Best items you found at thrift stores (Goodwill)?

[coachrick]

Originally Posted by michael_1265

I learn something new every day here.

This is my third favorite "pick" from this store, the first being an immaculate 200G and the second being a cherry Rossignol GW-200

I would imagine some store room in Van Buren, Maine to be 'home' to multiple Cragin/Garcia and Rossignol wood sticks. It's a darned small town, but maybe some TT member lives near there? OR, perhaps they used the old wood rackets as firewood in a particularly cold winter season . Same would apply to Williston/S. Burlington, VT, where Rossi headquarters was situated('70s-'80s). I would imagine there are some skis and tennis rackets stashed away SOMEwhere around there.

"We" don't have the vast history in composite racket manufacturing like our Euro friends; but, I can imagine some stockpiles of Head, Wilson, Dunlop, Davis(may have been 'discovered' already) or even Spalding frames are behind some locked door...collecting dust...waiting to be discovered .

[jonestim]

Originally Posted by coachrick

I would imagine some store room in Van Buren, Maine to be 'home' to multiple Cragin/Garcia and Rossignol wood sticks.

I went to Van Buren to visit that factory back in '95 after they had started producing bicycles instead and were then under the name Aegis Bicycles. Very small town. When we asked at the gas station how to get to the factory we were told to head down half a mile and turn left at the barn that burned this morning.

History of the factory here: http://aegisbicycles.com/about.html

[daveyboy]

Originally Posted by coachrick

I would imagine some store room in Van Buren, Maine to be 'home' to multiple Cragin/Garcia and Rossignol wood sticks. It's a darned small town, but maybe some TT member lives near there? OR, perhaps they used the old wood rackets as firewood in a particularly cold winter season . Same would apply to Williston/S. Burlington, VT, where Rossi headquarters was situated('70s-'80s). I would imagine there are some skis and tennis rackets stashed away SOMEwhere around there.

"We" don't have the vast history in composite racket manufacturing like our Euro friends; but, I can imagine some stockpiles of Head, Wilson, Dunlop, Davis(may have been 'discovered' already) or even Spalding frames are behind some locked door...collecting dust...waiting to be discovered .

I live in Maine, but no where is near Van Buren. Its 6 hours from Portland, Maine's biggest city. I would like to see the area and the Aegis plant someday, though, to see where all the old frames were produced.

[coachrick]

Originally Posted by daveyboy

I live in Maine, but no where is near Van Buren. Its 6 hours from Portland, Maine's biggest city. I would like to see the area and the Aegis plant someday, though, to see where all the old frames were produced.

As I recall, it was an all-day trip to get there from Burlington. The last two legs of the trip were on 'Scare' New England (as Air New England was known then) and Bar Harbor Airlines...with the final bit a drive up from Presque Isle. Back then, it was easy to drive across into Canada for a meal and back within an hour or so.

[Hannah19]

Originally Posted by Sanglier

I've only been exposed to two types of DuraFiber racquets prior to today: the orange "Lite", of which I picked up a pristine example a few months ago, and the black "XT".

With a name like "DuraFiber", one would have thought that the brand was created specifically to market racquets made out of a tenacious fibrous substrate, so I was quite surprised to come upon this well-worn stick in a pile of unremarkable Dunlops and Heads today (shown above its "Lite" cousin for dimensional reference):

I just saw a listing on the German bay, (160908302273), were this alloy Durafiber/ACRO racket
is being auctioned off but this version is a Rossignol "The Touch" (Made in the USA).
They did have many frames made in the USA so it just might be the same frame, different name.

[Sanglier]

Thanks for the heads-up, Hans! Yes, that Rossignol frame seems to be a very close match to the Durafiber I picked up. However, I noticed that it has a denser string pattern (16x20) than that of the DF (16x18 ). This is not a stringer artifact - I counted 64 grommets on the Rossignol, whereas the DF only has 58. My guess is that these two frames are likely fraternal twins rather than exact clones.

Incidentally, I came across another PS85 this week at one of my fishing spots. This one is really worn (though not broken), and I was going to pass on it due to the condition. However, when I lifted the stringer sticker on the butt cap, I could vaguely make out the letters "JWB". I didn't have my reading glasses with me to clearly see the 'B', but those tiny and widely spaced letters are distinct enough from the later iterations that I knew instantly - thanks to what I had learned on this board - that this is a Couvin frame.




