gamma is the firmest of the ones you listed. As to tension, if you play indoors at 57 full PH, drop the mains to low 50s and keep the syngut crosses 2to3 #s tighter. A good rule of thumb is 2% difference for every 10 degrees F above/below normal conditions. You also might keep a second racquet strung 2 or more #s different to allow for wind condition. When playing into the wind use the looser tension and vice versa.

[Donny0627]

After reading the responses i decided to string up a hybrid of

M: Durablast 16, C: Extreme Syn. Gut @ 54 lbs.

I do agree with those who said to keep using PH, just lower the tension, but I am a junior with a pretty low income :), so I didnt want to waste $10 worth of string for an experiment lasting perhaps 4 hitting sessions