A YAMAHA YFG 50 Fiberglass Racquet

[Long Face]

Bought this one some time ago. It is of a nice dark chocolate color with "modern" glossy finish. Tiny head size. A classy and tasty design with yellow highlights.

It didn't come with the head cover when I bought it. I found the yellow head cover in the $1.99 bin of another store.

A nice addition to my humble vintage racquet collection.

[Long Face]

A couple more pictures:

[Long Face]

Last two pictures:

[JW10S]

I remember those racquets...they were a little stiffer than the black and red ones that preceded them. They were fun to hit with.

[Overheadsmash]

What year is that from?

[Hannah19]

Originally Posted by Overheadsmash

What year is that from?

Back in 1980 the tennis pro at our club was sponsored by Yamaha and sold these from the trunk of his car.
By that time the Yamaha Fiber Glass series had already been around for about 5 years.
The YFG 50 came in several colour schemes and was partially made with graphite.
Production ceased in 1981, followed by the larger sized YFG 45 and 75.

[joe sch]

I really enjoyed playing the yamaha rackets during that transitional period of going from wood rackets to trying all the new composite rackets hitting the market. It was really a big psych boost to yield one of these type of rackets against an opponent still playing a woody. I mostly played the yfg 20 and 30s back in those days, as they were the most reasonable in price. Below are a few more pics of these models:

http://woodtennis.com/yamaha/yamahas4.jpg

[coachrick]

Originally Posted by joe sch

I really enjoyed playing the yamaha rackets during that transitional period of going from wood rackets to trying all the new composite rackets hitting the market. It was really a big psych boost to yield one of these type of rackets against an opponent still playing a woody. I mostly played the yfg 20 and 30s back in those days, as they were the most reasonable in price. Below are a few more pics of these models:

http://woodtennis.com/yamaha/yamahas4.jpg

Nice collection. We sold quite a few of the 30 series and of course I had to have the 50 to be different. Looked pretty cool with Victor Superb gold. I played the much stiffer 70(YGR, I believe) around '79-'80, but it was an arm-killer for me. They all had a distinctive whistle-swoosh as they moved through the air...some folks were put off by it, others thought it was something special.

This series was another I believe that would benefit from a more open string pattern, leaving out one main on either side, eliminating at least one shared hole and leaving out one top cross, IIRC. Like the 200G, the 'official' string pattern mirrored that of a wood racket.

Long Face, that is an excellent addition to your stable...well done!

[Ramon]

I used that racquet early in high school. I can't believe I actually won a few matches with it. It was way too flexible and trampoline-like. It was advertised as a graphite/fiberglass composite, but the only graphite in it was in the handle. Graphite was so expensive back then. Putting little bits of graphite in the frame was a sneaky marketing ploy in those days.

[coachrick]

Originally Posted by Ramon

>>>>was a sneaky marketing ploy in those days.<<<<

Yeah, thank goodness no one does THAT nowadays!

[tacoben]

I remember saving money for one of those YFG racquets back in high school. I also remember watching World Team Tennis in the late 70's early 80's and recall Dr. Rene Richards using one of those sticks. Here is a picture of her with the stick from Wikepedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9e_Richards

[Sanglier]

I hope I am not hijacking this thread with my questions below, but I don't want to start a new Yamaha thread when there are already two running side by side.

I just picked up this interesting racquet, which was unknown to me previously.




According to the small print on the side of the shaft, it is a member of the YFG series. Yet this racquet has obviously nothing in common with the earlier (mostly) fiberglass models. It is extremely light for its vintage (10.25 ounces strung), and alarmingly svelte (see comparison with a YFG-30 and a Secret); the beam is only 14 mm wide and 9 mm thick. It is by far the most delicate-looking full length (27 in) composite frame I've ever held. Add to that a perfectly "round" grip (even more so than those on the other Yamahas, and curiously labeled as both a "3" and a "4 1/2"; unless the "3" has something to do with the frame weight), and it almost feels like this thing was made for something other than tennis.

Can one of the vintage mavens here tell me what's the story behind this frame? Did the YFG series keep going past this point? Or does this represent a dead end? And what's with the escutcheon above the grip?

TIA for any input!

[coachrick]

Originally Posted by Sanglier

I hope I am not hijacking this thread with my questions below, but I don't want to start a new Yamaha thread when there are already two running side by side.

I just picked up this interesting racquet, which was unknown to me previously.