The semi-glossy paint, the single sticker with the moderate tension range - everything is just as others had previously described regarding this model. However, I've also noticed that my Couvin frame has a significantly more rounded contour than the sharply chiseled look of the later models. This is especially obvious around the PWS bumps. If this characteristic is unique to the Couvin frames, then it would indicate that Wilson didn't simply ship the molds from Couvin to Chicago when they switched production sites, but that they had in fact made a new mold for the Chicago frame that incorporated small adjustments.

[retrowagen]

^ Fascinating! (Perhaps as an engineer,) I really appreciate the attention to detail 'Sanglier' takes in his (her?) posts in our little forum here. Thanks for taking the time and effort to document what I find to be a very interesting little detail!

[Sanglier]

Thanks, Retro! I only became a racquetholic and thrifting addict in the past year. My visits here allow me to learn from those who are similarly afflicted, and share what I have with the community. I've tried very hard to convince myself that as long as I am sharing (even if only virtually), I would not cross the dreaded threshold of becoming a hoarder - because as I see it, a hoarder is an extremely indiscriminate and imprudent collector who is pathologically averse to sharing...

As for my gender, I think it's quite clear that only men (with the possible exception of Virginia?) are predisposed to develop such fascination for the history and architecture of discarded sports equipment.

[Hannah19]

Originally Posted by Sanglier

Thanks for the heads-up, Hans! Yes, that Rossignol frame seems to be a very close match to the Durafiber I picked up. However, I noticed that it has a denser string pattern (16x20) than that of the DF (16x18 ). This is not a stringer artifact - I counted 64 grommets on the Rossignol, whereas the DF only has 58. My guess is that these two frames are likely fraternal twins rather than exact clones.

Incidentally, I came across another PS85 this week at one of my fishing spots. This one is really worn (though not broken), and I was going to pass on it due to the condition. However, when I lifted the stringer sticker on the butt cap, I could vaguely make out the letters "JWB". I didn't have my reading glasses with me to clearly see the 'B', but those tiny and widely spaced letters are distinct enough from the later iterations that I knew instantly - thanks to what I had learned on this board - that this is a Couvin frame.




The semi-glossy paint, the single sticker with the moderate tension range - everything is just as others had previously described regarding this model. However, I've also noticed that my Couvin frame has a significantly more rounded contour than the sharply chiseled look of the later models. This is especially obvious around the PWS bumps. If this characteristic is unique to the Couvin frames, then it would indicate that Wilson didn't simply ship the molds from Couvin to Chicago when they switched production sites, but that they had in fact made a new mold for the Chicago frame that incorporated small adjustments.

You are absolutely right, I had noticed this "deviation" also.
According to Michel Guilluy, a Donnay historian and good friend, Couvin was a proving ground to develop the braided graphite production process.
They could not have chosen a worst site since Donnay had absolutely no clue how to deal with modern materials such as graphite etc.
They were behind in this technology for they had only produced wooden rackets so far but since Donnay and Wilson had been involved in previous years, Donnay produced many wooden frames for Wilson, they figured it would be a nice hidden place to try this out.
The PS 85 moulds did stay behind in Couvin and at a later stage Donnay used them to make the Pro Cynetic range with the same braided graphite/kevlar mix as the PS 85 but without the PWS. If you compare your Belgium PS 85 with a Pro Cynetic 1 you will be astound by the similar moulding marks.

[retrowagen]

Originally Posted by Hannah19

You are absolutely right, I had noticed this "deviation" also.
According to Michel Guilluy, a Donnay historian and good friend, Couvin was a proving ground to develop the braided graphite production process.
They could not have chosen a worst site since Donnay had absolutely no clue how to deal with modern materials such as graphite etc.
They were behind in this technology for they had only produced wooden rackets so far but since Donnay and Wilson had been involved in previous years, Donnay produced many wooden frames for Wilson, they figured it would be a nice hidden place to try this out.
The PS 85 moulds did stay behind in Couvin and at a later stage Donnay used them to make the Pro Cynetic range with the same braided graphite/kevlar mix as the PS 85 but without the PWS. If you compare your Belgium PS 85 with a Pro Cynetic 1 you will be astound by the similar moulding marks.

I believe the drill pattern on the first-generation Donnay Pro Cynetic frames (there was a later range called Pro Cynetic which came out of a completely different mould) was a bit different, with eight mains going through the throat bridge. There was also a Graphite Borg model from this mould, IIRC.

