New problem with O3 White

[Irvin]

I got a Prince O3 White to string today and noticed a problem I never seen before. I have seen several of the Prince rackets where the string ate through the frame but never through a grommet before. At first I seen the grommet at 12 o'clock was missing. When I cut the strings out I notice all the top sections of the grommets like that were almost worn completly through.

[IMG][/IMG]

I put some tubing on all 5 of those strings as the customer could not wait for grommets to come it but I thought I would pass this on.

Irvin

[jmverdugo]

Yes I have seen that before, but in this case it was not the string that ate through the grommet but the wearing due slices and other stuff that wore down the top part of the grommet including the union between the frame protection part and "bridge" that is under ths string. So when the union gets too thin the "bridge" just fall off. The main problem here is not the contact of the string with the frame but since the top part of the grommet is so wore down, the string actually touch the ground whenever a slice is hit so it can lead to premature braking of the string. Hope this makes sense!

[Irvin]

Look at that picture real close. The bottom poriton of the grommet will fit right into the top portion if you push them together. I think the string ate through the grommet and it just separated. Of some portion of the grommet had been worn off they would not match up.

Also you can see in the photo that the other four are worn quite badly. With the strings out it is much easier to see. It won't be long the the grommet will separate. If you look on the outside O-Ports (fifth main string on left side) it is easier to see the grommets are about gone. The string is seated almost on the frame.

Also the close up gives the photo a sort of fish eye effect it is not as wide in the center as it looks.

Irvin