favorite aluminum frames

[Ronaldo]

The Black Glaflex... Had one of them once.. I think it had graphite overlay on it or was it fiberg lass??

Dunno, saw a red one BITD,

 

[coachrick]

The Black Glaflex... Had one of them once.. I think it had graphite overlay on it or was it fiberg lass??

I have a GlaFlex or two around somewhere. It was oddly dead feeling compared to the 7500/8500 but it sure looked cool(bit of an egg shape with the nylon throat).

Ronaldo, the World Class came along about the same time as the first aramid fiber string(in our shop anyway)...Tournament 17. Before we knew we should hybrid that unforgiving string, we put a full bed in a customer's new World Class. Yanked the throat right out of that thing the first time he used it!!!

 

[coachrick]

The Black Glaflex... Had one of them once.. I think it had graphite overlay on it or was it fiberg lass??

Wrapped in fiberglass. You could actually see the fibers, especially as the wrap got worn from court contact. IF they had made that particular model in a mid-size(for the day), I think it would have had a chance. Yonex aluminums tried to hold on until '84 or so(when I was a rep for them). They had too many models, too many shapes. I have a dozen or so in my collection.

 

[coachrick]

Same here. I prefered the first edition with the off White yoke rather than the 2nd edition that sported an orange one. No relation to the silly sad one..

The PDP felt plastic to me, especially lower in the face. The Red HEAD Pro just fit me. Happy was the day(s) when I would grab a new 4 5/8 L and wrap a Fairway grip ON TOP of the factory grip, string it with AFV @ 62# or so and hit the courts!!!
We also had to replace MANY more PDP throats as we did on the Red HEAD. Not sure if the heat of central South Carolina was a factor.

 

[Ronaldo]

Wrapped in fiberglass. You could actually see the fibers, especially as the wrap got worn from court contact. IF they had made that particular model in a mid-size(for the day), I think it would have had a chance. Yonex aluminums tried to hold on until '84 or so(when I was a rep for them). They had too many models, too many shapes. I have a dozen or so in my collection.

Nearly every player I knew demoed the R-7, MN racquet. Finally used kevlar/aramid in a Profile. Beginning of the end of my arm & shoulder. Prob used oil-filled nylon in the World Class and RedHead.
Oldest Yonex racquet still own is a YY-7500 Gold, oldest composite, RX-32 & RX-37, oooops

 

[coachrick]

Nearly every player I knew demoed the R-7, MN racquet. Finally used kevlar/aramid in a Profile. Beginning of the end of my arm & shoulder. Prob used oil-filled nylon in the World Class and RedHead.
Oldest Yonex racquet still own is a YY-7500 Gold, oldest composite, RX-32 & RX-37, oooops

Oddly, I have many metal YY frames from those days but no composites. I sold a boatload of R-7 and R-22 sticks back then, MANY were replace under warranty!!! Took YY a while to get the "corners" in the shoulders just right and the two-point mounting machines of the day didn't help. Those two frames would 'breathe' and crack while being strung in some cases!!
I still have my brother's YY8500 from the mid-'70s...last strung by me in 1995 !!! Green on green!!

 

[Ronaldo]

Oddly, I have many metal YY frames from those days but no composites. I sold a boatload of R-7 and R-22 sticks back then, MANY were replace under warranty!!! Took YY a while to get the "corners" in the shoulders just right and the two-point mounting machines of the day didn't help. Those two frames would 'breathe' and crack while being strung in some cases!!
I still have my brother's YY8500 from the mid-'70s...last strung by me in 1995 !!! Green on green!!

Cracked a few corners of the R-22 lightweights, so much so that I retired them and moved to the PK Composite Destiny for four years. Never crack'd a medium weight R-22. Discovered an R-27 cleaning the basement. Moved to the Air-shell Profile, discovered pull-throughs at the throat!

ps Stringer discovered pull-thrus at the throat of every Profile and suggested retiring the racquets. Decided to string my own racquets after that and discovered Talk Tennis. Downhill ever since

 

[skhong248]

My first aluminum was a PDP Open like Roscoe Tanner's. Then the Wilson Cobra with PWS, then the Head Tournament Director with the dampening between the nylon bridge and the frame (the Tim Mayotte model).