According to the small print on the side of the shaft, it is a member of the YFG series. Yet this racquet has obviously nothing in common with the earlier (mostly) fiberglass models. It is extremely light for its vintage (10.25 ounces strung), and alarmingly svelte (see comparison with a YFG-30 and a Secret); the beam is only 14 mm wide and 9 mm thick. It is by far the most delicate-looking full length (27 in) composite frame I've ever held. Add to that a perfectly "round" grip (even more so than those on the other Yamahas, and curiously labeled as both a "3" and a "4 1/2"; unless the "3" has something to do with the frame weight), and it almost feels like this thing was made for something other than tennis.

Can one of the vintage mavens here tell me what's the story behind this frame? Did the YFG series keep going past this point? Or does this represent a dead end? And what's with the escutcheon above the grip?

TIA for any input!

Looks like a squash bat to me...along the lines of the Dunlop 200G. What's the head size?

[Love50]

Is it possible it is a "soft tennis" racquet?

I see a Yamaha TZ850 on the big Japanese auction site with a similar wedge-shaped hoop, though the shaft is longer than your specimen. Classified under Tennis>Rackets>Soft Type. It has a similar "badge" at the top of the grip.

[retrowagen]

Yeah, it's a soft tennis racquet.

[Sanglier]

I had absolutely no idea!! Thanks for solving the mystery for me so quickly! Actually two mysteries have been solved in one go, because I am pretty sure now (after reading the Wikipedia entry on soft tennis) that the second racquet from the right (the flimsiness of which has puzzled me for ages) was used for this purpose as well.



Coachrick: Yes, I have seen one of those 200G-looking squash bats at a GW this past summer. Was very very tempted to get it just to sit it next to its bigger cousin, but it wasn't in the best of shape, and I had a little more than my usual ration of self-control with me that time...

Thanks again, y'all!

[PBODY99]

The 50 was just below the 70 in the YFG line up . It was released in 1977 John Sardi lost to in the NCAA using an YFG 30 in 1978

[coachrick]

Originally Posted by PBODY99

The 50 was just below the 70 in the YFG line up . It was released in 1977 John Sardi lost to in the NCAA using an YFG 30 in 1978

Seemed like most of the NC State team had the red YFG 30 when they came to Columbia to play USC(the original...South Carolina). BTW, the Gamecocks' Chris Mayotte(older brother to Tim) beat John Sadri for his only regular season loss that year.

Having Sadri using the YFG 30 certainly didn't hurt the Yamaha's image as a power racket. They even started a 'Fast Serve Contest' tour to help demonstrate the power of the YFG. The regional sales rep wasn't too happy when I tied for first place using a Fischer Superform!

[joe sch]

Originally Posted by coachrick

Nice collection. We sold quite a few of the 30 series and of course I had to have the 50 to be different. Looked pretty cool with Victor Superb gold. I played the much stiffer 70(YGR, I believe) around '79-'80, but it was an arm-killer for me. They all had a distinctive whistle-swoosh as they moved through the air...some folks were put off by it, others thought it was something special.

This series was another I believe that would benefit from a more open string pattern, leaving out one main on either side, eliminating at least one shared hole and leaving out one top cross, IIRC. Like the 200G, the 'official' string pattern mirrored that of a wood racket.

Long Face, that is an excellent addition to your stable...well done!

Coach, your very correct that those rackets would have been improved with a more open string pattern. It is interesting that most of the modern woods had 18x20's and many of the antique and vintage woods had even denser patterns. The larger head graphites and more open string patterns really changed the classic tennis game into the baseline blasting era. Ofcourse, the selection of modern poly strings has also improved the control for the modern power game. I took an action to create a thread on this topic.

[chollyred]

Originally Posted by coachrick

Seemed like most of the NC State team had the red YFG 30 when they came to Columbia to play USC(the original...South Carolina). BTW, the Gamecocks' Chris Mayotte(older brother to Tim) beat John Sadri for his only regular season loss that year.

Having Sadri using the YFG 30 certainly didn't hurt the Yamaha's image as a power racket. They even started a 'Fast Serve Contest' tour to help demonstrate the power of the YFG. The regional sales rep wasn't too happy when I tied for first place using a Fischer Superform!

Just think how fast your serve would've been if you'd been using the YFG!

I went from a Kramer Autograph to the red YFG 30. What a game changer! Then suddenly people starting showing up with the huge old ugly green throated aluminum Prince monstrosity.