Ashaway 100% Zyex monofilament

[ewberner]

The red color of the MonoGut ZX plays slightly stiffer than the natural.

[Automatix]

Anyone know what happened to the plans of releasing a 1.22mm version of this string?

[PBODY99]

They have released it in 1.22 mm,17G in both Red & Black. It is still my favorite non-poly.

[Automatix]

Sorry for that.

I was too lazy to check stores other than TW.

I was thinking of using this 1,22mm version as a cross with thin kevlar. Since it's smooth it wouldn't promote friction and notching like most multis.

[PBODY99]

The Kevlar/MonoguTZX pairing should be very interesting.

[Lakers4Life]

Originally Posted by Torres

Incidentally, the correct name of this string is "Ashaway Monogut ZX" if you're having trouble (like I did) in locating it:

http://www.ashawayusa.com/StringBroc...utZX072012.pdf

Also comes in red:

I strung one up today using MG ZX. At first I thought it was a poly, it had a lot of coil memory and was very stiff, but when I tensioned it, it stretched so much I thought it was slipping in the clamps. My cleint was give a set to play test and give a review. I'll know in a couple of days how it plays. BTW I strung it at 60 lbs on a Yonex Vcore iX 100, full bed.

[corners]

How long did you let it tension each pull?

Looking forward to hearing how your client liked it.

[Lakers4Life]

Originally Posted by corners

How long did you let it tension each pull?

Looking forward to hearing how your client liked it.

I was told to wait 5 sec before clamping. It's surprisingly stretchy.

A week later, my client came back and told me it was like a board at first but once it settled down it was very playable. Performance wise, he said it very close to gut. No notching after about 15 hours of play. I'm stringing the 16 gauge version on the same model racket, at 58 lbs. I'm not too crazy about the tan color, they should make it white or some other color that does not look like poo.

[corners]

Originally Posted by Lakers4Life

I was told to wait 5 sec before clamping. It's surprisingly stretchy.

A week later, my client came back and told me it was like a board at first but once it settled down it was very playable. Performance wise, he said it very close to gut. No notching after about 15 hours of play. I'm stringing the 16 gauge version on the same model racket, at 58 lbs. I'm not too crazy about the tan color, they should make it white or some other color that does not look like poo.

Sounds promising!

[Torres]

Originally Posted by Lakers4Life

Performance wise, he said it very close to gut. No notching after about 15 hours of play.

That's interesting. I wonder how well it holds tension.

I have a set of the red now. Will probably string it up at some point.

[Lakers4Life]

Natural gut is pretty stable once the tension settles. I would expect the same if this truly a Nat gut substitute. I'll know more as the weeks progress. FWIW, my client is a semi-pro futures player. He's still trying to tune in the tension.

[Kevo]

Originally Posted by Lakers4Life

I'm not too crazy about the tan color, they should make it white or some other color that does not look like poo.

I believe that color is the natural color of zyex. Every zyex string I've tried has a similar tanish-greenish color to it. I wouldn't be surprised if the red behaves a little different than the natural.

[mikeler]

One of the reviews on TW of this string said something along the lines of this string is so much stiffer than gut, it is a crime to have gut in the string name. I might string up Ashaway Dynamite Tough 16 tonight. While I hate cutting out a string job with only 2 sets on it, my curiosity about Zyex is getting the best of me.

[pennc94]

I tried MG ZX some time ago and did not like it. It felt almost metallic to me. Strange vibrations. Had strung on two different frames and had the same sensation. It did not notch which was nice, but it did not matter to me.

Whoever said it played like gut must play with some form of skunk gut. Not even close.

Maybe it is better suited to some other player, but not for me.

[RD 7]

The guy I recently strung it for said it was quite soft but the noise and low-level vibrations confused his perception.

[RD 7]

Here are the top 12 softest strings tested in the TWU Lab (medium tension, fast swing speed). ZX MonoGut is the softest non-gut string tested.

[corners]

Originally Posted by mikeler

One of the reviews on TW of this string said something along the lines of this string is so much stiffer than gut, it is a crime to have gut in the string name. I might string up Ashaway Dynamite Tough 16 tonight. While I hate cutting out a string job with only 2 sets on it, my curiosity about Zyex is getting the best of me.

Yeah, people say all sorts of things about strings. Keep in mind that Dynamite is a completely different animal than ZX. Dynamite has a braided nylon jacket that inhibits string movement. If you like your strings "locked" together you may like it. ZX is slippery.

[corners]

Originally Posted by RD 7

The guy I recently strung it for said it was quite soft but the noise and low-level vibrations confused his perception.

Yeah, I heard about that noise. Weird.

[corners]

Originally Posted by RD 7

Here are the top 12 softest strings tested in the TWU Lab (medium tension, fast swing speed). ZX MonoGut is the softest non-gut string tested.

Those numbers are somewhat deceiving. The ZX lost much more tension during the tension-loss part of the testing protocol than gut did. So when the stiffness testing was done the ZX was at a much lower tension than the guts were. Even still, if you correct for tension loss ZX is only about 30% stiffer than natural gut. Synguts are around twice as stiff as gut. Some of the polys are three times stiffer.

[RD 7]

Originally Posted by corners

Those numbers are somewhat deceiving. The ZX lost much more tension during the tension-loss part of the testing protocol than gut did. So when the stiffness testing was done the ZX was at a much lower tension than the guts were.

This is a good point Corners. I'm above my pay-grade here, but what about comparing the medium tension /fast swing tension loss of Revenge (19.2 lbs) to ZXM (24 lbs). Polys lose a ton of tension, but remain stiff in the lab. I'm not sure what the implications of this are. What struck me when stringing it was the elongation. For me this thing stretched as much as Gamma Professional - way more than most polys I've strung (save perhaps TBHB7). I'm intrigued by MZX.