[retrowagen]

Visited one of my usual happy hunting grounds this evening, and was surprised to find a decent Cragin Garcia Pro 240 (with two-handed perforated leather grip), and a very nice Futabaya Maximum (with its original cover!). Also a pair of well-worn Maxply Forts, one of which was a Medium 4-3/4". Now that's a Man's racquet! (or, a manly woman's?) I left the Dunlops behind (I already have nicer ones); bought the Garcia and Futabaya. Not sure yet what I'll do with them; right now, I'm mostly enthused about old Fischer models.

[bsiegel]

Found a Black Max II for 9.99 at a thrift. Instant Love. Played it with crappy nylon strings and it played better than my modern Donnay Golds.

Missed the power, of the Donnay, but placement much better. Impossible shots also happening more.

Ima putting on Volkl powerfibre II 17 g at 55 lbs for starters. Ill get it back tomorrow.
Wish I had some gut strings, but I'm already spending too much on tennis.

Got a Yonex r-22 light today also. It aint light. feels like a battle axe but compact. Hope I can play it.

BTW, it seems like every player i speak to these days has injuries due to poly strings. Class action anyone ? Lots of lawyers play tennis ya know.

Barry

[Steve_j_theo]

I got the following:
GTX Pro/Pro Staff from Belgium/2 N-Code Tour 90's/N-code 6.1 95/2 Becker Super's/Head Elite Pro/several Max 200G's/White Star Masters/Rossignol F-200/Pro Staff Classic 6.1/Hyper Pro Staff 6.1/iPrestige Mid/ 3 wilson aggressor's/2 R-7's/R-22/Hammer Classic 5.2/2 Head XRC's/Fischer Vacuum 90/Yamaha Secret 4 & 6/Babolat Pure Drive/Pro Staff 7.1/Pro Staff Stars & Stripes 95/Chang Titanium/Head Master Pro/ and lots of lesser knowns

[jonestim]

Picked up a Donnay Borg Pro Midsize in grip 3. Second one, but this does not have a head cover, has a touch more head rash and has non-original strings.

Also grabbed another Wilson Jack Kramer Staff. This one is not as nice as the one I picked up a couple months ago that was in great shape. The headguard is cracked and there are a few more chips.

Passed on a CTS Approach 90.

[michael_1265]

I found a minty Head 660 Calibre today. It seems like a plain-jane widebody from the early 1990s, but for $2........

Anybody ever use this racquet?

[Avles]

That Calibre reminds me a little bit of the Head Orion 660 I used with when I started playing-- it was a freebie from the ex-roommate of a roommate. I was such a noob that I didn't realize that it had no grip and I hit with the bare handle for a couple of months.

I picked up a Pro Kennex Bronze Ace ($2) and Graphite Presence ($3) at the thrift store today. I have no use for these racquets and no place to put them but when I see a playable racquet that cheap some sort of primal instinct kicks in and I have to buy it.

[chrisberchris]

Found two Babolat Pure Storm Teams (orange and black one) at Goodwill yesterday. They just need to grommets and they'll be 8/10 condition

[michael_1265]

Originally Posted by chrisberchris

Found two Babolat Pure Storm Teams (orange and black one) at Goodwill yesterday. They just need to grommets and they'll be 8/10 condition

That is a first to me. I have never seen a Babolat at Goodwill.

[retrowagen]

Originally Posted by michael_1265

That is a first to me. I have never seen a Babolat at Goodwill.

Maybe the poster has a time machine and was visiting a Goodwill in the year 2027. In the big cardboard barrel, jammed in among miscellaneous massive-headed golf clubs, are a bunch of ground down Babolats. The donators of said racquets are in the market for the new nanobionic elbow implants. Plus, it more fun to play "virtual tennis" on any holographic video game station with virtual friends off the ultrainternet.

[TCTEN]

Originally Posted by retrowagen

Maybe the poster has a time machine and was visiting a Goodwill in the year 2027. In the big cardboard barrel, jammed in among miscellaneous massive-headed golf clubs, are a bunch of ground down Babolats. The donators of said racquets are in the market for the new nanobionic elbow implants. Plus, it more fun to play "virtual tennis" on any holographic video game station with virtual friends off the ultrainternet.

Too good, thanks for the chuckle.