The softest & stiffest synthetic strings — TW test results

[Centered]

Softest synthetic strings.

The progression begins with the last natural gut before the first synthetic appears in the list. Keep in mind that natural gut is a grown product from cattle intestine, so stiffness numbers may be more variable between packs of the same string.

40 lbs, no pre-stretch

softest string: Pacific Prime Natural Gut 16, 81.2
softest synthetic string: Dynamite Soft 18, 91.4. 9th out of 308 strings.
stiffest string: Babolat Revenge 16, 248.6

string, tension, swing speed, pre-stretch, material, actual gauge in mm, stiffness, tension loss, energy return %

51 lbs, no pre-stretch

softest string: Wilson Natural Gut 17, 80.6
Dynamite Soft 18, 108.0. 12th out of 309 strings.
stiffest string: Babolat Revenge 16, 276.0

string, tension, swing speed, pre-stretch, material, actual gauge in mm, stiffness, tension loss, energy return %

62 lbs, no pre-stretch

softest string: Pacific Tough Gut 16, 78.3
softest synthetic string: Dynamite Soft 18, 127.4. 13th out of 309 strings.
stiffest string: Babolat Revenge 16, 305.8

string, tension, swing speed, pre-stretch, material, actual gauge in mm, stiffness, tension loss, energy return %

62 lbs, with pre-stretch

softest string: Pacific Tough Gut 16, 60.0
softest synthetic string: IsoSpeed Professional Classic 17, 130.9. 11th out of 291 strings.
stiffest string: Babolat Revenge 16, 331.5

string, tension, swing speed, pre-stretch, material, actual gauge in mm, stiffness, tension loss, energy return %

 

[Centered]

Stiffest strings. Sorry that they're not in progression from stiffest to softest, but the database won't let me do that. So, start at the bottom of each picture and work up. Also keep in mind that aramids like Kevlar are not included in the database at this time. They are stiffer than polys.

40 lbs, no pre-stretch

rank, string, tension, swing speed, pre-stretch, material, actual gauge in mm, stiffness, tension loss, energy return %

51 lbs, no pre-stretch

rank, string, tension, swing speed, pre-stretch, material, actual gauge in mm, stiffness, tension loss, energy return %

62 lbs, no pre-stretch

rank, string, tension, swing speed, pre-stretch, material, actual gauge in mm, stiffness, tension loss, energy return %

62 lbs, pre-stretch

rank, string, tension, swing speed, pre-stretch, material, actual gauge in mm, stiffness, tension loss, energy return %

 

[Centered]

Thank you to the TW staff for updating the database.

 

[flashfire276]

Revenge is NOT THAT STIFF!!!!
Gosh I used that thing in a full bed @ 60 lbs, and it felt great! Well, it is very stiff at first. But if you let the racquet sit around for a day or 2, then it softens up so well! Plus, the sound you get from the strings is beautiful! The pop sounds like a gunshot every time!

 

[nickarnold2000]

Revenge is NOT THAT STIFF!!!!
Gosh I used that thing in a full bed @ 60 lbs, and it felt great! Well, it is very stiff at first. But if you let the racquet sit around for a day or 2, then it softens up so well! Plus, the sound you get from the strings is beautiful! The pop sounds like a gunshot every time!

Hey, come on, if you have a problem with the data - take it up with the TW professor!!
IMO, there can be a big difference between lab specs and real life experience.

 

[rz250r]

I'd like to know the figure of Iso speed baseline.

It is not listed on RSI.

 

[Centered]

It's not in the TW database. I guess you can ask RSI or TW to test it.

Hey, come on, if you have a problem with the data - take it up with the TW professor!!

I'm glad people can learn.

IMO, there can be a big difference between lab specs and real life experience.

Lab testing occurs in the realm of fantasy?

Lab testing does not take into account every variable, and neither does on-court testing. Furthermore, on-court testing introduces variables, including human fallibility, that can make the results very narrow in their usefulness or worse.

 

[Centered]

Revenge is NOT THAT STIFF!!!!....Well, it is very stiff at first.

Uh huh.

But if you let the racquet sit around for a day or 2, then it softens up so well!

Polys do tend to lose tension.

Out of all the polys tested by RSI, there were two that were stiffer than Revenge 16.

Babolat Revenge 16, 1.31, 302, 19.31
Gamma Dura Blast 16, Polyester, 1.3, 303, 12.68
Pacific Poly Force 16L, Polyester, 1.3, 320, 17.84

However, if tension loss is taken into account, Dura Blast is softer, making Revenge the second-stiffest poly in RSI's tests.

