***** Ruler
 

I just got this racket in trade. I've seen a few of these in other collections but I don't know much about the racket/company and it's not listed in Kuebler's Book of Tennis Rackets or the 2007 supplement. Anybody got any information? Thanks.





Edit: I don't know why the name of the company was removed but perhaps this is part of the mystery!

It appears that they have a tennis store aswell, which could explain why it was edited out.

This looks like a knock-off of sorts, much like Lynn Bob Ray(something like that) 'knocked off' Blue Star with his Blue Ray strings back in the '70s. We bought a fair amount of supplies from ***** in the mid-late '70s...didn't know about a racket, however. This looks like a model from the '80s forward. I didn't know the Rays maintained a retail store...close enough to TW to be on the radar.

I recently also had a weird R a y c o frame... equally preposterously long:
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showt...er#post6850980

That is absolutely hilarious. You just see the Maxply on top and you think "well, there's nothing wrong" and then when you scroll down you go "WOAH!"

This is one of his adjustable length frames. I have a 32 inch long frame 95 in head size, from he who name shall not be posted.

In the late 70s, early 80s, ***** had a Prince Pro knockoff. It was all black, had no name on it. At first, they came with a red plastic throat piece, then later, a black throat piece. They actually played with more control than the Prince Pro. I probably sold a couple hundred of them while living in Tulsa. Like many extruded aluminum frames, they came out of round after time. I never tried any of their later graphite frames. He carried some odd products, but always a nice guy to talk to.

I've had the same experience with the store owner. He would regularly send out flyers in the mail in the pre-internet days. I bought quite a few Yonexes and Estusas from him. He was indeed a nice guy over the phone. He'd sell Head pallets and butt caps for $5 a set — quite a contrast from some TW posters who try to sell their used pallets for $40 a set, isn't it?