 

[JT_2eighty]

Context is Key

Revenge is NOT THAT STIFF!!!!
Gosh I used that thing in a full bed @ 60 lbs, and it felt great! Well, it is very stiff at first. But if you let the racquet sit around for a day or 2, then it softens up so well!

and

...
2. String length: Cut new test string of length = 330 mm.
3. Tension: string tensioned to reference tension.
4. Elongation: measure immediately after tensioning.
5. Static wait period: wait 60 seconds and record tension.
6. Stabilization impacts: 20 high speed (equal to force on a string during a 120 mph serve) impacts on string. Record tension after.
7. Test impacts: slow, medium, fast speed impacts in that order. Tensions, duration, forces, deflections, velocities all recorded.
8. Prestretch: After tests all performed on 62 lb string, raise tension back up to 62 and perform steps 5, 6, and 7 again.
9. Repeat: Repeat 2-7 for reference tensions of 51 and 40 pounds (prestretch not performed on these tensions).

Thus, yes, if during your on-court experience and after hitting with it, letting it sit two days, then using again and finding it softer feeling, then your experience is not contrary to the data because the data doesn't go that far into a string's life; it simply measures the string's characteristics during the first few minutes after a string is tensioned as a single piece, they are not testing an interwoven stringbed. This is not to say the data is flawed or bad, just needs appropriate context and be viewed as an awesomely extensive font of string knowledge to guide one towards what to compare to their current choice string, while also acknowledging that on-court perceptions may not always line up with what the data suggests, since the data is a slice in time of the early stages of a fraction of a stringbed.

If someone you trust recommends a string that appears farther down the 'list' than you'd like, give it a shot if you have the means. Nitpicking one string in or out of your choices because it appears a few pounds/inch in stiffness above or below a string you like is not the purpose of the database. The purpose of the database is to help show relationships between strings, as TWU states "Comparing strings based on stiffness is the only objective method available to compare strings and to formulate best-guess judgments as to what their innate performance properties are and how you might interact with those properties based on your past experiences with strings of known stiffness. Your subjective interaction with the objective facts is what is important. The objective stiffness measurement gives you an absolute baseline against which to measure your subjective perceptions."

As long as you find a cost-effective option that produces the on-court results you like, so be it. If this means those actual results somehow become 'green cheese' in the face of data without match results, then I'll keep hitting winners with this new green cheese string. Sounds better than mosquito bite, anyway.

 

[CP3]

There are two puzzling facts:

1. many posters in recent threads dispute the validity of the TW data about "softness."

2. many of the reviews posted by customers reviewing specific strings contradict the TW data.

For example, the pacific natural gut strings are often described as crisp and stiff, even though they are supposed to be among the softest strings available.

There are several possibilities:

1. individuals who do find natural gut to be comfortable and soft aren't posting very often

2. individuals who find natural gut to be 'anomalously' stiff are posting more frequently

3 and 4, the same possibilities exist in the subjective reviews for multi's and poly's.

5. there is no bias in reporting, but there is significant sample to sample variation, especially in natural gut.

Anyway, although the data clearly suggests that dynamite soft and natural gut are the softest strings available, there are enough subjective reports which give conflicting reports it leaves me reluctant to follow through just yet with a natural gut purchase.

 

[Centered]

The subjective definition of "crispness" is likely not a very accurate representation of a string's true stiffness.

So, it's probably not very important when it comes to things like safety.

I understand what people mean when they say gut feels stiff/crisp. It's likely because the perception of that is due to the way people perceive slow/slow impacts, impacts that don't give as clear a picture as objective testing.

Human fallibility is notorious. I used to have a quote in my signature from a former pro who tried to get his racquet company to make a more flexible racquet before realizing, with Warren Bosworth's help, that what he really wanted was a stiffer racquet.

 

[origmarm]

2. many of the reviews posted by customers reviewing specific strings contradict the TW data.

For example, the pacific natural gut strings are often described as crisp and stiff, even though they are supposed to be among the softest strings available.

Without wishing to open the "stiffness v crispness" debate again: CP3, I think the simplest explanation is that people are commenting in relation to other natural gut, it's just a reference point difference.

Both Pacific and Klip play pretty differently to VS for example and are indeed somewhat stiffer. I believe that Klip and Pacific are "bound" or "wound" (I'm not sure of the correct word here for the gut manufacture process) differently to VS and coated differently. Bow Brand for example is wound in a similar fashion and coated using the same coating (alledgedly). Additionally I believe VS is "smoothed" i.e. they make it at a slighter bigger gauge and smooth it down. The other two are not which would likely not impact on stiffness but cause a feel difference. [/QUOTE]